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A Beautiful Truth
Walt and Judy are deeply in love, but Judy longs for a child. Walt measures all beauty against that of Judy and doesn’t want her eyes to get any sadder. They stay side by side and search for distractions, realizing they may never have a family—when Walt finds an unexpected opportunity in the pages of Life magazine. Soon they are welcoming Looee, born in Sierra Leone, into their home in the hills of Vermont, where they come to regard him as their son. The three of them eventually find their rhythm and settle into their own version of love and life between four walls. Until the night their unique family is changed forever. Hundreds of miles away, at the Girdish Institute in Florida, a group of chimpanzees has been studied for decades. There is proof that chimps have memories and solve problems, that they can learn language and need friends. They are political, altruistic; they get angry and forgive. Among them is Mr. Ghoul, who has grown up in a world of rivals, sex, and unpredictable loss. As Looee and Mr. Ghoul’s distant but parallel paths through childhood, adolescence, and early middle age converge, a new experience of family is formed. Told simultaneously from the perspective of humans and chimpanzees, A Beautiful Truth is an inventive, thrillingly intelligent, and heartfelt novel about parenthood, friendship, loneliness, and strength, about the things we hold sacred as humans and the facts that link us inevitably to a nature we too often ignore.
304 pages, Paperback
First published August 13, 2013
40 people are currently reading
1757 people want to read
About the author
Colin McAdam
13 books50 followersColin McAdam was born in Hong Kong and grew up in Denmark, England and Barbados, as well as in several cities in Canada. He studied English and Classics at McGill University and the University of Toronto, and received his PhD in English Literature from Cambridge University in England.
He has written for Harper's Magazine and The Walrus. He lives in Montreal and has a son named Charlie who lives in Australia.
His first novel SOME GREAT THING won the Books in Canada / Amazon.ca First Novel Award and was a finalist for the Governor General's Literary Award for Fiction, the Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize, the Commonwealth Writers Prize (Best First Book), and the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize in the UK.
His second novel FALL was published in 2009
He has written for Harper's Magazine and The Walrus. He lives in Montreal and has a son named Charlie who lives in Australia.
His first novel SOME GREAT THING won the Books in Canada / Amazon.ca First Novel Award and was a finalist for the Governor General's Literary Award for Fiction, the Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize, the Commonwealth Writers Prize (Best First Book), and the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize in the UK.
His second novel FALL was published in 2009
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 186 reviews
September 24, 2013
I read this as a counter-point to We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves, and because who would have thought, two books about apes living with human families in one year? I liked Karen Joy Fowler's book a great deal, and a great deal more than this one.
Colin McAdam takes a much less character-focused, much more experimental (prose filled with run-ons and no quotation marks, for a start) stab at the same basic story, and spends far more time developing a cast of ultimately frustrating and unknowable ape characters than he does his humans. The result is equally intriguing and boring, poetic and off-putting. For all the equivocating the book does about how we all are just apes, maybe, it spends a lot of time painting the animals as animal.
I mean, I can only read so many scenes filled with ape rape, ape masturbation, ape poo-flinging, ape buttock-tearing-off, ape face-eating, ape hand-amputating, and ape erections (so many erections!) before I just want to be reading something else.
Colin McAdam takes a much less character-focused, much more experimental (prose filled with run-ons and no quotation marks, for a start) stab at the same basic story, and spends far more time developing a cast of ultimately frustrating and unknowable ape characters than he does his humans. The result is equally intriguing and boring, poetic and off-putting. For all the equivocating the book does about how we all are just apes, maybe, it spends a lot of time painting the animals as animal.
I mean, I can only read so many scenes filled with ape rape, ape masturbation, ape poo-flinging, ape buttock-tearing-off, ape face-eating, ape hand-amputating, and ape erections (so many erections!) before I just want to be reading something else.
October 7, 2013
I liked this book, but I wouldn’t recommend it to the mainstream fiction reader. McAdam has a great idea for this book: tell a story from chimpanzees point of view. But that idea is the cause for the note of caution. When McAdam writes from the chimps points of view, it’s rather chaotic and incredibly difficult to understand. The story is told in two different places. One is in Vermont where a lonely couple adopts a chimp to try to make them whole. The other place is at a science institute in Florida that studies the social interactions of chimps. The Vermont part of the novel is fairly easy to read and to understand. When the author ventures to the Florida institute, the book is almost torture to read. If you are interested in primate behavior and the close comparison to human behavior, this work would interest you. Themes of loneliness and isolation, communicating, and wanting to fit in are major in the primate and human world and explored in this novel. Judy and Walt, the Vermont couple are so good and sweet. I wish they were my neighbors. I enjoyed their story, although I guessed it wouldn’t end well. McAdam has interesting observations “He encouraged the exchange of facts, he said, not opinions, because opinions are like sperm: there are way too many of them, most amount to nothing, and they’re more fun to deliver than to receive.” And, McAdam could be lyrical “...she began to see beauty in all those things we try to run away from. There was beauty in the loss of beauty, in loneliness, in sorrow, some inarticulate vitality that was greater than the celebrated signs of joy, a different joy not obvious but more constant.” What was fun for me is in empathizing with Judy and Walt, thinking their animal is childlike or possesses human abilities, for I am one of those crazy dog ladies who is convinced her dog understands everything she says; my dog goes everywhere with me.
February 17, 2014
To be honest, I bought this book because I was at this year's Writers' Trust Awards ceremony where Colin McAdam tearfully accept the Rogers' Prize. He was human, humble and unscripted on stage. I don't think he expected to win. He cried through his speech and I wanted to cry with him.
McAdam has written an unsentimental book about what it means to be human, to be a chimp, to be an animal. What it means to form relationships, to be betrayed, to lose love. It's poignant and lovely and is full of inventive language. This book is one I'll remember for a very long time. It deserved the $25000 award. Read it.
McAdam has written an unsentimental book about what it means to be human, to be a chimp, to be an animal. What it means to form relationships, to be betrayed, to lose love. It's poignant and lovely and is full of inventive language. This book is one I'll remember for a very long time. It deserved the $25000 award. Read it.
December 4, 2013
So I am not even really sure where to start with A Beautiful Truth. I feel I must have missed something important, something that would have revealed McAdam's novel as a work of brilliance rather than an awkwardly written take on the movie Rise of The Planet of the Apes.
At times I admired a well written phrase or keen observation but mostly I felt the narrative, which is shared between humans and chimps, was cold, distant and arrogant.
I thought the plot disjointed, focusing first on Louee's life with Walter and Judy Ribke, interspersed with the first point of view of a group of chimps housed in a nearby research institute, which then shifts to a biomedical testing facility where Looee is later exiled. McAdams also detours randomly to introduce characters which add little to the story - a politician, a neighbour, a researcher's girlfriend and then drops them unceremoniously.
While I recognise McAdams does make some thoughtful observations about love, communication, and the characteristics of humanity, I feel that substance was sacrificed on the altar of 'literary' style.
A Beautiful Truth didn't work for me but reviews are mixed. I would only recommend it to reader's who have the patience for literary pretension.
April 2, 2013
ONTARIO literary writer Colin McAdam's compelling third novel manages to be both violent and loving, eloquent and non-verbal. Which is apt for a book that features an ensemble cast of humans and chimpanzees.
Those readers shuddering at the prospect of another "animal novel" can rest assured. Like Newfoundlander Jessica Grant in 2009's Come, Thou Tortoise, and Toronto's Barbara Gowdy in her 1999 elephant novel The White Bone, McAdam rises to the challenge of writing across the species barrier, where before he'd settled for crossing class lines and the gender divide.
Structurally, A Beautiful Truth is a Canadian Museum for Human Rights whereas his previous books, Fall (2009) and Some Great Thing (2004), are roomy houses.
Rather than two or three main characters, for instance, here there are almost a dozen major and minor characters. The humans include Walt, a developer who adopts a baby chimp, David, a scientist conducting ape research, and Mike, an ambitious local politician who has an instinctive dislike of chimps.
The first half of the book is largely spent in the humans' heads, mostly with the easygoing Walt, as is evidenced by the novel's plummy opening sentence:
"Judy and Walter Walt Ribke lived on 12 up-and-down acres, open to whatever God gave them, on the eastern boundary of Addison County, four feet deep in years of rueful contentment."
McAdam has the childless couple rationalizing their decision, first, to import an exotic animal, and then, a dozen years later, dealing with the inevitable results.
By the time we're two-thirds of the way in, McAdam is narrating almost entirely from the point of view of the chimps, who are housed in different sections of a biomedical facility.
And as one of them, Looee, is dosed with antidepressants and anesthetics, and exposed to a variety of illnesses, we know there is no going back for either Walt or Looee.
The narrative complexity doesn't detract from McAdam's biggest strength: portrayals of ardent but bashful men who find themselves on the cusp of, and then in the middle of, episodes of violence.
And, like his previous novels, A Beautiful Truth is difficult but not dreary, because McAdam always carefully acknowledges that consensus and communion are possible.
He has even invented a word for the experience of these states, used in the chimp sections: "oa."
It is this kind of inventiveness with language, as well as McAdam's use of short, one-paragraph sentences, mimicking the keyed-in exchanges between researchers and subjects, that makes these sections especially effective.
McAdam has drawn on the results that came out of the first ape studies in 1960s and '70s, specifically the Nim Chimpsky and Washoe Projects. He also spent time observing apes at the Fauna Foundation, a Canadian chimpanzee sanctuary based in Chambly, Que.
Are there beautiful truths at the centre of A Beautiful Truth?
Many of us know that it is dangerous to try to make a child out of a chimpanzee. But what does it say about us that, like Walt and Judy, many pet owners describe themselves as "parents," and that doggy daycares cost more than human ones?
What does it say about us that we confine our closest relatives to zoos and research facilities?
Finally, what does it mean to be human? Are language and functional vocal cords the only things that separates us from dolphins and elephants?
This review was originally published in the Winnipeg Free Press' Books Section on March 23, 2013.
Those readers shuddering at the prospect of another "animal novel" can rest assured. Like Newfoundlander Jessica Grant in 2009's Come, Thou Tortoise, and Toronto's Barbara Gowdy in her 1999 elephant novel The White Bone, McAdam rises to the challenge of writing across the species barrier, where before he'd settled for crossing class lines and the gender divide.
Structurally, A Beautiful Truth is a Canadian Museum for Human Rights whereas his previous books, Fall (2009) and Some Great Thing (2004), are roomy houses.
Rather than two or three main characters, for instance, here there are almost a dozen major and minor characters. The humans include Walt, a developer who adopts a baby chimp, David, a scientist conducting ape research, and Mike, an ambitious local politician who has an instinctive dislike of chimps.
The first half of the book is largely spent in the humans' heads, mostly with the easygoing Walt, as is evidenced by the novel's plummy opening sentence:
"Judy and Walter Walt Ribke lived on 12 up-and-down acres, open to whatever God gave them, on the eastern boundary of Addison County, four feet deep in years of rueful contentment."
McAdam has the childless couple rationalizing their decision, first, to import an exotic animal, and then, a dozen years later, dealing with the inevitable results.
By the time we're two-thirds of the way in, McAdam is narrating almost entirely from the point of view of the chimps, who are housed in different sections of a biomedical facility.
And as one of them, Looee, is dosed with antidepressants and anesthetics, and exposed to a variety of illnesses, we know there is no going back for either Walt or Looee.
The narrative complexity doesn't detract from McAdam's biggest strength: portrayals of ardent but bashful men who find themselves on the cusp of, and then in the middle of, episodes of violence.
And, like his previous novels, A Beautiful Truth is difficult but not dreary, because McAdam always carefully acknowledges that consensus and communion are possible.
He has even invented a word for the experience of these states, used in the chimp sections: "oa."
It is this kind of inventiveness with language, as well as McAdam's use of short, one-paragraph sentences, mimicking the keyed-in exchanges between researchers and subjects, that makes these sections especially effective.
McAdam has drawn on the results that came out of the first ape studies in 1960s and '70s, specifically the Nim Chimpsky and Washoe Projects. He also spent time observing apes at the Fauna Foundation, a Canadian chimpanzee sanctuary based in Chambly, Que.
Are there beautiful truths at the centre of A Beautiful Truth?
Many of us know that it is dangerous to try to make a child out of a chimpanzee. But what does it say about us that, like Walt and Judy, many pet owners describe themselves as "parents," and that doggy daycares cost more than human ones?
What does it say about us that we confine our closest relatives to zoos and research facilities?
Finally, what does it mean to be human? Are language and functional vocal cords the only things that separates us from dolphins and elephants?
This review was originally published in the Winnipeg Free Press' Books Section on March 23, 2013.
June 11, 2014
This is probably not for everyone, but I thought it was amazing. A very dark novel about how we treat one another (both humans and other great apes) and how much of our behavior is ape with a little bit of lipstick. The writing is told from multiple narrators, including chimpanzees and is a little on the stream of consciousness side, but feels totally right for this story. I thought the intertwining of story lines and the way the human and chimp behavior was subtly, increasingly shown to be very similar was brilliant. May change the way you view your everyday interactions.
May 10, 2017
3.5 stars, rounded up to 4.
I have always maintained that the best way to understand office politics is to spend some time studying chimpanzees or other apes. You will see all of the same drives and personalities, but you will see them without the veneer of civilization. Wherever you get 3 people or 3 chimps in one place, you will have politics.
This book reminded me of human hubris—the belief that we are somehow separate and different from the rest of the animal kingdom, that we are superior to other apes.
In a strange way, this book made me think of Jack London’s The Call of the Wild or White Fang. All the ways in which wild animals can or can’t be tamed and how tame animals (including humans) can become wild. It is a cautionary tale about keeping wild animals in private homes, but it is about trust—trusting those animals, trusting our friends, trusting our spouses. It is about the dangers of assigning human motivations to other species and the peril of deliberately ignoring the drives that we obviously share. Also the risk of assuming that our friends and acquaintances think about things the same way that we do. Who is worthy of our trust and why do we trust them?
ABT is also an interesting meditation on the study of our nearest kin, the chimpanzee. Back in the 1960s and 1970s, while trying to understand the evolution of speech among humans, people started to raise chimpanzee babies in their homes, hoping to encourage speech in the apes. Chimps like Gua (the experiment was terminated when her human “sibling” began to get much more chimpanzee-like than she got human-like) and Vicki (who eventually produced 4 very simple words with extreme effort). Then came Washoe, who was exposed to American Sign Language, with limited success (as were Nim Chimpsky and Koko the Gorilla), the reasoning being that apes might be unable to speak, but might still be able to grasp language. ASL should be easier for them as it uses hand gestures rather than vocal apparatus. They do seem to be able to acquire vocabulary, but show much less grasp of grammar or the significance of word order. Unsurprisingly, they possess the first stirrings towards spoken language, but humans are the only ape species to have developed it significantly. I would be more surprised if no other primates showed any aptitude for vocal communication.
Some aspects of the Girdish Institute in the book are likely based on the Yerkes Institute in real life. The Yerkes Institute developed a keyboard of lexigrams (as alluded to in ABT) which became known as Yerkish. There has been a certain amount of success using this method, including one super-star bonobo, Kanzi (born at Yerkes, but moved to the Language Research Centre at Georgia State). He communicates via keyboard and has picked up a bit of ASL as well.
All of the apes mentioned above learned to understand some human-spoken language and to respond appropriately to it (when they were in the mood). Part of the problem with these experiments is that they do not interest the apes as much as they do the humans. Interestingly, dogs seem to naturally understand human hand gestures, like pointing, more easily than chimps do. Dogs look where the hand is pointing, while apes look at the hand. Our thousands of years co-evolving with canines is showing through.
I’m impressed by how many details of human-chimp history are represented in this fictional account. I recognized many of them from non-fiction books that I’ve read over the years. If you are interested in more details on chimpanzees (and bonobos), I would recommend Frans de Waal’s excellent book Our Inner Ape: A Leading Primatologist Explains Why We Are Who We Are. I also highly recommend de Waal’s book Are We Smart Enough to Know How Smart Animals Are?.
I have always maintained that the best way to understand office politics is to spend some time studying chimpanzees or other apes. You will see all of the same drives and personalities, but you will see them without the veneer of civilization. Wherever you get 3 people or 3 chimps in one place, you will have politics.
This book reminded me of human hubris—the belief that we are somehow separate and different from the rest of the animal kingdom, that we are superior to other apes.
In a strange way, this book made me think of Jack London’s The Call of the Wild or White Fang. All the ways in which wild animals can or can’t be tamed and how tame animals (including humans) can become wild. It is a cautionary tale about keeping wild animals in private homes, but it is about trust—trusting those animals, trusting our friends, trusting our spouses. It is about the dangers of assigning human motivations to other species and the peril of deliberately ignoring the drives that we obviously share. Also the risk of assuming that our friends and acquaintances think about things the same way that we do. Who is worthy of our trust and why do we trust them?
ABT is also an interesting meditation on the study of our nearest kin, the chimpanzee. Back in the 1960s and 1970s, while trying to understand the evolution of speech among humans, people started to raise chimpanzee babies in their homes, hoping to encourage speech in the apes. Chimps like Gua (the experiment was terminated when her human “sibling” began to get much more chimpanzee-like than she got human-like) and Vicki (who eventually produced 4 very simple words with extreme effort). Then came Washoe, who was exposed to American Sign Language, with limited success (as were Nim Chimpsky and Koko the Gorilla), the reasoning being that apes might be unable to speak, but might still be able to grasp language. ASL should be easier for them as it uses hand gestures rather than vocal apparatus. They do seem to be able to acquire vocabulary, but show much less grasp of grammar or the significance of word order. Unsurprisingly, they possess the first stirrings towards spoken language, but humans are the only ape species to have developed it significantly. I would be more surprised if no other primates showed any aptitude for vocal communication.
Some aspects of the Girdish Institute in the book are likely based on the Yerkes Institute in real life. The Yerkes Institute developed a keyboard of lexigrams (as alluded to in ABT) which became known as Yerkish. There has been a certain amount of success using this method, including one super-star bonobo, Kanzi (born at Yerkes, but moved to the Language Research Centre at Georgia State). He communicates via keyboard and has picked up a bit of ASL as well.
All of the apes mentioned above learned to understand some human-spoken language and to respond appropriately to it (when they were in the mood). Part of the problem with these experiments is that they do not interest the apes as much as they do the humans. Interestingly, dogs seem to naturally understand human hand gestures, like pointing, more easily than chimps do. Dogs look where the hand is pointing, while apes look at the hand. Our thousands of years co-evolving with canines is showing through.
I’m impressed by how many details of human-chimp history are represented in this fictional account. I recognized many of them from non-fiction books that I’ve read over the years. If you are interested in more details on chimpanzees (and bonobos), I would recommend Frans de Waal’s excellent book Our Inner Ape: A Leading Primatologist Explains Why We Are Who We Are. I also highly recommend de Waal’s book Are We Smart Enough to Know How Smart Animals Are?.
May 20, 2013
My first thought after I finished this book was "what was this about?" We are introduced to a childless couple, then to an experimental primate lab worker, then to some chimpanzees, then a single chimpanzee, then here then there. I got a little confused but kept reading. I got a little nauseated but kept reading. I got bewildered at the author's point of it all but kept reading. I think I persevered hoping that I would find the beginning, middle and end of the narrative - but that never happened. The narrative was quite flat and the story kind of petered out. What was it all about? Biography? Is man only a primate? Are chimpanzees the same as man? Is experimentation wrong/right? Is exotic animal adoption wrong/right? Does experimentation affect both subjects and scientists? Perhaps this is the objective - to make our minds fly out all over the place. I was left feeling something was definitely missing in the execution of this story.
October 14, 2013
This book is well written, yet heartbreaking, eye opening, and frightening. I will never look at a chimpanzee the same way again.
The book follows multiple chimps in two main settings, one being a chimp adopted as a baby by a couple, and raised in their home. Sadly, this turns out badly for the family as the chimp gets older and becomes aggressive, and this story of Looee reminded me of the real life story of Travis, the chimpanzee who attacked and mauled Charla Nash. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Travis_(...
The other part of this book is the story of chimps in a research facility, and how the research changes through the years, how the chimps are housed and treated through the years, and the effects that their confinement has on the chimps and their behavior. This part of the story is told both through the eyes of the keepers of the chimps, some who don't care, some of whom care a lot, and also through the eyes and thoughts (as interpreted by the author) of the chimps themselves. Conditions for the chimps do improve over time in the story, but in the end I was still left with the feeling that these animals have real feelings not that far removed from our own, and keeping them in any kind of confinement is really not what they want, or what is in their best interest. And I think that might be what the author was trying to get across.
The book follows multiple chimps in two main settings, one being a chimp adopted as a baby by a couple, and raised in their home. Sadly, this turns out badly for the family as the chimp gets older and becomes aggressive, and this story of Looee reminded me of the real life story of Travis, the chimpanzee who attacked and mauled Charla Nash. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Travis_(...
The other part of this book is the story of chimps in a research facility, and how the research changes through the years, how the chimps are housed and treated through the years, and the effects that their confinement has on the chimps and their behavior. This part of the story is told both through the eyes of the keepers of the chimps, some who don't care, some of whom care a lot, and also through the eyes and thoughts (as interpreted by the author) of the chimps themselves. Conditions for the chimps do improve over time in the story, but in the end I was still left with the feeling that these animals have real feelings not that far removed from our own, and keeping them in any kind of confinement is really not what they want, or what is in their best interest. And I think that might be what the author was trying to get across.
March 18, 2013
Colin McAdam could have written the entire book from the point of view of Looee and I would have loved the book just as much. This is an excruciating, heart-breaking, beautiful story of love and family and belonging.
Walt and Judy can't have children, and in an unusual turn of events, adopt a chimp from Sierra Leone. Looee quickly becomes an integral part of the family and the lines of human and animal are blurred almost completely in this beautiful family. But after a shocking incident Looee is sent to a research facility in Florida. He is placed in a drug-testing program and is infected with every form of AIDS imaginable until his life becomes a dull, lifeless existence. He is rescued from the situation and placed in a social environment with another group of chimps who have had a narrative throughout the entire book, and his "re-entrance" to the world is slowly made possible with Mr. Ghoul, another chimp on the edge of this enclosed society.
I can't recommend this book highly enough. It's imaginative and incredibly beautifully written. Loved it!
Walt and Judy can't have children, and in an unusual turn of events, adopt a chimp from Sierra Leone. Looee quickly becomes an integral part of the family and the lines of human and animal are blurred almost completely in this beautiful family. But after a shocking incident Looee is sent to a research facility in Florida. He is placed in a drug-testing program and is infected with every form of AIDS imaginable until his life becomes a dull, lifeless existence. He is rescued from the situation and placed in a social environment with another group of chimps who have had a narrative throughout the entire book, and his "re-entrance" to the world is slowly made possible with Mr. Ghoul, another chimp on the edge of this enclosed society.
I can't recommend this book highly enough. It's imaginative and incredibly beautifully written. Loved it!
September 28, 2013
"A Beautiful Truth" by Colin McAdam is a beautifully written, heart-breaking story of love, family and survival.
Walt and Judy are deeply in love, but Judy longs for a child she cannot have. After years of trying to no avail, they meet Looee, a baby chimpanzee, and they raise him at home as their son. The three form a special bond and then one night their unique family is changed forever.
Looee is sent to a research facility where he lives in a cage and gets infected with various forms of AIDS for a drug testing program. He is rescued from that situation and placed with another group of chimps where he meets Mr. Ghoul his kindred spirit.
Told from different points of view including Looee's and the chimps at Girdish Institute this novel is disturbing, realistic and very powerful.
A fascinating read!
Walt and Judy are deeply in love, but Judy longs for a child she cannot have. After years of trying to no avail, they meet Looee, a baby chimpanzee, and they raise him at home as their son. The three form a special bond and then one night their unique family is changed forever.
Looee is sent to a research facility where he lives in a cage and gets infected with various forms of AIDS for a drug testing program. He is rescued from that situation and placed with another group of chimps where he meets Mr. Ghoul his kindred spirit.
Told from different points of view including Looee's and the chimps at Girdish Institute this novel is disturbing, realistic and very powerful.
A fascinating read!
April 7, 2014
Very disturbing and fascinating tale of human & chimp. This is a whole new take on "Curious George", which was about the extent of my knowledge beforehand. Why would anyone want to own a chimpanzee? And if I hear of anyone who does, I'll refer them to A Beautiful Truth. Some of the events depicted were ripped (no pun intended...ugghhh, sorry about that) from the headlines of the current newspaper which validated the whole book for me. Not that it needed validation.
I can't wait to hear what the author has to say about about this one. He is one of our Booktopia authors in Boulder next month. I think it will be a fantastic discussion!
NOTE: Audible version was excellent. I am able to read SO much more thanks to the wonderful world of audio. Merrily multi-tasking my way through great books.
I can't wait to hear what the author has to say about about this one. He is one of our Booktopia authors in Boulder next month. I think it will be a fantastic discussion!
NOTE: Audible version was excellent. I am able to read SO much more thanks to the wonderful world of audio. Merrily multi-tasking my way through great books.
February 26, 2018
A Beautiful Truth
by Colin McAdam
This was a surprising and unsettling book. Though it’s fiction, it reads much like excellent non-fiction, the kind that makes an event immediate, with authority and vitality. It’s the story of a childless couple who adopt a chimpanzee, not truly in place of a child, but to ease the wife’s depression. Juxtaposed with the couples’ experiences (and their neighbors’) are the experiences of chimpanzees and caretakers in a research facility. It is informative, moving, and seems absolutely real. Some horrific violence, though downplayed, suggests actual events that made national news in recent years. The book is unmistakably based on extensive research, and credits are noted at the end. Without judgment or emotionalism, McAdam leads the reader to consider crucial distinctions in the nature and social structure of humans and chimpanzees, and the humanitarian rights of the latter.
by Colin McAdam
This was a surprising and unsettling book. Though it’s fiction, it reads much like excellent non-fiction, the kind that makes an event immediate, with authority and vitality. It’s the story of a childless couple who adopt a chimpanzee, not truly in place of a child, but to ease the wife’s depression. Juxtaposed with the couples’ experiences (and their neighbors’) are the experiences of chimpanzees and caretakers in a research facility. It is informative, moving, and seems absolutely real. Some horrific violence, though downplayed, suggests actual events that made national news in recent years. The book is unmistakably based on extensive research, and credits are noted at the end. Without judgment or emotionalism, McAdam leads the reader to consider crucial distinctions in the nature and social structure of humans and chimpanzees, and the humanitarian rights of the latter.
June 11, 2019
I loved every minute of this book. I thoroughly enjoyed how Walt and Judy brought Looee into their life and treated him just like he was their son. The one thing that scientists try to remind people is that you can never take the wild out of an animal no matter how domesticated you make them. This was a perfect example and it didn't come apparent until Looee was in his adolescent years. He started acting out and doing things that would be considered more his wild side. Another thing I found interesting was I was amazed at how sexual the chimps were. I know that they are sexual creatures but everything they do somehow related back to sex whether it be in a literal or innocent way. It broke my heart when Looee was taken to Girdish to become a test subject. The animals were not well taken care of and it does make me sad that we use animals to test on for certain things. When Looee was taken to the area where David was running the experiments and studying the social behaviours of the chimps that was the best that Looee's life was going to get after he left Walt and Judy's. David had a sort of respect for the chimps even though he was watching an monitoring their social and learning capabilities. This was a fabulous book and when authors can successfully pull off writing from an animals perspective that truly shows their literary talents.
RE READ completed March 28, 2019
This was a re-read because I enjoyed it the first time I read it. There is a harsh reality about this story and it's very sad. People try to convert animals in to having human qualities yet they tend to forget that deep down that animal is still wild and there may be some 'wild' behaviours appear. I also read this book because of the incident and how graphic it was. It wasn't Tess Gerritsen gritty but it was light gore. One thing about this book is when the CM tries to convey what the animals are thinking etc, sometimes it is very hard to understand and you need to re-read things again to figure out the true meaning. It's a roller coaster of a ride and the end is not candy and nuts. In my previous rating I gave the book a 5 star review, the second time through I would give it a 3.5 but 3 will have to do.
RE READ completed March 28, 2019
This was a re-read because I enjoyed it the first time I read it. There is a harsh reality about this story and it's very sad. People try to convert animals in to having human qualities yet they tend to forget that deep down that animal is still wild and there may be some 'wild' behaviours appear. I also read this book because of the incident and how graphic it was. It wasn't Tess Gerritsen gritty but it was light gore. One thing about this book is when the CM tries to convey what the animals are thinking etc, sometimes it is very hard to understand and you need to re-read things again to figure out the true meaning. It's a roller coaster of a ride and the end is not candy and nuts. In my previous rating I gave the book a 5 star review, the second time through I would give it a 3.5 but 3 will have to do.
October 8, 2013
Tragedy can come with a sudden shock, like a car crash on a sunny afternoon. Or it can seem fated, as inexorable as the gradually gathering dark clouds in the distance that are certain to bring a brutal storm. This is a novel with that sense of Shakespearian inevitability, a story that starts with hopeful intentions but underlines a potential for pain right from the beginning -- then gradually weaves darker strands into its narrative, with a subtlety and skill that creates immense emotional force.
At first, this seems a story about a loving Vermont couple, adjusting to their childlessness in a novel way that seems to reinforce their love for each other -- by bringing a baby chimpanzee into their home. The chapters following this plot-line interplay (in what at first appears a rather disconnected way) with chapters recounting the activities of a group of captive apes in Florida who are being observed by scientists to understand their capacities to communicate, with humans and with each other. But the inexorable storm is building, and tragedy hits -- just as the interaction within the group of captive apes becomes in a parallel way more brutal.
And suddenly it is clear that this is actually a novel about the young chimpanzee -- about his life, his tragedy, the "beautiful truth" that he ultimately represents. And the dramatic imagination and moral indignation of author Colin McAdam come into more remarkable focus. This is a powerful book that transcends the usual boundaries of fiction to encompass a credible perspective on the life experiences of another species besides the human.
The strength of McAdam's work has been recognized before -- a previous novel, "Fall," was nominated for the Giller Prize. And now the dramatic intensity of this book has led to two further award nominations -- for the Governor General's Prize for Fiction for 2013 and the Roger's Writers Trust Prize.
Tragedy, of course, is not necessarily over-powering and absolute. It can have a redemptive impact, to some degree and in some circumstances. In the same way, this book despite the pain it portrays conveys an underlying message of some possibility. The capacity of the group of apes to deal with internal violence is a positive sign.
At first, this seems a story about a loving Vermont couple, adjusting to their childlessness in a novel way that seems to reinforce their love for each other -- by bringing a baby chimpanzee into their home. The chapters following this plot-line interplay (in what at first appears a rather disconnected way) with chapters recounting the activities of a group of captive apes in Florida who are being observed by scientists to understand their capacities to communicate, with humans and with each other. But the inexorable storm is building, and tragedy hits -- just as the interaction within the group of captive apes becomes in a parallel way more brutal.
And suddenly it is clear that this is actually a novel about the young chimpanzee -- about his life, his tragedy, the "beautiful truth" that he ultimately represents. And the dramatic imagination and moral indignation of author Colin McAdam come into more remarkable focus. This is a powerful book that transcends the usual boundaries of fiction to encompass a credible perspective on the life experiences of another species besides the human.
The strength of McAdam's work has been recognized before -- a previous novel, "Fall," was nominated for the Giller Prize. And now the dramatic intensity of this book has led to two further award nominations -- for the Governor General's Prize for Fiction for 2013 and the Roger's Writers Trust Prize.
Tragedy, of course, is not necessarily over-powering and absolute. It can have a redemptive impact, to some degree and in some circumstances. In the same way, this book despite the pain it portrays conveys an underlying message of some possibility. The capacity of the group of apes to deal with internal violence is a positive sign.
February 10, 2020
An unsettling fictional meditation on evolution, altruism and empathy, revealing just how little separates humankind from animals.
It is 1972 and Vermont natives Walt and Judy Ribke have learnt they can never have children. When Walt reads an article about a chimpanzee raised as a human child and taught to ‘speak’ in sign language, he decides to go about obtaining one through a circus that passes through town. He has no idea what this will entail: on a Sierra Leone nature reserve, a mother chimp will be shot and her body butchered for bush meat and Chinese traditional medicine; her baby will join the Ribkes as Looee, their charming, mercurial son.
Meanwhile, at Florida’s Girdish Institute, scientists study ape societies (as violent and oversexed as our own) and train chimps in human communication, but also infect them with rhinovirus and AIDS to test experimental medications. Uneasy lab workers justify their actions by imagining the human benefits, “if one sick kid got better,” all the animal suffering would be worthwhile – or would it? As Looee’s behaviour becomes more dangerous than playful, the two plot strands intertwine to create a bittersweet tale of human-animal interaction and the limitations of love.
McAdam deftly alternates the perspectives of human and simian characters, while defying conventions for speech transcription and punctuation. Although his novel lacks the warmth and philosophical depth of Neil Abramson’s Unsaid or documentary Project Nim, it is nonetheless a valuable addition to the conversation about ethical treatment of great apes – with whom we share 98.4% of our DNA.
It is 1972 and Vermont natives Walt and Judy Ribke have learnt they can never have children. When Walt reads an article about a chimpanzee raised as a human child and taught to ‘speak’ in sign language, he decides to go about obtaining one through a circus that passes through town. He has no idea what this will entail: on a Sierra Leone nature reserve, a mother chimp will be shot and her body butchered for bush meat and Chinese traditional medicine; her baby will join the Ribkes as Looee, their charming, mercurial son.
Meanwhile, at Florida’s Girdish Institute, scientists study ape societies (as violent and oversexed as our own) and train chimps in human communication, but also infect them with rhinovirus and AIDS to test experimental medications. Uneasy lab workers justify their actions by imagining the human benefits, “if one sick kid got better,” all the animal suffering would be worthwhile – or would it? As Looee’s behaviour becomes more dangerous than playful, the two plot strands intertwine to create a bittersweet tale of human-animal interaction and the limitations of love.
McAdam deftly alternates the perspectives of human and simian characters, while defying conventions for speech transcription and punctuation. Although his novel lacks the warmth and philosophical depth of Neil Abramson’s Unsaid or documentary Project Nim, it is nonetheless a valuable addition to the conversation about ethical treatment of great apes – with whom we share 98.4% of our DNA.
August 3, 2016
I think was a hugely intricate undertaking on very tough topics surrounding the relationships of humans and of apes, individually and where they intersect; both an a personal level and general societal ones. The author manages to tell the story from the viewpoint of both chimpanzees and the humans they interact with in a very objective non-judgmental fashion from all sides which I think is an amazing achievement. Some reviewers complain about this- that it is remote - but I don't agree. I love that the author doesn't try to beat you over the head with a specific premise or viewpoint. I think it makes the book more impactful and thought provoking. A lot of negative reviews seem to come from people who were waiting for the author to tell them what to feel- and were let down when they weren't clearly instructed on the author's "point"
Although I found the book very engaging, it does have an overtone of sadness for me because it addresses some very complex and emotionally fraught topics. The more I found myself understanding, the more difficult it becomes to answer the questions that come up. It is difficult but also fascinating to see the humanness, emotion and destructive wildness, the errors in judgment side-by side clearly recognizable in both species. I put the book down with an shakey unease, and clear understanding we are so close and yet so far... from each other, from understanding, from behaving better or worse than each other toward each other. The author writes without sentimentality, but I couldn't help but feel it make an imprint in my soul I wont soon forget.
I recommend it very highly, but it is not for the squeamish or closed minded.
Although I found the book very engaging, it does have an overtone of sadness for me because it addresses some very complex and emotionally fraught topics. The more I found myself understanding, the more difficult it becomes to answer the questions that come up. It is difficult but also fascinating to see the humanness, emotion and destructive wildness, the errors in judgment side-by side clearly recognizable in both species. I put the book down with an shakey unease, and clear understanding we are so close and yet so far... from each other, from understanding, from behaving better or worse than each other toward each other. The author writes without sentimentality, but I couldn't help but feel it make an imprint in my soul I wont soon forget.
I recommend it very highly, but it is not for the squeamish or closed minded.
December 4, 2013
Looee is a chimp who was raise by a couple who were not able to have children of their own. They adapted their family and their home to work with his ever changing needs and he appeared to love them in his own animal way. Other chimpanzees are located at the Girdish Institute where scientific experiments and behavioral studies have occurred for decades. They raise some chimps from birth, but many are rescued from private homes and after a tragic accident, Looee finds himself there.
A Beautiful Truth is told in alternating voices and viewpoints. The reader learns what different humans are thinking and doing; emotions and thoughts from the chimpanzees are found throughout. I wanted to love the book. Eventually, I wanted to like the book. In the end, it was just OK. The story bounced from viewpoint to viewpoint so often that I had trouble determining whose mind I was in. Also, although the stories all take place in the United States, many of the vocabulary and word spelling choices were from McAdam’s Canadian background. Unfortunately, I can only recommend this book to the most dedicated reader. Those individuals who are fascinated with the world of higher level primates will be able to pull pleasure from the larger story, but the actual written book was painful to finish.
A Beautiful Truth is told in alternating voices and viewpoints. The reader learns what different humans are thinking and doing; emotions and thoughts from the chimpanzees are found throughout. I wanted to love the book. Eventually, I wanted to like the book. In the end, it was just OK. The story bounced from viewpoint to viewpoint so often that I had trouble determining whose mind I was in. Also, although the stories all take place in the United States, many of the vocabulary and word spelling choices were from McAdam’s Canadian background. Unfortunately, I can only recommend this book to the most dedicated reader. Those individuals who are fascinated with the world of higher level primates will be able to pull pleasure from the larger story, but the actual written book was painful to finish.
September 5, 2014
I finished "A Beautiful Truth" a week ago, but I still think about it every day and feel like crying. It's the story of chimpanzees who live among humans-- in labs, animal sanctuaries, and private homes. I'm not giving anything away to say that this interaction doesn't generally work out real well for the chimps. Hats off to Colin McAdam for managing to make the various animals seem like distinct individuals, and for giving a glimpse into their inner lives that seems plausible (at least to a non-chimp like me who knows very little about apes). There are no real villains in this story, except, of course, all of us.
July 26, 2013
This book is a meditation on the vulgar, lonely, confusing, heartbreaking, and beautiful truth that is to live and be among others.
June 12, 2014
Disturbing. The end
March 21, 2024
3.5 stars
Walt and Judy want children, but are unable to have any. When Walt sees a chimpanzee at a circus, he decides he will get one for his wife, in place of a child. They love Looee very much, like a son, but as with all wild animals, as he ages, he is too much to handle.
There is a chimpanzee sanctuary where people are studying the chimps’ behaviour. In the story, we alternate between Walt/Judy/Looee’s perspectives, and the perspectives of the people and chimps at the sanctuary.
I listened to the audio and at first, particularly when we switched to the sanctuary, I had some trouble initially figuring out what was going on. It was interesting to see things from the chimps’ perspectives at times, though. And heartbreaking. I also had trouble getting “into” the book at the start knowing Walt and Judy had done a terrible thing treating a wild animal as a child; There was no way it was going to end well for Looee. I felt like the book didn’t fully end, but it’s possible I missed something (audio), or maybe the author wanted “life” to just sort of continue on.
Walt and Judy want children, but are unable to have any. When Walt sees a chimpanzee at a circus, he decides he will get one for his wife, in place of a child. They love Looee very much, like a son, but as with all wild animals, as he ages, he is too much to handle.
There is a chimpanzee sanctuary where people are studying the chimps’ behaviour. In the story, we alternate between Walt/Judy/Looee’s perspectives, and the perspectives of the people and chimps at the sanctuary.
I listened to the audio and at first, particularly when we switched to the sanctuary, I had some trouble initially figuring out what was going on. It was interesting to see things from the chimps’ perspectives at times, though. And heartbreaking. I also had trouble getting “into” the book at the start knowing Walt and Judy had done a terrible thing treating a wild animal as a child; There was no way it was going to end well for Looee. I felt like the book didn’t fully end, but it’s possible I missed something (audio), or maybe the author wanted “life” to just sort of continue on.
March 9, 2020
I’ll have to wait on stars for this one. It would make an excellent book club selection because of the topics the author addresses. My problem with this piece is that the it introduced characters unnecessarily and shifted too far from its original premise. Maybe this was an attempt at plot evolution to draw another analogy between the humans and the apes? It’s unclear at best, but I found this a wasted opportunity to delve further into the psyches of Walt and Judy post-Louee— their guilt, their remorse, their ignorance— and draw a better parallel with the activity in the institute. At any rate, I’m glad I read it. It was painful and uncomfortable in a way that few novels are. I guess that makes this a three-star, after all.
September 5, 2023
Too much ape sex…
June 10, 2013
I kind of like chimpanzees. This book made me not only start to dislike them, but created in me a fear of them. Besides that fact, I didn't really care for the book much. The somewhat experimental style of the prose just didn't work for me. No quotation marks are used when characters speak, and it's left to the reader to decipher who's speaking when. The point-of-view also constantly shifts, without bringing the reader along. Occasionally, first person narration will suddenly appear, and it's unclear whether someone is speaking (often not, I thought) or whether the viewpoint has shifted again. The first part of the book alternates chapters between a Vermont childless couple who "adopt" a chimpanzee. While this aspect of the story holds potential, it's poorly told and years pass by in the space of a few pages. It didn't hold my interest, and seemed to kind of violate the "show-don't-tell" maxim -- I felt I was being told the story, without being drawn into it, or experiencing it. The other chapters concentrate on a Florida research center and a group of chimpanzees there. None of these "characters" are ever made very clear, and it seems like the author himself wasn't sure what to do, as many of their chapters in the first half of the book are only a couple of pages long. The author tries to show us the perspective of the chimpanzees, but it never works very well, and he uses words and viewpoints that I was unable to empathize with or understand. About halfway through the novel, the adopted chimp is sent to live with the others in the research facility and things take a downward turn from there, in terms of the storytelling. A good chunk toward the end of the novel veers off on a tangent, with the viewpoint and story of one of the scientists at the research center, but this is then dropped. And the book itself just kind of stops without really coming to a satisfying conclusion.
February 17, 2015
I won this book for free from the Goodread's First Reads giveaway.
I am always very thankful to win any book as I love reading a variety of topics. I also must finish every single book I start even if I don't prefer it. Unfortunately that was the case with this one. I debated on rating this book a 1 or a 2 and decided to round up slightly. This book does have a wide range of ratings, whereas people seem to either love it or hate it. So even though it wasn't for me that does not mean many people out there will not enjoy.
To see the plot please review the owner's summary or other's reviews as they are quite detailed. The reasons why I did NOT enjoy this book: they are no quotation marks when a character is speaking! I found this to be very confusing and was unsure if these were personal thoughts or words actually being said. Sometimes it even took awhile to realize what character was speaking. I found the time periods to jump around a lot and was confused on how much time passed by! This book also made me strongly dislike monkeys. I am not sure why any one would WANT to write about monkeys raping each other, masturbating, and throwing shit, etc. I'm also a little puzzled by the readers that rated the book a 5 when I find this disgusting to read. It's not even just in a few parts of the book, it is constantly in the book!!!
The only parts I didn't mind about the book (and why I bumped the rating to a 2), was Walt and Judy's characters. They are very nice people and a very cute couple. I enjoyed reading about them and wish they were more involved in the end of the story.
So overall, NOT my cup of tea. But please read other people's reviews as well as you may enjoy the book.
I am always very thankful to win any book as I love reading a variety of topics. I also must finish every single book I start even if I don't prefer it. Unfortunately that was the case with this one. I debated on rating this book a 1 or a 2 and decided to round up slightly. This book does have a wide range of ratings, whereas people seem to either love it or hate it. So even though it wasn't for me that does not mean many people out there will not enjoy.
To see the plot please review the owner's summary or other's reviews as they are quite detailed. The reasons why I did NOT enjoy this book: they are no quotation marks when a character is speaking! I found this to be very confusing and was unsure if these were personal thoughts or words actually being said. Sometimes it even took awhile to realize what character was speaking. I found the time periods to jump around a lot and was confused on how much time passed by! This book also made me strongly dislike monkeys. I am not sure why any one would WANT to write about monkeys raping each other, masturbating, and throwing shit, etc. I'm also a little puzzled by the readers that rated the book a 5 when I find this disgusting to read. It's not even just in a few parts of the book, it is constantly in the book!!!
The only parts I didn't mind about the book (and why I bumped the rating to a 2), was Walt and Judy's characters. They are very nice people and a very cute couple. I enjoyed reading about them and wish they were more involved in the end of the story.
So overall, NOT my cup of tea. But please read other people's reviews as well as you may enjoy the book.
June 1, 2013
I asked someone from SoHo books which book they were most excited about this season and without a moment's hesitation she handed me "A Beautiful Truth" by Colin McAdam.
At it's most basic level - this book struck me as intensely honest. The story begins with Walt and Judy. Walt,'s first wife died in a car accident and so he learned quickly and painfully precisely what was most important in his life. When he met Judy he treasured her with our without children. Judy was a devoted wife, trying to figure out how to live beyond her desire to have children. Despite their difficulties, they were happy. One day Walt saw a clown with a chimpanzee and he was struck by the notion of these creatures - so similart to human, and yet not. He made inquiries and eventually secured a chimpanzee to adopt. If you have ever seen Project Nim, then you will not be surprised by anything that happens.
There is no way that I could pretend to know a chimp's point of view no matter how much I have followed Jane Goodall's work in the Gombe National Park, and yet - it rung true.
There is at times a disjointed feel to the book that also is appropriate to both the story and the setting. McAdam manages to lightly and naturally touch on many of the different aspects of the lives of chimps in captivity over the last 40 years.
Who are these creatures in relation to humans, what rights have they or we over one another? How and where are we different? How shall we move forward, what is the nature of love.
If you come across Colin McAdam's works - read it and see what answers you have to these questions...perhaps your mind will be changed.
At it's most basic level - this book struck me as intensely honest. The story begins with Walt and Judy. Walt,'s first wife died in a car accident and so he learned quickly and painfully precisely what was most important in his life. When he met Judy he treasured her with our without children. Judy was a devoted wife, trying to figure out how to live beyond her desire to have children. Despite their difficulties, they were happy. One day Walt saw a clown with a chimpanzee and he was struck by the notion of these creatures - so similart to human, and yet not. He made inquiries and eventually secured a chimpanzee to adopt. If you have ever seen Project Nim, then you will not be surprised by anything that happens.
There is no way that I could pretend to know a chimp's point of view no matter how much I have followed Jane Goodall's work in the Gombe National Park, and yet - it rung true.
There is at times a disjointed feel to the book that also is appropriate to both the story and the setting. McAdam manages to lightly and naturally touch on many of the different aspects of the lives of chimps in captivity over the last 40 years.
Who are these creatures in relation to humans, what rights have they or we over one another? How and where are we different? How shall we move forward, what is the nature of love.
If you come across Colin McAdam's works - read it and see what answers you have to these questions...perhaps your mind will be changed.
August 27, 2013
I have a love hate relationship with this book but in the end I liked it. It just took me a long time to get there. The prose is beautiful and almost haunting and at times is what ultimately compelled me to each new chapter for the first half of the book.
All in all I found that the author really capture the true nature of both his human and chimp characters. Judy’s need for something more in her life is what leads Walt to getting a baby chimpanzee. What amuses me is that here was no research period for Walt about chimpanzee’s other then how to acquire what he desired. I loved the inner voice the author uses for Looee and the different primates. I could envision that it was real even though I for one could never really know. I imagine the research for this book was in-depth because it seemed very authentic.
In the beginning the book was hard to follow. One moment I was with Walt and then the next I was with a different set of characters and had no clue where I went. Once I learned the whole cast and acquainted myself with the different environments then it became easier and I was able to fall into the story.
I feel in love with Looee and my heart broke for him. The story was well rounded and easy to understand every perspective. The message that animals belong in their natural habitat and that animal research is cruel and not always beneficial was strong and yet very poignant.
All in all I found that the author really capture the true nature of both his human and chimp characters. Judy’s need for something more in her life is what leads Walt to getting a baby chimpanzee. What amuses me is that here was no research period for Walt about chimpanzee’s other then how to acquire what he desired. I loved the inner voice the author uses for Looee and the different primates. I could envision that it was real even though I for one could never really know. I imagine the research for this book was in-depth because it seemed very authentic.
In the beginning the book was hard to follow. One moment I was with Walt and then the next I was with a different set of characters and had no clue where I went. Once I learned the whole cast and acquainted myself with the different environments then it became easier and I was able to fall into the story.
I feel in love with Looee and my heart broke for him. The story was well rounded and easy to understand every perspective. The message that animals belong in their natural habitat and that animal research is cruel and not always beneficial was strong and yet very poignant.
February 28, 2015
This novel is told alternately from the perspective of humans and chimpanzees. The chapters from the chimpanzees point of views are highly experimental in structure and language seemingly seeking to convey in print the consciousness of these great apes.
This proved a difficult read even though I could appreciate the writer's desire to convey a sense of the lives of the chimpanzees at what at first seems some kind of sanctuary alongside the experiences of a couple who in the 1970s adopt a young ape as a child substitute. However, having been a volunteer at a local zoo ,which specialises in primates, I was waiting for disaster to strike. The later chapters that were focused on the experimental medical centre were harrowing proving almost too painful and disturbing to read.
I have read two other recent novels dealing with apes and their complex relations with humans and this, while I could appreciate the experimental nature of the prose, this just didn't work for me.
The novel was a reading group selection and as expected it was not well received though saying that most of us could appreciate the author's desire to convey these ideas but the execution was found wanting. It did provoke a good deal of discussion including whether a novel such as this compares to non-fiction on the same subject, changing attitudes towards the great apes and the ethics of medical research.
This proved a difficult read even though I could appreciate the writer's desire to convey a sense of the lives of the chimpanzees at what at first seems some kind of sanctuary alongside the experiences of a couple who in the 1970s adopt a young ape as a child substitute. However, having been a volunteer at a local zoo ,which specialises in primates, I was waiting for disaster to strike. The later chapters that were focused on the experimental medical centre were harrowing proving almost too painful and disturbing to read.
I have read two other recent novels dealing with apes and their complex relations with humans and this, while I could appreciate the experimental nature of the prose, this just didn't work for me.
The novel was a reading group selection and as expected it was not well received though saying that most of us could appreciate the author's desire to convey these ideas but the execution was found wanting. It did provoke a good deal of discussion including whether a novel such as this compares to non-fiction on the same subject, changing attitudes towards the great apes and the ethics of medical research.
November 5, 2014
I'm between a three and a four on this book. Up until the very end I was strongly at a three, but the last few chapters rang so true to my life's experiences, that I'm hovering over that fourth star.
Colin McAdams has written for us perhaps the best story of why chimpanzees - and possibly any wild animal - should not live amongst humans, in zoos, or in cages of any kind. He spends part of the time writing from the humans' perspective - mother/father, doctor/lab assistant - and part time writing from the various perspectives of the chimpanzee. The second voice sounds true enough, but I don't speak chimpanzee, and I'm not sure we ever really know what the next person is thinking, much less the next chimpanzee. Aha! I think that was McAdams' point.
McAdams also does not differentiate well between the various voices - human and ape - so I was reading it assuming it was the voice of a human, and then the feces got flung about, and I thought, "Ape?" But just as soon as I got comfortable with the voice of an ape, there was some more feces-flinging and I wondered, "Human?", which is another point I believe McAdams was wanting me to see. Humans and chimpanzees are hard to differentiate.
All in all, it's worth reading. 3.51 stars.
Colin McAdams has written for us perhaps the best story of why chimpanzees - and possibly any wild animal - should not live amongst humans, in zoos, or in cages of any kind. He spends part of the time writing from the humans' perspective - mother/father, doctor/lab assistant - and part time writing from the various perspectives of the chimpanzee. The second voice sounds true enough, but I don't speak chimpanzee, and I'm not sure we ever really know what the next person is thinking, much less the next chimpanzee. Aha! I think that was McAdams' point.
McAdams also does not differentiate well between the various voices - human and ape - so I was reading it assuming it was the voice of a human, and then the feces got flung about, and I thought, "Ape?" But just as soon as I got comfortable with the voice of an ape, there was some more feces-flinging and I wondered, "Human?", which is another point I believe McAdams was wanting me to see. Humans and chimpanzees are hard to differentiate.
All in all, it's worth reading. 3.51 stars.
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