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Eva
In un mondo futuro fatto di megalopoli dagli immensi grattacieli, l'adolescente Eva si sveglia in un letto di ospedale e scopre che il suo corpo, martoriato da un incidente d'auto, non è più lo stesso: una scienza infinitamente progredita ha trapiantato il suo cervello nel cranio di una giovane scimpanzé chiamata Kelly. Così Eva comincia una nuova e difficile vita, piena di scoperte, avventure e problemi, ponendosi (e ponendoci) interrogativi importanti: fino a che punto l'uomo ha diritto di disporre della vita e della sofferenza degli animali? E fino a che punto è giusto che la scienza manipoli il corpo umano, dando origine a qualcosa che non esiste in natura?
190 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1988
55 people are currently reading
1154 people want to read
About the author
Peter Dickinson
142 books156 followersPeter Malcolm de Brissac Dickinson OBE FRSL was a prolific English author and poet, best known for children's books and detective stories.
Peter Dickinson lived in Hampshire with his second wife, author Robin McKinley. He wrote more than fifty novels for adults and young readers. He won both the Carnegie Medal and the Whitbread Children's Award twice, and his novel The Blue Hawk won The Guardian Award in 1975.
Peter Dickinson lived in Hampshire with his second wife, author Robin McKinley. He wrote more than fifty novels for adults and young readers. He won both the Carnegie Medal and the Whitbread Children's Award twice, and his novel The Blue Hawk won The Guardian Award in 1975.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 273 reviews
July 31, 2016
I've read a great many of Dickinson's books and, while I've found one or two that didn't completely engage me (for example, I admired his King and Joker without ever becoming completely immersed in it), I've never come across one that wasn't interesting -- that didn't have an intellectual heft with which it was fun to grapple. Eva both engaged me completely -- I read it compulsively -- and constantly challenged me in ways that I liked.
Thirteen-year-old Eva, pretty and blonde and entitled, is in a traffic accident that sends her into a terminal coma. Rather than let her die, or rot forever, her dad, who's in a charge of a chimp reserve, sets things up so that her mind can be transplanted into a chimp body. To raise the funds for this cutting-edge operation, he must do deals with commercial companies for the exploitation rights, even if these involve the humiliation of the chimps in his charge. Lest we be too swift to judge Dad, his chimp reserve is one of the last places where, in a future dystopian world in which wilderness is barely any longer existent and the environment is on the brink of collapse, as are political systems that have for too long used greed as their modus operandi, chimps can have any hope of survival.
In other books that I've read where a human mind is put into an animal or an automaton (or even a spaceship's computer), the mind remains human even if its new packaging isn't. One of the great triumphs of Eva is that we see our protagonist go from being a human trapped in a chimp body to become someone who's a chimp with residual human memories and intellectual abilities. By about the halfway mark, Eva wants to be the best chimp she can be, not some sort of human/chimp hybrid. She embraces chimp social interactions as opposed to human ones, and laments the fact that humans, no matter how well intentioned, will probably never be able, at a gut level, to understand these. Dickinson does such a superb job of conveying such notions, and overall in terms of bringing us into Eva's complex, decreasingly human mind, that by the end even this crusty old curmudgeon was surreptitiously wiping his eyes.
In other words, Eva is a genuinely powerful book that raises plenty of questions. It's marketed as YA presumably on the grounds that the human girl Eva is, well, a YA; but the chimp Eva isn't, and must cope with things as an adult chimp must do.
Much recommended.
Thirteen-year-old Eva, pretty and blonde and entitled, is in a traffic accident that sends her into a terminal coma. Rather than let her die, or rot forever, her dad, who's in a charge of a chimp reserve, sets things up so that her mind can be transplanted into a chimp body. To raise the funds for this cutting-edge operation, he must do deals with commercial companies for the exploitation rights, even if these involve the humiliation of the chimps in his charge. Lest we be too swift to judge Dad, his chimp reserve is one of the last places where, in a future dystopian world in which wilderness is barely any longer existent and the environment is on the brink of collapse, as are political systems that have for too long used greed as their modus operandi, chimps can have any hope of survival.
In other books that I've read where a human mind is put into an animal or an automaton (or even a spaceship's computer), the mind remains human even if its new packaging isn't. One of the great triumphs of Eva is that we see our protagonist go from being a human trapped in a chimp body to become someone who's a chimp with residual human memories and intellectual abilities. By about the halfway mark, Eva wants to be the best chimp she can be, not some sort of human/chimp hybrid. She embraces chimp social interactions as opposed to human ones, and laments the fact that humans, no matter how well intentioned, will probably never be able, at a gut level, to understand these. Dickinson does such a superb job of conveying such notions, and overall in terms of bringing us into Eva's complex, decreasingly human mind, that by the end even this crusty old curmudgeon was surreptitiously wiping his eyes.
In other words, Eva is a genuinely powerful book that raises plenty of questions. It's marketed as YA presumably on the grounds that the human girl Eva is, well, a YA; but the chimp Eva isn't, and must cope with things as an adult chimp must do.
Much recommended.
Read
March 18, 2019How I love Peter Dickinson! A girl is in a terrible accident, and wakes up with her mind implanted in the body of a chimp. Very interesting. Straight sci-fi.
January 11, 2015
Eva is a wonderful book. It tells of the changed life of a 13 year old girl, through whose eyes we picture a future, dystopian world. Eva wakes from sleep to find that her essential human self has been implanted into the living body of a chimpanzee. She had been in an irreversible coma, following a car-crash, and her parents had accepted the offer from a pioneering scientist to carry out the procedure. Eva has grown up with chimps in the family, as her father works with them; she is also a girl with deep inner resources, and is able to accept and adapt in a way that most wouldn’t. The book goes on to explore what happens to her, in a world where wild animals and their habitats have been reduced to tiny numbers by the relentless onward march of the human race, which largely puts the highest value on human life before that of every other creature.
There were resonances for me with William Golding’s book The Inheritors, and indeed, towards the end of Eva, there is a line which possibly indicates a nod by the author to that earlier work, published 33 years ago. Of course Eva doesn’t fill in all the details which an adult dystopia might, but it features some profound ideas about our relationship to our fellow creatures and the world about us. Through Eva’s eyes we can appreciate what it might feel like to be more chimp than human: the feeling (echoing Golding’s Neanderthal protagonist) that the forest is a safe, good place, the deep physical connection with the environment and your clan, the strident ways of humans ... and Dickinson does not go for the idyllic happy ending; he leaves you thinking long after you’ve finished reading - this book leaves its mark.
There were resonances for me with William Golding’s book The Inheritors, and indeed, towards the end of Eva, there is a line which possibly indicates a nod by the author to that earlier work, published 33 years ago. Of course Eva doesn’t fill in all the details which an adult dystopia might, but it features some profound ideas about our relationship to our fellow creatures and the world about us. Through Eva’s eyes we can appreciate what it might feel like to be more chimp than human: the feeling (echoing Golding’s Neanderthal protagonist) that the forest is a safe, good place, the deep physical connection with the environment and your clan, the strident ways of humans ... and Dickinson does not go for the idyllic happy ending; he leaves you thinking long after you’ve finished reading - this book leaves its mark.
June 5, 2009
My favorite thing about Eva echoes that of a book I treasure above just about all others: Speaker for the Dead—that thing being an alien society that really feels alien. In the case of Speaker those aliens were the Pequeninos, the only other sentient species known in the universe. In the case of Eva, the aliens are much closer to home: chimpanzees. And yet Peter Dickinson makes them come alive in a way that feels strange and exhilarating. Their culture, communication, and personalities are every bit as real as those of humans, because Dickinson gets in their heads, both literally and figuratively.
It is interesting, then, that with the exception of the title character, all of the human characters struck me as hollow and dimensionless. Their movements are predictable and empty, and yet overly potent, like children who found their dad’s gun. People have overdeveloped the planet, far beyond irretrievable loss of biodiversity. Dickinson’s future humanity is full of Icarian hubris, yes, but also bumbling and doe-eyed innocence, not unlike the future presented in WALL-E. As such, I read humanity’s hollow dimensionlessness in Eva as a conscious storytelling choice. Humanity is seen that way because the story isn’t really about humanity.
By contrast the chimpanzee characters are the passionate, sympathetic underdogs. They grow to dominate the book. Humanity fades to the periphery and the primary narrative evolves (no pun intended) to follow the chimps. It’s in the chimps where the heart of the story lies.
I won’t even outline the plot here, because for me so much of the joy of this book comes from its fresh strangeness. Its premise is truly bizarre, and I liked not having a chance to get used to it before delving deep into the book. So if you haven’t already spoiled it for yourself, I recommend keeping it that way until you have a chance to read this singular novel. It’s a quick read that charts strangely enjoyable and utterly unique alien territory.
It is interesting, then, that with the exception of the title character, all of the human characters struck me as hollow and dimensionless. Their movements are predictable and empty, and yet overly potent, like children who found their dad’s gun. People have overdeveloped the planet, far beyond irretrievable loss of biodiversity. Dickinson’s future humanity is full of Icarian hubris, yes, but also bumbling and doe-eyed innocence, not unlike the future presented in WALL-E. As such, I read humanity’s hollow dimensionlessness in Eva as a conscious storytelling choice. Humanity is seen that way because the story isn’t really about humanity.
By contrast the chimpanzee characters are the passionate, sympathetic underdogs. They grow to dominate the book. Humanity fades to the periphery and the primary narrative evolves (no pun intended) to follow the chimps. It’s in the chimps where the heart of the story lies.
I won’t even outline the plot here, because for me so much of the joy of this book comes from its fresh strangeness. Its premise is truly bizarre, and I liked not having a chance to get used to it before delving deep into the book. So if you haven’t already spoiled it for yourself, I recommend keeping it that way until you have a chance to read this singular novel. It’s a quick read that charts strangely enjoyable and utterly unique alien territory.
May 17, 2011
What a neat book. Eva will please fans of sci-fi, nature stories, animal ethics and intelligent YA fiction.
At some unnamed point in a dystopian future, Eva is a 13 year-old-girl who is severely injured in an accident. Only her mind remains intact. In a radical, experimental new procedure, Eva’s mind is transported to the brain and body of a chimpanzee. Caught between two worlds and relentlessly hounded by interests that hope to make a buck off her, Eva must struggle to find a place in a world in which most wild animals, and wild places, have been squeezed out of existence.
Eva could be an excellent starting point for a classroom or book group discussion on the ethics of animal experimentation and xenotransplantation, animal sentience and awareness (especially in chimpanzees), the commercialization of nature and species/habitat conservation.
At some unnamed point in a dystopian future, Eva is a 13 year-old-girl who is severely injured in an accident. Only her mind remains intact. In a radical, experimental new procedure, Eva’s mind is transported to the brain and body of a chimpanzee. Caught between two worlds and relentlessly hounded by interests that hope to make a buck off her, Eva must struggle to find a place in a world in which most wild animals, and wild places, have been squeezed out of existence.
Eva could be an excellent starting point for a classroom or book group discussion on the ethics of animal experimentation and xenotransplantation, animal sentience and awareness (especially in chimpanzees), the commercialization of nature and species/habitat conservation.
October 21, 2021
Dickinson handles the physiological and psychological aspects of a radical, experimental emergency medical procedure really well in this middle-grade sci-fi novel. The futuristic setting and certain attitudes and philosophies are not quite believable, but the book is so zoomed-in on our protagonist that these issues are relegated to pesky details hovering like mosquitoes around the periphery. Eva is credible and likeable, adaptable and brave, with a high degree of social intelligence that makes her a good match for the human and media systems that alternately play the part of ally or antagonist.
Eva is a strange story - it's not clear why Dickinson was driven to tell it, or if he had a point he was trying to make. But he did a great job executing on a challenging premise.
Eva is a strange story - it's not clear why Dickinson was driven to tell it, or if he had a point he was trying to make. But he did a great job executing on a challenging premise.
February 29, 2020
3.5 ⭐️
هرچند ایدهی کلی داستان ارزش پنج ستاره رو داره.
July 21, 2022
Were it upto you, would you relocate your ‘awareness’ into another being or say, an “empty vessel” to extend your life?
Man has perpetually investigated the hypothesis that the human mind and consciousness emerge as an epiphenomenon of a primal consciousness. We conceive a moving primeval consciousness which preexists its human vessel and which produces and changes that vessel.
Although human consciousness may emerge neurologically, a mechanism essential to its transcendent nature is suggested; that is, a primordial consciousness engenders cyclic processes that generate, shape, and evolve the neurological vessel.
This novel begins in an immensely overpopulated earth on which almost all greenery has vanished. Humans spend most of their time interiors, watching the huge "shaper."
Thirteen-year-old Eva Adamson, the daughter of a zoologist, lies in an irreparable coma resulting from a dreadful car disaster.
One of her father's colleagues performs a flourishing experiment and implants Eva's own neuron memory into the brain and able body of a female chimpanzee.
When she lastly leaves the hospital, Eva finds herself beleaguered by the media.
Eva begins to fine-tune to her half chimp–half human existence.
In time, she decides to lead the chimps away from their captors to a remote island.
There she teaches them the essentials of endurance; she becomes a new Eve, son of Adam, for chimpanzees.
The novel is both disturbing as well as entertaining.
Man has perpetually investigated the hypothesis that the human mind and consciousness emerge as an epiphenomenon of a primal consciousness. We conceive a moving primeval consciousness which preexists its human vessel and which produces and changes that vessel.
Although human consciousness may emerge neurologically, a mechanism essential to its transcendent nature is suggested; that is, a primordial consciousness engenders cyclic processes that generate, shape, and evolve the neurological vessel.
This novel begins in an immensely overpopulated earth on which almost all greenery has vanished. Humans spend most of their time interiors, watching the huge "shaper."
Thirteen-year-old Eva Adamson, the daughter of a zoologist, lies in an irreparable coma resulting from a dreadful car disaster.
One of her father's colleagues performs a flourishing experiment and implants Eva's own neuron memory into the brain and able body of a female chimpanzee.
When she lastly leaves the hospital, Eva finds herself beleaguered by the media.
Eva begins to fine-tune to her half chimp–half human existence.
In time, she decides to lead the chimps away from their captors to a remote island.
There she teaches them the essentials of endurance; she becomes a new Eve, son of Adam, for chimpanzees.
The novel is both disturbing as well as entertaining.
December 26, 2012
I recently read several books set in future and they are always dystopian. Now that's something not to think of when 2013 is around the corner.
Eva was quite different from the other young adult books I've read and if you read carefully, you'll begin to find a lot of layered analogies. Then more I read, I realized how generalized and unclear the genre is. Even if we consider it as a YA novel, I doubt anyone under 14 will like to read it and identify the simple and yet very complicated issues. I think adults will enjoy it better.
I liked it because it has focused a lot on animals and how they look at humans and each other and the focus on medical ethics and animal rights.
Eva was quite different from the other young adult books I've read and if you read carefully, you'll begin to find a lot of layered analogies. Then more I read, I realized how generalized and unclear the genre is. Even if we consider it as a YA novel, I doubt anyone under 14 will like to read it and identify the simple and yet very complicated issues. I think adults will enjoy it better.
I liked it because it has focused a lot on animals and how they look at humans and each other and the focus on medical ethics and animal rights.
November 10, 2007
This book is INSANE!
It is a CHILDREN'S book about a LITTLE GIRL with a SCIENTIST FATHER and the girl has a TERRIBLE ACCIDENT and so her BRAIN is TRANSPLANTED into the BODY of a GORILLA!!!
A GORILLA!!!!!
BUT THAT HAPPENS AT THE VERY BEGINNING! Eva the gorilla girl has a special little keypad-with-voice which she uses to communicate. Things are okay for awhile, but guess what???? THE GORILLA NATURE IS STRONG!
I'm not going to tell you what happens at the end, even though it's the only part of this book that I actually remember. Woah, I'd forgotten about this book. WOW! As I sit here, I'm starting to remember all the craziest, most insane, over-the-top books I've ever read in my life, and do you know what? They were all CHAPTER books written for CHILDREN!!!
The one I've been looking for for years now was about a girl whose estranged father dies and leaves her an abandoned town, so she and her friends move there to start an intentional community of teenagers. I think it was called.... oh! I just found it! It's called The Taking of Mariasburg. Okay, years of mystery solved by Bookface. I'm going to go do some more homework now.
It is a CHILDREN'S book about a LITTLE GIRL with a SCIENTIST FATHER and the girl has a TERRIBLE ACCIDENT and so her BRAIN is TRANSPLANTED into the BODY of a GORILLA!!!
A GORILLA!!!!!
BUT THAT HAPPENS AT THE VERY BEGINNING! Eva the gorilla girl has a special little keypad-with-voice which she uses to communicate. Things are okay for awhile, but guess what???? THE GORILLA NATURE IS STRONG!
I'm not going to tell you what happens at the end, even though it's the only part of this book that I actually remember. Woah, I'd forgotten about this book. WOW! As I sit here, I'm starting to remember all the craziest, most insane, over-the-top books I've ever read in my life, and do you know what? They were all CHAPTER books written for CHILDREN!!!
The one I've been looking for for years now was about a girl whose estranged father dies and leaves her an abandoned town, so she and her friends move there to start an intentional community of teenagers. I think it was called.... oh! I just found it! It's called The Taking of Mariasburg. Okay, years of mystery solved by Bookface. I'm going to go do some more homework now.
December 31, 2011
I first read this in middle school. I liked the version I read better than the one pictured here, as the one I read gave no hint as to what the catastrophic change in the title character's life was, and I am sure that if I had known ahead of time at that age, I never would have bothered with the book. (I disliked animal books SO much. Almost more than, egads, boy books.) I am glad I did because the story always stuck with me, and I was thrilled to find it again in adulthood.
I was not disappointed by the re-read. As young adult dystopia goes, it succeeds where nearly none of its more modern equivalents do by not being on any level wish-fulfillment. Eva's circumstances are genuinely horrifying. (In her place, I would have screamed continuously for nine days and then died. I hope that doesn't count as too much of a spoiler.) And there's no romance to make the medicine go down, which I found refreshing. And while I am not one to champion animal over human rights (sorry), the questions raised were done so in a thought provoking manner rather than a preachy one.
It was also interesting to read a relatively recent take on the future that failed to anticipate the internet.
I was not disappointed by the re-read. As young adult dystopia goes, it succeeds where nearly none of its more modern equivalents do by not being on any level wish-fulfillment. Eva's circumstances are genuinely horrifying. (In her place, I would have screamed continuously for nine days and then died. I hope that doesn't count as too much of a spoiler.) And there's no romance to make the medicine go down, which I found refreshing. And while I am not one to champion animal over human rights (sorry), the questions raised were done so in a thought provoking manner rather than a preachy one.
It was also interesting to read a relatively recent take on the future that failed to anticipate the internet.
February 6, 2011
Truly my favorite type of science fiction as there is a chance that this could happen, if technology got there. It was fun to be inside this person's head(s) and go through the possibilities. Though it is a YA book. I think parents, mothers especially, and people who have worked with animals and children understand it even more.
I couldn't put it down. If you look at my history I read books slowly and I am usually unable to read one book at a time. This one stole my attention from everything. And as much as I tried to savor it, it is still done with me wanting more. Sign of an excellent book, in my opinion. In fact, I am still in withdrawal and needing my next reading fix.
This is the BookCrossing copy. BCID 051-5557851
Will pass it on to family and friends before setting it free.
I couldn't put it down. If you look at my history I read books slowly and I am usually unable to read one book at a time. This one stole my attention from everything. And as much as I tried to savor it, it is still done with me wanting more. Sign of an excellent book, in my opinion. In fact, I am still in withdrawal and needing my next reading fix.
This is the BookCrossing copy. BCID 051-5557851
Will pass it on to family and friends before setting it free.
November 20, 2015
HORRIBLE
January 19, 2021
داستان جالب و متفاوتی داره این کتاب. داستان راجع به دختریه که وقتی بعد از چند روز بیهوشی، بیدار میشه، متوجه میشه که مغزش رو به یک گوریل پیوند زدهن و حالا توی بدن یک گوریل گرفتار شده.
برای انجام تحقیقات راجع به زندگی گوریل ها، اوا رو میفرستن توی محیط زندگی اونها و اوا کم کم باهاشون ارتباط برقرار میکنه، حتی ارتباط عاطفی...
برای انجام تحقیقات راجع به زندگی گوریل ها، اوا رو میفرستن توی محیط زندگی اونها و اوا کم کم باهاشون ارتباط برقرار میکنه، حتی ارتباط عاطفی...
February 29, 2016
Eva Adamson, age 13, awakens in the hospital after a devastating auto accident followed by a long coma. Her mother is there, overjoyed to see her awake at last, but Eva's mother seems strangely nervous and high-strung. Something has happened to Eva as a result of the accident, but no one seems prepared to explain what has been done to save her life until Eva finally demands to see herself in a mirror. Even then, taking in her drastically altered reflection, she can have no clear idea just how much her life is about to change.
I can't fault Dickinson's writing style in this book -- it is clear, engaging and, in many passages, lyrical. The world he creates -- a mildly-dystopic, not-terribly-distant future where human overpopulation runs rampant and most wild animal species have gone extinct -- is mostly believable, even if some of the concerns feel dated (the book was published in 1988). Although this book contains a wide swath of characters, each personality is drawn in a sufficiently distinctive manner that the reader should have no difficulty keeping track of everyone. In short, Dickinson did as much with his subject matter as he could; I just happened to find that subject matter less than fully engaging.
Peter Dickinson wrote some very fine books during his lifetime. In my opinion, this is not an example of his best work. Even so, his mediocre writing still outstrips the best work of many lesser authors. If you're a fiend for dystopian YA fiction, have read all the recently published titles and are looking for something else, this might just fit the bill. But if you have little patience for dystopic fiction you may not get much out of this read. I had already made a determination to finish Eva, but it felt like a slog to make it all the way to the end of a relatively slim, 219-page book.
I can't fault Dickinson's writing style in this book -- it is clear, engaging and, in many passages, lyrical. The world he creates -- a mildly-dystopic, not-terribly-distant future where human overpopulation runs rampant and most wild animal species have gone extinct -- is mostly believable, even if some of the concerns feel dated (the book was published in 1988). Although this book contains a wide swath of characters, each personality is drawn in a sufficiently distinctive manner that the reader should have no difficulty keeping track of everyone. In short, Dickinson did as much with his subject matter as he could; I just happened to find that subject matter less than fully engaging.
Peter Dickinson wrote some very fine books during his lifetime. In my opinion, this is not an example of his best work. Even so, his mediocre writing still outstrips the best work of many lesser authors. If you're a fiend for dystopian YA fiction, have read all the recently published titles and are looking for something else, this might just fit the bill. But if you have little patience for dystopic fiction you may not get much out of this read. I had already made a determination to finish Eva, but it felt like a slog to make it all the way to the end of a relatively slim, 219-page book.
November 22, 2012
One of the great YA novels -- science fiction, even though they didn't market it that way.
August 12, 2021
Much to ponder here. Eva is a character that will stay with me for a long time. The book is a haunting, thought-provoking story of what it means to be human and what our obligations are, or should be, to animals. And to our environment. This would be an excellent choice for book club discussions.
November 6, 2024
Note from 8 years later, 2024:
I haven't reread this book. But I think about it ALL. THE. TIME. I see I wrote the below review before election night 2016. I probably still had hope everything would work out. It is now election 2024 and the world we live in is...What even is it. Incomprehensible. I'm so tired. The ending of this book came into mind again, so here I am. I think we are closer to that end.
Review August 2016:
This was a reread for me, having originally read this middle-grade novel in middle school, at precisely the age it was meant for. I remembered it recently and wanted to give it another shot, having not yet learned the lesson that some things from our childhood are better left to memory.
The opening is the strongest and creepiest part. We discover early on that Eva has had her brain moved from her prepubescent body into that of a young chimp. The sequence of her learning what has happened, and how she deals with it, was shudder inducing. Eva was so strong and able to cope with this horrifying event in her life; I remembered why, in middle school, I thought she was such a strong character. I was able to identify her as an, albeit very strange, heroine. Unfortunately, reading this book through an adult's eyes, I am able to see that Eva was suspiciously accepting of her situation. She reacted maturely to everything that was thrown at her, which made it obvious that an adult male was trying to write a 13 year old girl, and barely succeeding. Her thoughts on politics were too cohesive and she is entirely too adult like, instead of being the angsty teenager we would all be in this situation. Seriously, what happened to her is thoroughly horrifying, she deserved to have some screams and cry alone in the corner time.
Soon we leave the hospital and learn about the state of the world, and although it is a much more depressing view of the near future than I cherish close to my heart, it was also disturbingly accurate in some ways. It was interesting that TV was the medium that had completely taken over society, as there was no internet really.
The middle of the book lost its way, and I was actually growing bored, even though the book is so short. I didn't like it all the way up until the very end, when the last page was actually quite a good pay off.
The bottom line is, if you are interested in young adult dystopias, this would probably prove an interesting read for you. Having been published in the late 80s, as opposed to the last decade, proves that our fear of where we are headed has changed drastically.
I haven't reread this book. But I think about it ALL. THE. TIME. I see I wrote the below review before election night 2016. I probably still had hope everything would work out. It is now election 2024 and the world we live in is...What even is it. Incomprehensible. I'm so tired. The ending of this book came into mind again, so here I am. I think we are closer to that end.
Review August 2016:
This was a reread for me, having originally read this middle-grade novel in middle school, at precisely the age it was meant for. I remembered it recently and wanted to give it another shot, having not yet learned the lesson that some things from our childhood are better left to memory.
The opening is the strongest and creepiest part. We discover early on that Eva has had her brain moved from her prepubescent body into that of a young chimp. The sequence of her learning what has happened, and how she deals with it, was shudder inducing. Eva was so strong and able to cope with this horrifying event in her life; I remembered why, in middle school, I thought she was such a strong character. I was able to identify her as an, albeit very strange, heroine. Unfortunately, reading this book through an adult's eyes, I am able to see that Eva was suspiciously accepting of her situation. She reacted maturely to everything that was thrown at her, which made it obvious that an adult male was trying to write a 13 year old girl, and barely succeeding. Her thoughts on politics were too cohesive and she is entirely too adult like, instead of being the angsty teenager we would all be in this situation. Seriously, what happened to her is thoroughly horrifying, she deserved to have some screams and cry alone in the corner time.
Soon we leave the hospital and learn about the state of the world, and although it is a much more depressing view of the near future than I cherish close to my heart, it was also disturbingly accurate in some ways. It was interesting that TV was the medium that had completely taken over society, as there was no internet really.
The middle of the book lost its way, and I was actually growing bored, even though the book is so short. I didn't like it all the way up until the very end, when the last page was actually quite a good pay off.
The bottom line is, if you are interested in young adult dystopias, this would probably prove an interesting read for you. Having been published in the late 80s, as opposed to the last decade, proves that our fear of where we are headed has changed drastically.
June 30, 2010
Eva is so far off the beaten path for me that I'm still surprised I read it. After a librarian aid handed it to me (without knowing my name is Eva) I decided to give it a try because of her thoughts on it.
I started liking the cover more and more as I read into the book. The trees and brush in the background play a solid part because of Eva's yearnings and I love the bit of black hair going down her face also - it makes you think once you're a ways into the book.
I'm not much for long flowery descriptions but here it worked and was needed in a way. It didn't feel like "filler" which is usually what that sort of things feels like for me.
The premise of the story is surely unique, Eva gets in a car accident as a 13 year old girl and because of her parents work and affiliations they were able, while Eva's in a coma, to transplant her brain into a chimp body. No one knew what they could possibly expect and when Eva finally woke up there was a surprise - Eva was no longer just Eva in a chimp's body but Eva and Kelly, the chimp that had her body stolen.
Dickinson meshed the two beautifully in my opinion, it really hit home how it would be to live with two differing sides inside you. Two totally differing sides.
One part I didn't care for was the race distinction nearing the end. I don't have the book handy and I forget the exact wording but when talking about the difference between men and woman and chimps having babies something was said about "a white woman being carried off into the woods". Why the distinction? I know I'm especially sensitive to the subject but really, why? Why not leave it at woman? Is it a horror to have a white woman carried off but not a black woman? Is a black woman not worth mentioning? This really bothered me and I'd love to hear the reasoning behind that one sentence.
Besides this one thing I'm surprised I liked it as much as I did being that it's so different than anything I normally go for. If anyone knows of any books like this I'd love to get the recommendation. It/They would have to be very similiar. I'm looking for sci-fi but like this, realistic sci-fi that I can really get into.
I started liking the cover more and more as I read into the book. The trees and brush in the background play a solid part because of Eva's yearnings and I love the bit of black hair going down her face also - it makes you think once you're a ways into the book.
I'm not much for long flowery descriptions but here it worked and was needed in a way. It didn't feel like "filler" which is usually what that sort of things feels like for me.
The premise of the story is surely unique, Eva gets in a car accident as a 13 year old girl and because of her parents work and affiliations they were able, while Eva's in a coma, to transplant her brain into a chimp body. No one knew what they could possibly expect and when Eva finally woke up there was a surprise - Eva was no longer just Eva in a chimp's body but Eva and Kelly, the chimp that had her body stolen.
Dickinson meshed the two beautifully in my opinion, it really hit home how it would be to live with two differing sides inside you. Two totally differing sides.
One part I didn't care for was the race distinction nearing the end. I don't have the book handy and I forget the exact wording but when talking about the difference between men and woman and chimps having babies something was said about "a white woman being carried off into the woods". Why the distinction? I know I'm especially sensitive to the subject but really, why? Why not leave it at woman? Is it a horror to have a white woman carried off but not a black woman? Is a black woman not worth mentioning? This really bothered me and I'd love to hear the reasoning behind that one sentence.
Besides this one thing I'm surprised I liked it as much as I did being that it's so different than anything I normally go for. If anyone knows of any books like this I'd love to get the recommendation. It/They would have to be very similiar. I'm looking for sci-fi but like this, realistic sci-fi that I can really get into.
March 6, 2011
It was an OK book. Yet again I didn't actually finish it, LOL. It's so hard to find a decent book these days, or maybe it's just because my standard for 'good' is too high due to my obsessive reading in the past.
Notice how I said past, I don't read or write much on Goodreads now.
:(
Back to the point!!!!
SO, it's a book about this girl who's in some sort of accident and as a means of saving her life her parents decide to turn her into a chimp or ape or some sort of monkey-type creature.
The rest of book covers how she fits in with humans and chimps and getting used to who she is. At the pont where I stopped reading her friend had transported her and some other chimps (full chimps, I mean not humans changed into chimps chimps but born chimps chimps) to this island to escape from the humans because they don't really care about chimps. They just want to use them, and other animals, for testing and adverts and such.
So really this story is about how we humans are affecting chimps and animals on a whole.
Because Eva (the girl that got changed into a chimp) was a human-chimp is was hard for me to relate to her. I can relate to demigods in story (Percy Jackson!!!!<3) but not really chimps...
Chimps aren't really on the top of my Identifying With list. I'm not all that interesting in animals whereas demigods and vampires and werewolves have a sort of...human essence to them.
They're more than human but still CLOSE to humans...it's hard for me to explain.
Basically, I didn't really enjoy this story because it was hard for me to identify with Eva and the chimps.
There. Finished.
Bye!!!
Notice how I said past, I don't read or write much on Goodreads now.
:(
Back to the point!!!!
SO, it's a book about this girl who's in some sort of accident and as a means of saving her life her parents decide to turn her into a chimp or ape or some sort of monkey-type creature.
The rest of book covers how she fits in with humans and chimps and getting used to who she is. At the pont where I stopped reading her friend had transported her and some other chimps (full chimps, I mean not humans changed into chimps chimps but born chimps chimps) to this island to escape from the humans because they don't really care about chimps. They just want to use them, and other animals, for testing and adverts and such.
So really this story is about how we humans are affecting chimps and animals on a whole.
Because Eva (the girl that got changed into a chimp) was a human-chimp is was hard for me to relate to her. I can relate to demigods in story (Percy Jackson!!!!<3) but not really chimps...
Chimps aren't really on the top of my Identifying With list. I'm not all that interesting in animals whereas demigods and vampires and werewolves have a sort of...human essence to them.
They're more than human but still CLOSE to humans...it's hard for me to explain.
Basically, I didn't really enjoy this story because it was hard for me to identify with Eva and the chimps.
There. Finished.
Bye!!!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 5, 2014
http://nwhyte.livejournal.com/2361233.html[return][return]I was moved to get this by Jo Walton's review on Tor.com, five years ago I now realise; I had no idea that it was one of Dickinson's best known books *"80% of my mail, almost all of it from the USA, is about this one book"); I know him for The Green Gene and Annerton Pit and Tulku and King and Joker and The Changes (of which I saw the first episode again at Worldcon).[return][return]It is a good take on a familiar sfnal theme, of a human mind transplanted into another body - H.L. Gold had his hero transplanted into a dog in 1939, and there's always I Will Fear No Evil, in which a rich man's brain is transplanted into his secretary's body and hilarity ensues. Dickinson's teenage protagonist wakes up to find that to save her life, her parents have transplanted her mind into the body of one of her father's experimental chimpanzees, in a near future world which is facing environmental disaster. She is caught up in the wider politics of what has happened to her, the actual ethics of the operation (and of repeating it) and the intersection of financial and political interests in what happens to the chimpanzees as the research money runs out, and has to find her own way between asserting her humanity and embracing her new chimpanzee nature, including sex and death. Some of it, of course, is a metaphor for growing up, but all of it is rather good, and I'm glad I followed up on this recommendation.
November 7, 2012
Grade Level/Interest Level: 6-8th grade
Reading Level: 1030 Level 6th-8th
Main Characters: Eva
POV: Ominous third person narrator
Setting: In the future when the human population is large and the animal population is low and animals are typically in reserves/zoos
Eva is a book about a young girl who gest in a car accident and is put into a coma for a while. They discover that her body will no longer make it. Her father who is a scientist decides to make Eva his project and implants her brain into a chimp that was killed for this purpose only. Eva battles with her identity as a human and a chimp and the issues surrounding animals in this new world. She battles with the fact that she has human memories but then again has the natural instincts of a chimp. She must now decide to make a decision between being a human or chimp, and if she should fight for the rights of the animals. There is a lot of content within the book and it is very complex. I would probably use this within an 8th grade classroom with a lot of support within the book. The main theme to talk about within this book is identity and the idea of what is right and what one should stand up for. Also, Eva’s relationship with her mother and father are quite different now that she is a chimp. Does her mother still love her like she did before and is her father more interested in her as a scientific project? These are great ideas to explore with students in a scenario that may never occur, but also real life issues are embedded within.
Reading Level: 1030 Level 6th-8th
Main Characters: Eva
POV: Ominous third person narrator
Setting: In the future when the human population is large and the animal population is low and animals are typically in reserves/zoos
Eva is a book about a young girl who gest in a car accident and is put into a coma for a while. They discover that her body will no longer make it. Her father who is a scientist decides to make Eva his project and implants her brain into a chimp that was killed for this purpose only. Eva battles with her identity as a human and a chimp and the issues surrounding animals in this new world. She battles with the fact that she has human memories but then again has the natural instincts of a chimp. She must now decide to make a decision between being a human or chimp, and if she should fight for the rights of the animals. There is a lot of content within the book and it is very complex. I would probably use this within an 8th grade classroom with a lot of support within the book. The main theme to talk about within this book is identity and the idea of what is right and what one should stand up for. Also, Eva’s relationship with her mother and father are quite different now that she is a chimp. Does her mother still love her like she did before and is her father more interested in her as a scientific project? These are great ideas to explore with students in a scenario that may never occur, but also real life issues are embedded within.
July 14, 2012
This book was thoroughly odd. Honestly, the setting was improbable and random, feeling rather forced to me. It was never clear how far in the future this book was supposed to be set, as it didn't seem to have much better technology, though everything had a different name.
I personally felt that the setting rather detracted from the story. I'm not sure what else could have been done for the story to work, but I didn't particularly like it's set-up and backstory. The book could have benefited from starting a bit earlier in Eva's life, rather than throwing the reader into the typical, over-used 'waking up from a coma with something different' scene. I understand why, as this was sort of a new beginning, but a prologue of Eva as she was before wouldn't have hurt.
Also, Eva didn't seem to be much of a character. She accepts what has happened much, much too easily. No matter what explanation the book gives, it would have been nice to see more 'My gosh, what is this?' as she finds out what has happened.
In the end, this book had some weird bits and I couldn't get that deeply into it. Not being my preferred genre, I'm not particularly surprised. But neither was it horrible, and it was unique and unexpected.
I personally felt that the setting rather detracted from the story. I'm not sure what else could have been done for the story to work, but I didn't particularly like it's set-up and backstory. The book could have benefited from starting a bit earlier in Eva's life, rather than throwing the reader into the typical, over-used 'waking up from a coma with something different' scene. I understand why, as this was sort of a new beginning, but a prologue of Eva as she was before wouldn't have hurt.
Also, Eva didn't seem to be much of a character. She accepts what has happened much, much too easily. No matter what explanation the book gives, it would have been nice to see more 'My gosh, what is this?' as she finds out what has happened.
In the end, this book had some weird bits and I couldn't get that deeply into it. Not being my preferred genre, I'm not particularly surprised. But neither was it horrible, and it was unique and unexpected.
October 13, 2023
This story was both fascinating and disturbing as well as completely engrossing. Eva is a young teenage girl who has been in a terrible car accident. The only way to save her is through a experimental operation, in which her still healthy brain is implanted into a chimp. Because Eva has been raised with chimps (her family runs a reserve), she makes the transition relatively smoothly. But as she recovers from surgery, she discovers that she is more chimp than human. She quickly becomes a celebrity, and her life is run by corporations who want to use her to promote their products.
The story takes place in our distant future, far enough that our world has become overpopulated to the point that animals have become rare, and chimps are mainly kept for experimental purposes. This story raises so many questions about ethics, about how closely related we are with chimps and other apes, how we treat our world...it was written 20+ years ago, but it still rings very true today.
The story takes place in our distant future, far enough that our world has become overpopulated to the point that animals have become rare, and chimps are mainly kept for experimental purposes. This story raises so many questions about ethics, about how closely related we are with chimps and other apes, how we treat our world...it was written 20+ years ago, but it still rings very true today.
March 22, 2019
I hate primates and I hated this book, mainly for this reason and also because it just wasn't a book for me. (Because primate life is the least interesting thing for me to read.) It isn't a fair review of the style, quality, or content, but I don't care.
I suppose I should edit this to say: I read this for a book club. I had no control over the book I would read, just that I should read it all those years ago.
I suppose I should edit this to say: I read this for a book club. I had no control over the book I would read, just that I should read it all those years ago.
Read
February 28, 2024A friend loaned me this book in high school and it haunts me to this day
January 25, 2024
Touching and thought-provoking science fiction with a wonderfully unique and intriguing viewpoint.
November 15, 2024
Fantastic sci-fi with some wonderful dashes of dystopian storytelling thrown in for good measure.
December 14, 2011
Author- Peter Dickinson
Title- Eva
Genre- Science Fiction (sci-fi)
Eva is a 13 year old girl living a normal life, sometime in the future. The only thing that separates her from the average girl is that she has a close affinity with chimps. This has everything to do with the fact that her father works for the Pool, an area that chimps are kept and observed. As a result, the Reserve is like her second home. She has grown up with them, and understands their social code as well as a humans. This oddity helps her cope when she is involved in a horrendous car crash, and turned into a science experiment for neurone memory transplant. Her parents, desperate for her survival, agreed for her neurone memory to be transplanted into Kelly, a young chimp at the Reserve. Eva is now a chimp with a human’s judgement, memories and intelligence. This is a dangerous thing in a world where humans have driven all other species into extinction, and chimps look to be next. Eva must use both parts of her to do everything in her power to stop this from happening, even if it means hurting the ones she loves.
This book is a good book because it explores some very deep points, yet manages to do so in an interesting way that keeps the reader captivated. It comes very close to becoming an environmental lecture, but manages to avoid it. I think, however, that while it did explore many crucial points, it glossed over some important ones, such as what it means to be human and animal rights. Dickinson glosses over these questions, however, and focuses on introducing new skills to the chimps, which, while interesting, I don’t think it was interesting enough to warrant the detail given. I also don’t think Dickinson explored the horrifying concept of waking up in a body that was not your own thoroughly.
However, the book did hold my attention for the entire duration, and upon finishing it I had been made to explore theories I had never even thought of, such as will the human race really lose all motivation?, and are we really on the path to wiping out all other species? I was also forced to consider an opinion voiced during the novel. It presented the opinion that, when the human has truly destroyed the Earth, as they had in the novel, Mother Nature would deal with it. In the book humans have lost all motivation, and are content to sit at home on their couches all day. They have stopped sending rockets to the moon, simply because nobody cares anymore. It was said that, slowly, people would just lose the will to live, and die. It is a truly disturbing idea, but, nevertheless, it made me think, and I think that’s what a good book is supposed to do.
I would recommend this book to children and young adults, aged 13 to 20. However, this book would also be suitable for mature 12 year olds, however, I don’t think it’s suitable for younger children, as it presents a few disturbing issues. It is good for readers who enjoy science fiction. That doesn’t mean, however, that if you’re not into sci-fi then you won’t enjoy this book. Sci-fi is not my favourite style; however I still found it an entertaining read.
Overall, I think that while this book was entertaining, it only scratched the surface on some important issues, yet went into too much detail on others. Because of this, I think it fell short of what it could have become.
I do, however, think that it is a story that will stay in my head for the years to come because of its unique storyline.
Title- Eva
Genre- Science Fiction (sci-fi)
Eva is a 13 year old girl living a normal life, sometime in the future. The only thing that separates her from the average girl is that she has a close affinity with chimps. This has everything to do with the fact that her father works for the Pool, an area that chimps are kept and observed. As a result, the Reserve is like her second home. She has grown up with them, and understands their social code as well as a humans. This oddity helps her cope when she is involved in a horrendous car crash, and turned into a science experiment for neurone memory transplant. Her parents, desperate for her survival, agreed for her neurone memory to be transplanted into Kelly, a young chimp at the Reserve. Eva is now a chimp with a human’s judgement, memories and intelligence. This is a dangerous thing in a world where humans have driven all other species into extinction, and chimps look to be next. Eva must use both parts of her to do everything in her power to stop this from happening, even if it means hurting the ones she loves.
This book is a good book because it explores some very deep points, yet manages to do so in an interesting way that keeps the reader captivated. It comes very close to becoming an environmental lecture, but manages to avoid it. I think, however, that while it did explore many crucial points, it glossed over some important ones, such as what it means to be human and animal rights. Dickinson glosses over these questions, however, and focuses on introducing new skills to the chimps, which, while interesting, I don’t think it was interesting enough to warrant the detail given. I also don’t think Dickinson explored the horrifying concept of waking up in a body that was not your own thoroughly.
However, the book did hold my attention for the entire duration, and upon finishing it I had been made to explore theories I had never even thought of, such as will the human race really lose all motivation?, and are we really on the path to wiping out all other species? I was also forced to consider an opinion voiced during the novel. It presented the opinion that, when the human has truly destroyed the Earth, as they had in the novel, Mother Nature would deal with it. In the book humans have lost all motivation, and are content to sit at home on their couches all day. They have stopped sending rockets to the moon, simply because nobody cares anymore. It was said that, slowly, people would just lose the will to live, and die. It is a truly disturbing idea, but, nevertheless, it made me think, and I think that’s what a good book is supposed to do.
I would recommend this book to children and young adults, aged 13 to 20. However, this book would also be suitable for mature 12 year olds, however, I don’t think it’s suitable for younger children, as it presents a few disturbing issues. It is good for readers who enjoy science fiction. That doesn’t mean, however, that if you’re not into sci-fi then you won’t enjoy this book. Sci-fi is not my favourite style; however I still found it an entertaining read.
Overall, I think that while this book was entertaining, it only scratched the surface on some important issues, yet went into too much detail on others. Because of this, I think it fell short of what it could have become.
I do, however, think that it is a story that will stay in my head for the years to come because of its unique storyline.
April 20, 2009
Prior to seeing it as a choice on our reading list for my English class, I had never heard of this book. I read the description of the story on the Internet and decided that it sounded very interesting, albeit outlandish. It seemed like something different than anything I had ever read before. It also appeared to deal with themes in which I am very interested, such as animal medical experiments and animal rights. Therefore, I chose to read it.
The first part of the book progressed very quickly, as I enjoyed discovering just how the experiment had been done. After the first chapter, the book gets very detailed, which makes for a slower progression. Nonetheless, the ideas and themes are worth wading through the details.
The book raises the controversial issue of conducting medical experiments on animals, which I think is a very important and relevant theme in today’s society. Humans frequently mistreat animals in the name of “helping” other humans. I think it is important for us to consider whether the suffering we inflict is justified. We also need to ask ourselves why we think our lives are more valuable than the lives of those animals. A rat’s life is just as important to him as mine is to me.
The book also deals with issues of parent/child relationships. Such issues are relevant to high school students. Both students and parents deal with making decisions that will disappoint or sadden people who are important to them. They have to consider the effects of the decisions on themselves and on the other people involved. This book demonstrates the competing interests of a teen’s freedom and independence versus the parents’ desire to control and protect.
Although it is a very small part of the book, I also like the reference to how people become so apathetic that they don’t think it is worth the effort to keep living. Our society may not be in immediate danger of this happening, but it is something to consider. If we suddenly had to hunt or grow our own food and build our own shelters, would we find that worth the effort? If we could not spend our evenings watching television and eating nice dinners largely prepared by someone else, if we had to spend most of our time focused solely on survival, I think many of us would refuse to expend the effort to stay alive. As a society, we are becoming more and more mentally wired to depend on efforts of others to stay alive- and to spend our own time doing things we consider to be fun. It is important to consider how such mental wiring can be dangerous.
Because of the fascinating issues and potential for intriguing discussions, I would use this book in a classroom of high school students. I might teach it in conjunction with other books that consider the relationship of human beings with other animals, such as The Call of the Wild, or I might teach it in conjunction with books that consider the future of the human race (of which there are far too many to list here), or with books dealing with parent/child relationships.
3Q 3P
The first part of the book progressed very quickly, as I enjoyed discovering just how the experiment had been done. After the first chapter, the book gets very detailed, which makes for a slower progression. Nonetheless, the ideas and themes are worth wading through the details.
The book raises the controversial issue of conducting medical experiments on animals, which I think is a very important and relevant theme in today’s society. Humans frequently mistreat animals in the name of “helping” other humans. I think it is important for us to consider whether the suffering we inflict is justified. We also need to ask ourselves why we think our lives are more valuable than the lives of those animals. A rat’s life is just as important to him as mine is to me.
The book also deals with issues of parent/child relationships. Such issues are relevant to high school students. Both students and parents deal with making decisions that will disappoint or sadden people who are important to them. They have to consider the effects of the decisions on themselves and on the other people involved. This book demonstrates the competing interests of a teen’s freedom and independence versus the parents’ desire to control and protect.
Although it is a very small part of the book, I also like the reference to how people become so apathetic that they don’t think it is worth the effort to keep living. Our society may not be in immediate danger of this happening, but it is something to consider. If we suddenly had to hunt or grow our own food and build our own shelters, would we find that worth the effort? If we could not spend our evenings watching television and eating nice dinners largely prepared by someone else, if we had to spend most of our time focused solely on survival, I think many of us would refuse to expend the effort to stay alive. As a society, we are becoming more and more mentally wired to depend on efforts of others to stay alive- and to spend our own time doing things we consider to be fun. It is important to consider how such mental wiring can be dangerous.
Because of the fascinating issues and potential for intriguing discussions, I would use this book in a classroom of high school students. I might teach it in conjunction with other books that consider the relationship of human beings with other animals, such as The Call of the Wild, or I might teach it in conjunction with books that consider the future of the human race (of which there are far too many to list here), or with books dealing with parent/child relationships.
3Q 3P
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