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Hal & Roger Hunt Adventures #10
Gorilla Adventure
1
220 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1969
3 people are currently reading
169 people want to read
About the author
Willard Price
143 books77 followersWillard DeMille Price was born in Peterborough, Ontario, and moved to the US when he was four. He got his MA and Litt.D from Columbia. He held a special interest for natural history, ethnology and exploration and made numerous expeditions for the American Museum of Natural History and the National Geographic Society. Price also went on to edit various magazines on travel and world affairs and spent six years working in Japan as foreign correspondent for New York and London newspapers. He travelled in seventy-seven countries before his death in 1983.
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Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
June 8, 2009
I'm going to rate all of the Willard Price books as four stars. Not because I think they're all that special (hell, they're basically the works of an eco-terrorism apologist), but because, when I was twelve, they were THE BEST BOOKS I'D EVER READ. I lapped them up. Loved 'em.
January 30, 2010
I absolutely LOVED this book! I was a bit unsure when I first picked it up, because I didn’t like the idea of ‘animal collectors’, I thought they might be poachers or hunters. But I was pleasantly surprised.
Hal and Roger are the nicest boys. They both really love animals, and don’t believe in killing them, as their job is to catch them alive for zoos and circuses. In fact, they are so fond of animals that they end up sharing their bedroom with a python, an adult gorilla, two baby gorillas, and elephant shrew, a chimp, a colobus monkey and a bush-baby!
The boys are in the Congo jungle, and their mission is to catch a mountain gorilla. Unfortunately, a poaching gang gets to the gorillas first and kills most of them. One large adult male gorilla, Gog, mistakenly thinks that Roger and Hal are responsible for killing his family. So Gog begins to take revenge on the boys.
There are lots of funny moments in the book where I laughed out load. Some of the funniest moments involved Tieg, the Dutch guide, who is really a bit of an idiot. He is horrible to the animals, and they get their own back on him throughout the book.
I also loved that there were lots of animal facts scattered through the story. I learned a lot of new things from reading this book. I will definitely be looking out for more books in this series.
Hal and Roger are the nicest boys. They both really love animals, and don’t believe in killing them, as their job is to catch them alive for zoos and circuses. In fact, they are so fond of animals that they end up sharing their bedroom with a python, an adult gorilla, two baby gorillas, and elephant shrew, a chimp, a colobus monkey and a bush-baby!
The boys are in the Congo jungle, and their mission is to catch a mountain gorilla. Unfortunately, a poaching gang gets to the gorillas first and kills most of them. One large adult male gorilla, Gog, mistakenly thinks that Roger and Hal are responsible for killing his family. So Gog begins to take revenge on the boys.
There are lots of funny moments in the book where I laughed out load. Some of the funniest moments involved Tieg, the Dutch guide, who is really a bit of an idiot. He is horrible to the animals, and they get their own back on him throughout the book.
I also loved that there were lots of animal facts scattered through the story. I learned a lot of new things from reading this book. I will definitely be looking out for more books in this series.
July 24, 2020
For animal collectors, Africa is the place to be, so it’s no surprise that the Hal & Roger Hunt Adventure series should spend just over a third of the novels in the series featured there. Some of them have been less effective than the others, with a slightly racist tone in places and a slightly colonial mindset making reading them uncomfortable at times. In this tenth novel in the series, “Gorilla Adventure”, the Hunts’ adventures in Africa comes to an end, this time in the mountains of the Congo.
As with others in the series, Hal and Roger Hunt have been sent to the Congo to obtain animals that their father can sell to zoos and collectors. Chief amongst these is the mountain gorilla, which is a lot more difficult to catch than the lowland gorilla. However, there are poachers in the area and upon finding a family of gorillas dead in a clearing, the largest male decides the Hunts were responsible and sets about making them suffer for what he believes they have done, using as many weapons as he can find; fire, leopards, snakes and his own physical superiority.
The novels in this series have been more focussed when the main point is catching animals and the antagonists are animal rather than human. That’s certainly the case here, with the sub-plot involving the capture of the rogue gorilla hunter not taking up much space and acting as a minor distraction more than a genuine sub-plot and the late sub-plot about the hospital and the diamonds sticking out as being patently coincidental, but again fortunately not affecting the novel enough to be too much of a distraction.
Whilst the character building is as weak as ever, with the rogue gorilla hunter and the doctor featuring but barely getting much attention and the guide, Andre Tieg, largely being shunted off to one side until he is useful to the plot, usually to exercise his powers of incompetence. Fortunately, the character of Gog, the huge gorilla, is built up quite a bit and there is a lot of time dedicated to how the boys care for the animals that they have caught, rather than just concentrating on the capture, which makes for a nice change and adds detail to their characters that haven’t been seen before.
Fortunately, this time around, the slightly racist undertone has also been removed, with the poacher insulting the Hunts’ crew in those terms, but very few other references to race. I was delighted to see that more of the Hunts’ team are named this time around and are more useful characters, rather than just being background, although admittedly this is just a minority of their team. But with more names and fewer references to their skin colour as occurred repeatedly over the previous few novels, this made for a far more interesting, better paced, and less uncomfortable read than before.
There are a few situations where the capture of the animals seemed to progress a little too smoothly and the sub-plots involving the hospital and the voyage home weren’t entirely necessary and looked like the padding they were. However, this is one of the more effective novels in the series and there is a feeling that the crew and the boys were in genuine danger at a couple of points, which has rarely happened previously. Price’s lack of decent characters and the distractions he insists on writing in stop this being a perfect novel, but it’s certainly one of the better ones in this series.
As with others in the series, Hal and Roger Hunt have been sent to the Congo to obtain animals that their father can sell to zoos and collectors. Chief amongst these is the mountain gorilla, which is a lot more difficult to catch than the lowland gorilla. However, there are poachers in the area and upon finding a family of gorillas dead in a clearing, the largest male decides the Hunts were responsible and sets about making them suffer for what he believes they have done, using as many weapons as he can find; fire, leopards, snakes and his own physical superiority.
The novels in this series have been more focussed when the main point is catching animals and the antagonists are animal rather than human. That’s certainly the case here, with the sub-plot involving the capture of the rogue gorilla hunter not taking up much space and acting as a minor distraction more than a genuine sub-plot and the late sub-plot about the hospital and the diamonds sticking out as being patently coincidental, but again fortunately not affecting the novel enough to be too much of a distraction.
Whilst the character building is as weak as ever, with the rogue gorilla hunter and the doctor featuring but barely getting much attention and the guide, Andre Tieg, largely being shunted off to one side until he is useful to the plot, usually to exercise his powers of incompetence. Fortunately, the character of Gog, the huge gorilla, is built up quite a bit and there is a lot of time dedicated to how the boys care for the animals that they have caught, rather than just concentrating on the capture, which makes for a nice change and adds detail to their characters that haven’t been seen before.
Fortunately, this time around, the slightly racist undertone has also been removed, with the poacher insulting the Hunts’ crew in those terms, but very few other references to race. I was delighted to see that more of the Hunts’ team are named this time around and are more useful characters, rather than just being background, although admittedly this is just a minority of their team. But with more names and fewer references to their skin colour as occurred repeatedly over the previous few novels, this made for a far more interesting, better paced, and less uncomfortable read than before.
There are a few situations where the capture of the animals seemed to progress a little too smoothly and the sub-plots involving the hospital and the voyage home weren’t entirely necessary and looked like the padding they were. However, this is one of the more effective novels in the series and there is a feeling that the crew and the boys were in genuine danger at a couple of points, which has rarely happened previously. Price’s lack of decent characters and the distractions he insists on writing in stop this being a perfect novel, but it’s certainly one of the better ones in this series.
December 20, 2020
Good return to form. The boys battling wild animals stupid guides, hunters, etc. teaching the reader about animal behaviour in the process. The boys return the cargo to their dad's ranch at the end only to be given another assignment inbthe great barrier reef for the next book.
Read 10 out of 14 now. Onto the next one now.
Read 10 out of 14 now. Onto the next one now.
August 2, 2022
This book is about two brothers, Hal and Roger Hunt, who save a lot of animals in a jungle, including a python and a gorilla. My favourite part is where they tactically capture the white python, a very rare python. My favourite character is Roger, the younger one, because he is really smart. I learnt that the whiteness of the python is not just vitiligo, but it can actually be born that way.
February 2, 2018
I love books by Willard Price and this was no exception. His books teach us about a large variety of things all the while not making it seem boring or full of facts but instead very interesting.
December 13, 2020
Bought for me as a gift because I read all of these as a child. I loved it, it took me back to being a child again and reading these over and over.
December 16, 2021
Adventurous story nice reading
July 2, 2023
Far too many snakes to be anything but squirmy.
March 27, 2019
Action, adventure, survival, environment, conservation...
I loved these books when I was a kid. At the time, they seemed to border on sci-fi regarding the at-the-time-amazing technology the boys used.
Of course, looking back you can see how these stories are flawed, but I still think they are enjoyable. In fact, it would make for a really interesting middle school science project for children to read one of these books and then compare them with the knowledge of the world and technology we have today.
I loved these books when I was a kid. At the time, they seemed to border on sci-fi regarding the at-the-time-amazing technology the boys used.
Of course, looking back you can see how these stories are flawed, but I still think they are enjoyable. In fact, it would make for a really interesting middle school science project for children to read one of these books and then compare them with the knowledge of the world and technology we have today.
January 6, 2021
Hal and Roger's final adventure in Africa takes them to the deepest darkest Congo where they must capture rare mountain gorillas and other animals for their father's firm. Here there are plenty of dangerous obstacles for them to tackle, including Gog; an enraged silverback with a festering bullet wound, a host of venomous snakes, a murderous band of gorilla poachers, and a foolish Belgian hunter named Tieg. The latter is more or less a rehash of the bumbling fraud Colonel Bigg from African Adventure and is promptly forgotten near the end of the book. The poacher gang are barely worth a mention, for besides massacring innocent gorillas, they are easily vanquished.
Willard Price tries hard to make gorillas scary whilst teaching readers that they are in fact gentle creatures. He also tries to play up their intelligence by stretching the truth to breaking point. In some of the more ridiculous scenes, the antagonist gorilla sets fires, lays traps, and even tries to assassinate the boys with a deadly mamba. A freakishly charitable chimpanzee is seen helping an injured colobus monkey, when in real life they hunt them for meat. Despite these absurdities, there is a large variety of interesting wildlife in Gorilla Adventure and the action rarely lets up. This book may have just as conveniently been titled 'Snake Adventure', as the boys spend more time bagging these than gorillas. It's nice to see Roger receive a life threatening injury from a spitting cobra to highlight the risks of their profession.
Willard Price tries hard to make gorillas scary whilst teaching readers that they are in fact gentle creatures. He also tries to play up their intelligence by stretching the truth to breaking point. In some of the more ridiculous scenes, the antagonist gorilla sets fires, lays traps, and even tries to assassinate the boys with a deadly mamba. A freakishly charitable chimpanzee is seen helping an injured colobus monkey, when in real life they hunt them for meat. Despite these absurdities, there is a large variety of interesting wildlife in Gorilla Adventure and the action rarely lets up. This book may have just as conveniently been titled 'Snake Adventure', as the boys spend more time bagging these than gorillas. It's nice to see Roger receive a life threatening injury from a spitting cobra to highlight the risks of their profession.
May 17, 2013
I liked this book a lot when I was a kid. A story about the jungles of Africa and wild animals seems like every boys dream. I have been tempted to read it again to see if it was as exciting as I remember. However I have done that in the past with other books I read as a kid and been sorely disappointed. Hence I will let sleeping dogs lie and not spoil the memories of this book that I have had since I was a child.
January 19, 2015
Although the novel is a bit dated … a lot more is known about gorilla behavior than when the novel was written and there are a few stereotypes incorporated that are typical of the era in which the book was written, despite which all of the characters are treated in a dignified manner … this novel is fun to read! It is to use a trite phrase, "old-fashioned family fun" because this is a well written adventure novel that is suitable for anyone of any age who is capable of reading to read.
May 10, 2009
Comparatively weak return to West Africa, let down badly by too many sensational successes in catching animals - such as Hal capturing a black panther after a hand-to-paw tussle in a pit - and a similarly implausible enemy in a gorilla.
September 2, 2016
The first Willard Price I've read - missed out as a youngster. Good fun adventurous read which also informs. A little far fetched but that adds to the adventure feel. Thanks to my 11 year old nephew for recommending. You're never to old to discover something new.
October 21, 2010
Interesting book about the black evil trade.
September 8, 2012
I loved for these books when I was about 11 and learned A LOT about animals and geography from them
Read
March 14, 2015I enjoyed this book because of the truth in it with the gorillas being abused and treated badly
January 31, 2017
I love the character (animal) Gog
December 4, 2015
4.5 stars!
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews