You may know Jim Carroll from his 1978 autobiography, The Basketball Diaries which was later turned into a film starring Leonardo DiCaprio, or for his songs from The Jim Carroll Band, such as People Who Died. Carroll was talented at everything he did, from music to writing to performing spoken word poetry. I recently read his last book, The Petting Zoo.
Carroll was putting the finishing touches on The Petting Zoo when he passed away in 2009. The book tells the story of a fictional artist named Billy Wolfram who sees an art exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art that amazes him to the point where he has an emotional breakdown. He goes on a quest to find the same divine beauty he experienced at the art show in his own life and paintings. This is the only book of Carroll's published after his death. It moved me to tears.
