Unusual book tour set to roll through Lodi
Jordan O’Donnell thought he had his future figured out. Hired as an analyst at the FBI after he graduated from Virginia Tech, O’Donnell had his sights set on becoming an agent with the Bureau.
After two and a half years, disillusioned by his work at the FBI, he decided to go down a different path. In May, he released his first novel, “Zoon Garden: The Decline of a Nation.”
His satirical novel follows the animals of Clarendon Zoo, who are given the freedom to govern themselves. It starts out well, but soon the zoo becomes a dysfunctional two-party system threatened by propaganda and the greed of the sheep and wolf leadership.
“It’s kind of about the state of America and the direction that we’re heading as a country,” O’Donnell said.
“Zoon Garden” was inspired by American history and the current political situation in the U.S., he said.
Once he’d settled on an animal-themed allegory, he carefully reread the work of George Orwell to ensure he was taking a fresh approach with his own work. Even so, he said, Orwell’s work has been influential, along with the writing of Ernest Hemingway.
But while both “Zoon Garden” and “Animal Farm” use allegory to make a political statement, they tell different stories, he said.
So why animals? “I wanted ‘Zoon Garden’ to be a book that both high school students could read but also adults,” O’Donnell said.
In his time with the FBI and since, O’Donnell said, he’s seen the U.S. become more and more polarized.
“Everybody’s kind of tired. Every book or piece of news is either really right-wing or really leftwing, when in reality, most people are kind of in the middle,” he said.
In that way, he believes “Zoon Garden” is simply echoing what everyone already knows: Citizens and leaders have a responsibility to find a way to reach across the party divide and work together. If that doesn’t happen, things can go very wrong.
“I really do believe that people would get a lot out of it,” O’Donnell said. “It’s very timely, very relevant.”
He’d planned an innovative book tour long before the COVID-19 pandemic reached the U.S. He has a team of 20 working with him, 17 on the road — they travel in a large tour bus, along with two vehicles pulling trailers — and three working remotely to keep everything on track. They would travel around the country, meeting people from all walks of life. Then the pandemic hit. At first, it looked like the tour would be canceled. Then, things started looking up. On June 15, when the tour bus rolled out, most states were moving toward reopening.
Things didn’t stay that way, though. The tour has continued, but plans for traditional book tour activities have been scrapped. Instead, the team is blogging their experiences of traveling during a pandemic, as well as working on a documentary.
They stick with the bus, granting mostly phonebased interviews to media. When they do stop anywhere, O’Donnell said, they wear masks, avoid going indoors, and sanitize their hands frequently.
Essentially, they’re a rolling quarantine bubble.
“Everybody’s health is our main priority,” he said.
A Texas branch of the tour was canceled as the state was overwhelmed with COVID-19 cases. The team has been keeping a close eye on the situation in the Central Valley, too, but have decided to come through.
“I try not to worry about it, because we’re doing the best we can to protect ourselves and protect others,” O’Donnell said.
The tour caravan will be in Lodi on Wednesday or Thursday.
The adventure has not been what the team planned, but they’ve had a great time anyway, O’Donnell said.
His team is incredible, he said — hard working and down to earth. They bonded quickly, he added.
“That’s probably been the greatest part of the entire trip, is that we basically became a family on day three, maybe?” he said.
He’s excited about working on a documentary about the trip with his team, he said.
“It’s just kind of about our travels during this time,” O’Donnell said. “We’re doing something that’s kind of crazy during all of this.”