my perspective, this is the best science fiction I've read in a while, It takes place in contemporary America, but it deals with an experiment that is currently feasible, Science fiction is about extrapolation, I found it believable. I loved the central character and the alternative family that grew around her, I really should read more about the great apes and progress made with teaching them sign language, One of the rare adult books that sneaks into my pile, . . the book is like the lovechild of Tarzan and Crichton with a little of the movie Project X with Matthew Broderick and the chimps.
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This book made me angry, . . but that's a good thing, . . I can see some of the criticisms that have been leveled at it, . . it does tend to oversimplify and puts the US Government as a heavy, . .
So whystars, . . the book just was entertaining, thought provoking and a good solid read, . . was it perfect, no But I would definitely recommend it to a book club, . .
Get to the end and it has a satisfying conclusion, . . but the road there is full of painful bumps! I enjoyed this book, and it is sad how many elements of it reflect our real world and dare I say even elements of our country at times.
. . I was excited to read this book, It was recommended on NPR and elsewhere, I made it about/'s the way through and I just couldn't take it anymore, The dialouge was awful especially between Lucy and Amanda, it stereotyped teenage talk in a way that was so fake/contrived/whatever that I cringed, The concept of the book is interesting but was not developed well here, Too bad there is a lot to say on this subject and how society's reaction to such a creation would be a reflection on our culture.
No. Just no.
I made the mistake of borrowing this book from the library without reading its description I borrow books on my Kindle, so it's simple to do so without reading anything about it beforehand.
It had decent ratings, so I thought I would go ahead and try it out, Mistake.
The premise could be interesting, especially everything dealing with the ethical issues presented, In fact, I would be interested to read more serious works about ethical issues involving animals and animal rights, However, it wasn't executed well, since all of these topics were put on the back burner in favor of a juvenile comingofage story.
In a lot of ways, this does read as a typical comingofage story, as stated above, but with a big twist.
I won't go into what the twist is, so as not to ruin it for any potential readers, but it does become obvious pretty quickly into the story.
The main character, Lucy, is a teenage girl trying to assimilate into a normal existence in the U, S. , and this story talks about the issues she faces in trying to fit in, She is abnormal in a lot of ways, but her beauty is spoken about over and over again, as is her superior intelligence and athleticism.
The author puts a lot of effort into presenting her as a wonderful, near perfect, beautiful, special, etc etc etc person, It becomes a bit much,
As the story progresses, a lot of crazy, and completely unbelievable, things occur, but despite these advances in the story, it still seems to drag.
By the time I realized how much I disliked the book, I was already over halfway through it, so I decided to finish it, in the hopes that it would get better.
It didn't.
The ending of the story is a big letdown, and I could see the possibility of this becoming a series.
Or a movie. Or a TV show. I will avoid any and all of those things based off of this, The ending reminded me a bit of how the "Twilight" series ended, and for anyone who knows me and my taste in literature, I hated that series.
I could see a preteen reader enjoying this, especially if they like the popular YA series along the lines of "Twilight".
I would never recommend it to anyone though, especially not those who dislike such books, Laurence Gonzaless electrifying adventure opens in the jungles of the Congo, Jenny Lowe, a primatologist studying chimpanzeesthe bonobosis running for her life,
A civil war has exploded and Jenny is trapped in its crosshairs, . . She runs to the camp of a fellow primatologist,
The rebels have already been there,
Everyone is dead except a young girl, the daughter of Jennys brutally murdered fellow scientistand competitor,
Jenny and the child flee, Jenny grabbing the notebooks of the primatologist whos been killed, She brings the girl to Chicago to await the discovery of her relatives, The girl is fifteen and lovelyher name is Lucy,
Realizing that the child has no living relatives, Jenny begins to care for her as her own, When she reads the notebooks written by Lucys father, she discovers that the adorable, lovely, magical Lucy is the result of an experiment.
She is part human, part apea hybrid human being, . .
Laurence Gonzaless novel grabs you from its opening pages and you stay with it, mesmerized by the shy but fierce, wonderfully winning Lucy.
Horrible, horrible book. Why did the reviews not mention the descriptions of lesbian makeouts and the hatred for human kind that seep from this book A warning would have been nice.
Had to read for book club, but couldn't force myself to read past pagewhen Lucy the ape/human hybrid begins making out with her high school friend Amanda.
The theme of the book seems to be that humans have no inherant dignity and are the exact same as apes, except that we are also evil.
The only way to save the human race is to cross breed with peaceful and loving apes, Radical antiwar and proenviromental views expressed, You know, the type of people who would happily sign a dealth warrant for all humans to make the world "safe for nature".
Sexual lines are also blurred using nature to "prove" we are also bisexual
in our natural state and would be better off returning to the ways of the wild.
Sex is just "mating" or enjoying anothers company and additional significance is silly and "unhealthy",
There are few references to religion, and then it is to mention "crazy fundimental religious zealots" who oppose science, And later religion is mentionsed as the "cause of wars", No specific religion is mentioned, they are all grouped together and treated dismissively as something negative, There is no God, only The Stream a way animals communicate with each other, And, apparently crickets talk about their memories of dinosaurs at night,
Also, the author is so full of his big "liberating" ideas, that he doesn't bother with details, A million little impossibilites trip up the story, Like since when was wrestling a sport that made you cool in high school And, what public high school has the funds to provide troubled students with a full medical exam and intensive counceling after a first incident involving a new student And how can a person simply claim a child and enroll them in public school without any government or foster care involvement.
And, is it believable that a diplomat would freely disregard his own countries laws and obtain a fake passport as a favor to a friend The list goes on and on.