The Monkey Bible: A Modern Allegory; includes The Line, a Companion Music CD by Eric Maring

by Mark Laxer

The Monkey Bible is the story of Emmanuel, a young college bound Christian man who suddenly has reason to suspect that his genetic make-up, and indeed the story of his creation, is not what he had thought it had been. Dismayed and seemingly alienated from his Church, Emmanuel journeys around the world in search of his genetic and spiritual origins, identity, and community.

The science behind the story is accurate, up-to-date, and accessible, and the reader comes to understand the biological creation story as the adventure unfolds ("...brings Aldous Huxley into the genetic age."--Dr. Richard Wrangham, Harvard University). While The Monkey Bible can be seen as the latest chapter in the larger-than-life debate between Darwinists and creationists, the novel is respectful of both sides, and strives to provide a gentle supportive bridge across which people who disagree can communicate. Ultimately, The Monkey Bible is a timely and necessary plea to alter the stories by which we define ourselves as a way to protect the countless creatures on the great tree of life, upon which all human life depends.

The Monkey Bible is a compelling read and the potential audience extends well beyond those interested in biology, anthropology, wildlife conservation, mythology, and religion ("...funny, entertaining, informative, and accessible, a clever teaching story that gently raises crucial questions about religion, science, and how we treat not only apes but all of creation."--Booklist).

Using The Monkey Bible as inspiration, songwriter Eric Maring has written a companion music CD which uses the varied notion of lines to echo the novel's themes. The Line-at turns serious, light, joyous, exuberant, and brooding-praises our ability and need to explore our world and to ask questions, especially regarding our relationship to our planet, our religions, and ourselves.

304 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 2010

About the author

Long ago, Mark Laxer's quest to understand the bigger world landed him in the inner circle of a brilliant, charismatic guru gone mad. After writing Take Me For A Ride and weathering a $30 million lawsuit, Laxer continued the quest by writing The Monkey Bible, which asks science, religion, and mythology what it means to be human. Laxer runs a software corporation, a free monthly storytelling gathering in Washington DC (you're invited!), and a wildlife conservation organization. In 2004, he invented virtual ecotourism.

Reviews

[Mike · Rating 2 out of 5]

I received this book as an ARC from the publisher and for some reason I thought it was non-fiction. It wasn't but I read it anyway. It's the story of a college student who believes he is the result of a gene-splicing experiment which added some ape DNA into his DNA. Once he learns this he feels the bible no longer applies to him as he is not fully human. He then travels the world in an effort to learn about and save apes. The storyline was not particularly believable and I can't say I really enjoyed the book. If it had not been an ARC I would not have finished it, fortunately it was not overly long. All in all I wouldn't recommend this, however, I looked at the Amazon reviews and apparently I'm the only one who didn't like it.

[Jennifer · Rating 1 out of 5]

Very poorly written. The characters have no personalities and are incredibly underdeveloped. Everything that happens, every person they come in contact with, far too convenient and unbelievable. The author clearly has a point to get across but fails miserably in the execution.

[Shannon · Rating 1 out of 5]

I couldn't get into this book and didn't finish. It feels like the author has a point of view to express and the story and characters suffer for this message. It's poorly written and boring. It doesn't have the stuff that makes a novel fun to read (for me).

[Susan (aka Just My Op) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not everyone is going to love this book. Some, as reflected in the one review I've found so far, are going to hate it. I found the premise interesting but thought I might fall into the “hate it” camp.

The book is “a modern allegory,” a novel about a young man who discovers that he is part ape. Because he is an animal instead of fully man, a “manimal,” he believes his cherished Bible doesn't apply to him. He goes on a quest to find his ape family. And one of his friends decides to write a Monkey Bible for him to replace the Bible he has lost, both literally and figuratively. In the quest, a bogus ChimpCorps non-profit organization is created and evolves into a real organization, creating a novel way to save natural habitat. And Virtual Ecotourism is created.

The book is not anti-religion, nor is it anti-science. It does find a place for both in the world, and not as adversaries. It does emphasis the importance of protecting the environment and biodiversity. Some parts are laugh-out-loud funny, especially about CPAs (Cell Phone Activists) who combat obnoxious cell phone usage. I'm almost ready to raise my hand to my ear, with thumb extended up, three middle fingers folded in, and pinkie pointed toward my chin, to take the CPA pledge.

Towards the end, the environmental message gets a little bit preachy. The writing doesn't meet the standards of great literature. Still, this was a fun, silly, entertaining book with a serious message. Readers will enjoy it more if they keep an open mind.

A CD, The Line by Eric Maring, was included. I enjoyed some of the tracks but some were not to my taste. My dog Maggie loved the animal sounds.

A copy of the book was provided to me by the publicist for the purpose of review.

[Trieste Devlin · Rating 1 out of 5]

I am frankly very disappointed in this book. It had so much potential, and I really enjoyed the first maybe two-thirds of it. Up to that point, Laxer posed questions that I personally thought were fascinating: What is the relationship between humans and the "non-human" world? Do we have any right to separate them at all [I don't think we do]? What does religion mean? How does the mental process of religion relate to the physical world? I was also impressed that there were no direct answers to these questions, because the answers are different for any individual... And Laxer effectively communicated that flexibility with a mix of narrators who all found different answers for themselves. BUT. After a couple of hundred pages, the answers started being drilled into me, which I didn't appreciate, because all of a sudden the open-ness I had felt disappeared. I was also unhappy that the story took a lot of turns towards the impractical, so that by the end I didn't believe in the world presented to me anymore. All in all, The Monkey Bible represents a great idea, started off very well, but ended all-too-mush-ily for me.

(update: I forgot to mention the "Companion Music CD" included with the book. I haven't been able to force myself to actually listen to it, because the lyrics are written out of the back of the book, and my reaction to them perfectly matches my feeling that they tried too hard: to "get a message across," to be super new-agey, to "enlighten" the audience in a way I didn't want to be enlightened. I think the book would have been able to speak for itself.)

[Cynthia · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is a rather gimmicky book, but it hooked me in the beginning when the protagonist was presented as manimal; a great ape/human hybrid on a quest for his origins and questioning his place in the world. One of the principal tensions in the book is Emmanuel’s concern that, because he is not fully human, that the Bible’s promise of salvation does not apply to him. There are many, far more interesting issues that are introduced: habitat destruction, loss of biological diversity, extinction, waste, the intersection of science and faith. They are presented in a story book format. How about a bibliography at the end?

[Julie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Author Mark Laxer asks the question, where is the line between human animals and other animals. Emmanuel is a young Christian man who struggles with his identity when he comes to believe that he may not be fully human. Can you get to heaven when you're part ape? The author has created some fun and wildly imaginative off-shoots such as iRude phone app (to go with a theme of the book of about rude people using cell phones) - check it out: http://monkeybible.com/gene-pool-irud...

[Peg]

I am always interested in reading materials that are pro-environment, pro-science AND pro-evolution particularly if it's tucked into religion (where it fits beautifully). I'm very curious about this book......one review said it is not well written so that discourages me a tad but I still wish to check it out & see the message of the book. Have to get my hands on one without buying it first, though.....that won't be easy.

[Eris · Rating 1 out of 5]

I wouldn't bother with this pap. Normally I might be kinder to the author, but this prose is overcooked and underdone - in addition, way too many masturbatory moments in the first few pages. The accompanying CD contains everything that is wrong with "New Age" music. Everything.

[Lori]

galley from BBC

[Rick]

Couldn't finish and returned to the library.