After fifteen years spent writing fiction exclusively for a single penpal, the Israeli postmodernist
Avner Shats, Zink caught the attention of
Jonathan Franzen with a letter promoting the work of the German ornithologist
Martin Schneider-Jacoby and asking for his help to save birds in the Balkans. and "The passages about European environmental groups, government programs and methods of protest are less universal and more like amusement for insiders—more like the impromptu they started as, in other words." Overall she compliments the book on its humor, liveliness, and critique of humanity's "mindless consumption". Kirkus Reviews called it "a brief yet masterful novel of epic breadth." It was listed as one of the 100 notable books of 2014 by
The New York Times. Zink's second novel,
Mislaid (
Ecco Press), her first under a major publisher, follows the story of a white lesbian, Peggy, later 'Meg', born in rural Virginia in the 1960s. Peggy leaves her marriage for her professor, and with the help of a stolen birth certificate, creates a new African-American identity for herself and her daughter, Mireille/Karen. Though
Dwight Garner called the book "a minor and misshapen novel from a potentially major voice," he later named it among his top ten books for the year.
Walter Kirn, in
The New York Times Book Review, found it a "provocative masquerade with heart," identifying an "elegance and confidence that are exceptionally rare now."
New York Times Magazine writer Daniel J. Sharfstein observed that while Zink's plot may be "over-the-top," the real-life case of former NAACP chapter president
Rachel Dolezal bears a remarkable parallel.
Mislaid was longlisted for the
National Book Award.
Nicotine was published in 2016.
Joe Dunthorne wrote, "there is a recklessness and a freshness to this complex tale that is at its best when its elements of horror and humor collide." In the
New York Times, Garner praised the book, writing, "I could listen to Ms Zink's dialogue all day; she may be, at heart, a playwright." In Kirn's review of
Mislaid, he writes that toward the end of the novel, "Piquancy and intimacy are lost, sacrificed to momentum and high mayhem. The damage isn't fatal, though; the novel's charm and intelligence ran deep." Overall, he compliments the book's pace and "sharp observations" made by her narration. ==Personal life==