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jen286's review
1.0
This book really disturbed me. I just cannot read about someone being raped, by a chimp no less, and then continue to have a sexual relationship with the person who raped them. It just makes it worse that it is a chimp doing all of this. That disturbs me even more. The beginning of the book was so graphic about the chimp enclosure at the zoo where Bruno lived before they realized he was “more human” than the other chimps. There was a chapter dedicated to telling about how his father used a frog to please himself that was so graphic I almost couldn’t read it. I felt sick afterwards. I should have known and stopped there, but no I thought this book had good reviews I will continue….bad move. Maybe people are more open than I am…Also this book dragged on and on and on. There is a whole chapter dedicated to describing Lydia’s apartment in detail – WAY too much detail. This book could easily be half as long. I read the reviews and was expecting to find something I would enjoy, even with the forewarning of bestiality, but it was so graphic in the beginning that I just could not deal with it. The way things were described in such detail frankly bored me. I had a very hard time reading this book.
joelkarpowitz's review
1.0
Yeah, this didn't do it for me. I was struggling with boredom and disinterest, and the human/chimp sex scene was the bullet to the heart of my interest in this book. I hadn't seen enough to make me think the payoff by the end would be worth it. Looks like a lot of people loved it, but it was one of the few books I just decided I didn't see enough genius in to make up for the cons.
bahoulie's review
3.0
I loved the first 1/3 of the book. Then I was just reading it to see how it all ended. Quite a disappointing ending. The erudite monkey was interesting in the beginning, especially as he made some really nice insightful observations of people during the period where he was just getting introduced to them. Unfortunately, later in the book he just had a lot of description without the good insights and it got BORING. But, the beginning was good enough to earn 3 stars.
jkkb332's review
I give up. I just can't with this one. It has so much promise, the idea of a chimp learning cognition, learning to speak, but the woman-chimp sex stuff is just too much. The story doesn't even need it. Take it out and you still have a fascinating look at human nature from a unique perspective. Leave it in and suddenly it's smutty and I keep asking why? It seems like that part of the story exists only for shock value and that pisses me off. Also, Bruno is not a very likable personality; he's pompous and crude. The one redeeming quality is that there are some good observations of human behavior and culture, but that isn't enough to keep me reading.
hofmerin's review
4.0
I expect memories from this book will resurface in my wandering thoughts often. I want to give this book five stars but I'm just not sure that I can. It was provocative, squeamish, insightful, poignant, down right uncomfortable, and lyrical. I want to explain it to people, talk about all my many questions and takeaways, but if you haven't read it any discussion would rob you of the novelty of reading this unique book.
booksforbrooks's review
4.0
Rating clarification: 4.5 stars. I may be back to articulate my thoughts on this book once I've had chance to process them.
katherine_f16's review
4.0
Wow. Well, it definitely kept me reading, but it was perverse and abrasive, as described. And yet, I couldn't stop reading. And it was really well written. So Kudos to the author, definitely an original.