Ape House
A Novel
گزارش تخلف
کتاب های مرتبط
- اطلاعات
- نقد و بررسی
- دیدگاه کاربران
نقد و بررسی
Sara Gruen's APE HOUSE sets interpersonal--and inter-species--relationships against a dramatic backdrop of animal rights and reality television. Both Gruen and narrator Paul Boehmer are at their best when describing the bonobos and their interactions with the people around them, particularly their caregiver, Isabel, whose point of view, along with that of reporter John Thigpen, informs the majority of the story. The two main secondary characters are women, and Boehmer's voicing of these two, in particular, leaves something to be desired. Both are exaggerated, with Isabelle's assistant, Celia, having a grating and oddly pronounced accent. His weaknesses in conveying the femininity of the three women drifts into the rest of his delivery, leaving the majority of the narration sounding unconvincing. J.L.K. (c) AudioFile 2010, Portland, Maine
July 5, 2010
Gruen enjoys minimal luck in trying to recapture the magic of her enormously successful Water for Elephants in this clumsy outing that begins with the bombing of the Great Ape Language Lab, a university research center dedicated to the study of the communicative behavior of bonobo apes. The blast, which terrorizes the apes and severely injures scientist Isabel Duncan, occurs one day after Philadelphia Inquirer reporter John Thigpen visits the lab and speaks to the bonobos, who answer his questions in sign language. After a series of personal setbacks, Thigpen pursues the story of the apes and the explosions for a Los Angeles tabloid, encountering green-haired vegan protesters and taking in a burned-out meth lab's guard dog. Meanwhile, as Isabel recovers from her injuries, the bonobos are sold and moved to New Mexico, where they become a media sensation as the stars of a reality TV show. Unfortunately, the best characters in this overwrought novel don't have the power of speech, and while Thigpen is mildly amusing, Isabel is mostly inert. In Elephants, Gruen used the human-animal connection to conjure bigger themes; this is essentially an overblown story about people and animals, with explosions added for effect.
دیدگاه کاربران