We didn't want that

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We did not want that (original title: The Pigman ) is an American youth novel by the American writer Paul Zindel (1936–2003). The novel was published by HarperCollins in 1968 , was - after The Outsiders ( Susan E. Hinton ) and The Contender (Robert Lipsyte), both in 1967 - one of the first works in young adult fiction and received several awards. It is part of the curriculum in many American high schools, but was criticized in the 1990s for its sometimes coarse language. Topics in the book are family, relationships, friendship, and responsibility.

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The book is about the old and lonely man Mr. Pignati .
The story is told by two young people: Lorraine , a rather reserved girl who lacks self-confidence, and the wilder boy John , who is no stranger to dealing with alcohol. Both are not very popular and tend to be outsiders , but they become best friends. Lorraine meets Mr. Pignati during a phone game that involves keeping a stranger on the phone for as long as possible. The two friends pose as members of a charity and meet him in his neglected home to accept his donation.
But it is not just a meeting and the two young people and the old man become close friends. John and Lorraine affectionately call Mr. Pignati “The Pigman” , not only because this name sounds similar to his real one, but also because he collects small pig figures.

Lorraine and John give the lonely man a new zest for life and the two become his own children, so to speak. For Lorraine and John, too, the pigman becomes a kind of father substitute, because they have no fathers to look after them themselves. When the two youngsters finally confess to him that they are not members of a charity at all, but just normal students, Mr. Pignati is by no means angry, but also confesses with tears that his wife is not on vacation as expected, but in front of some Years ago.

Together with Mr. Pignati, they often go to the zoo to see the monkey Bobo , whom Pignati loves as much as Lorraine and John. One day they go with in-line skates through the house and Mr. Pignati gets a heart attack . He comes to the hospital and barely survives. Meanwhile, Lorraine and John throw a party at his house, at which an uninvited guest - a classmate of the two - destroys the pig collection. Right now, Mr. Pignati comes out of the hospital prematurely.

When he sees what the two of them have done, he is deeply disappointed in them. Lorraine and John try to get him to forgive them again and ask him to see Bobo, the monkey in the zoo, again . Mr. Pignati is happy and accepts the two apologies. But this time it's not the same as always. The cage is empty and the guard informs them that Bobo died last week. Then Mr Pignati has a second heart attack and dies in the zoo.

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