Reading the World discussion

"In the heart of a civil war-torn African nation, primate researcher Hope Clearwater made a shocking discovery about apes and man . . .

Young, alone, and far from her family in Britain, Hope Clearwater contemplates the extraordinary events that left her washed up like driftwood on Brazzaville Beach. It is here, on the distant, lonely outskirts of Africa, where she must come to terms with the perplexing and troubling circumstances of her recent past. For Hope is a survivor of the devastating cruelties of apes and humans alike. And to move forward, she must first grasp some hard and elusive truths: about marriage and madness, about the greed and savagery of charlatan science . . . and about what compels seemingly benign creatures to kill for pleasure alone."

The book is the winner of the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for Fiction (1990). Of Scottish descent, Boyd was born in Accra, Ghana and spent much of his early life there and in Nigeria where his mother was a teacher and his father, a doctor.

Just checking in - has anyone had the opportunity to read this yet?

I did----and thought it somewhat interesting (though characters not very likeable,generally). Then I read "Little Boys Come from the Stars" and enjoyed it much more bc humor. Hey, before this I had never heard of Brazzaville, even!

LOL. I hadn't either. I love it when I learn something new from a read!

I am still going to read this one, and might try to fit in both to compare as well.

I finished Little Boys Come From the Stars and enjoyed it. I just started this one and so far it is a bit odd but I think that the key assumption in it about violence (I am only on page 30) is really interesting.

Both of the BOTM selections this month mention Fermat’s Theorem….

I finished this selection and I have to say that I found it compelling reading even though I didn't actually like any of the characters. I found Boyd's structure of the novel to be complex but not in a way that is meant to confuse like so many modern books with complicated plot structures. I was always aware of which of the storylines I was in and I thought that the alignment and contrast between the storylines worked. I did find the primary focus on how violence may be an inborn characteristic of primates to be fascinating, and also the conflict and aggression found in professional academic circles and the conflict found in a post colonial African country to be well portrayed. However, I did find the ending to be unsatisfying. Although the ending did adhere to the nature of the characters portrayed, I was a bit irritated by how many people / animals died. It took the drama just a notch too high for what the rest of the book could support. Well worth reading however.

I definitely see what other people were saying about this book being a little weird. There's something off-kilter in the prose that almost felt like it was holding the audience at a distance the whole time, which made it a bit difficult to get fully engaged with. I also agree that none of the main characters are particularly likeable.

It's not a bad thing in of itself if that is the story the author is intending to tell, but in this case if felt more like the author didn't adequately reflect on how the characters come across. Part of that, I think, is in that (correct me if I'm wrong because I wrote this in a semi sleep-med haze lol) the book never reflects on the colonial implications of the protagonists work and how she sees the Congo as a resource for her aims, and how her ex husband sees his life with her as about his 'more important' work.

I dunno, maybe someone else feels differently here. On paper I should have been really psyched for a book about math and biology research, but it felt like a bit of a letdown, and almost could have taken place anywhere except for the fact that it has a native chimp population. I ended up giving it 3 stars, but really it's more of a 2.5-2.75 for me. I did nominate this one, but might try to read the other Congo book at some point now that other folks seemed to like better lol.