Ape House
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Review
'If you love animals like I do, it's a must read.'
(Ellen DeGeneres, host of the Ellen Show )'had me instantly enraptured'
(Dallas Morning News )'Gruen's astute, wildly entertaining tale of interspecies connection is a novel of verve and conscience - the fate of the bonobos is a brilliantly satirical surprise.' (Booklist (starred review) )
'It is a page-turner written with flair, imagination and a sharp sense of irony.' (Globe and Mail )
'Very, very few novels can change the way you look at the world around you. This one does.' (Robert Goolrick, author of A Reliable Wife )
'Consider reality TV, meth labs, over-the-top animal-rights activists, Botox, tabloids and Internet diatribes, and you, too, might come to the conclusion: People should be more like animals. Sara Gruen's entertaining, enlightening new novel will certainly leave you thinking so.' (Miami Herald )
'Has the dramatic tension of a crime thriller... Twists and turns, lies, and treachery abound in this funny, clever, and perceptive story.' (Library Journal (starred review) )
'Ape House is difficult to put down, filled as it is with genuine hilarity and heartbreak.' (Toronto Star )
'The biggest accomplishment of Ape House is that it brings bonobos to life. The writing is effortless, as though Gruen sat down and wrote the book in one breezy afternoon.' (Vanessa Woods, New Scentist )
'Gruen delivers a tale that's full of heart, hope, and compelling questions about who we really are.' (Redbook )
'Propulsive... Gruen writes with the commercial breathlessness of a cozier Dan Brown.' (Entertainment Weekly )
'It's a very addictive read . . . I thoroughly enjoyed it.'
(TheBookbag.co.uk )'superb'
(The Sun )Product Description
The New York Times bestseller - of how six bonobo apes change the lives of three humans, from master storyteller Sara Gruen, author of the international bestseller, Water for Elephants.
These bonobos are no ordinary apes. Like others of their species, they are capable of reason and carrying on deep relationships - but, unlike most bonobos, they also know American Sign Language.
Isabel Duncan, a scientist at the Great Ape Language Lab, doesn't understand people, but animals she gets, especially the bonobos. Isabel feels more comfortable in their world than she's ever felt among humans . . . until she meets John Thigpen, a very married reporter who braves the ever-present animal rights protesters outside the lab to see what's really going on inside.
When an explosion tears apart the lab, severly injuring Isabel and 'liberating' the apes to an unknown destination, John's human interest piece turns into the story of a lifetime.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
It's always a hard job to follow up an excellent book like Water for Elephants, one of the few books I have read twice. But I still enjoyed Ape House; it was full of action and had some interesting characters. It also taught me a lot about the big apes, more specifically the bonobos.
Possibly it was simply the fascinating history and quirky characters that lifted WFE above Ape House because this also had a lot to offer and I was eagerly turning pages towards the end.
The two main human characters were Isabel Duncan, the research scientist involved with work on language and communiction between humans and the apes, and John Thigpen, a struggling reporter, who happened to have been doing a piece on the apes the day before their premisis is blown up by an animal welfare organisation. The most fascinating characters though, were the apes themselves who had learned to communicate using ASL (American Sign Language) and could understand, if not vocalise, spoken English.
Ms Gruen uses the bombing of the premisis and eventual sale of the bonobos to illustrate some of the atrocious things that we, as a race, do to the apes in the interests of science. Fortunately, the point made, she moves on fairly rapidly, but not withoiut having sown the seed of concern in our minds.
Meanwhile the bonobos find themselves the subject of a live reality television show, Ape House.
Isabel thinks of these animals as her family and will stop at nothing to rescue them from their fate. Whether she succeeds, and if so, how, is the back-drop to the ongoing 24hr live screening of the apes as they go about thier semi-humanised lives.
Some fascinating content and alsmost a 5 star read - wish I could give 4 1/2 stars on SAmazon.
Possibly it was simply the fascinating history and quirky characters that lifted WFE above Ape House because this also had a lot to offer and I was eagerly turning pages towards the end.
The two main human characters were Isabel Duncan, the research scientist involved with work on language and communiction between humans and the apes, and John Thigpen, a struggling reporter, who happened to have been doing a piece on the apes the day before their premisis is blown up by an animal welfare organisation. The most fascinating characters though, were the apes themselves who had learned to communicate using ASL (American Sign Language) and could understand, if not vocalise, spoken English.
Ms Gruen uses the bombing of the premisis and eventual sale of the bonobos to illustrate some of the atrocious things that we, as a race, do to the apes in the interests of science. Fortunately, the point made, she moves on fairly rapidly, but not withoiut having sown the seed of concern in our minds.
Meanwhile the bonobos find themselves the subject of a live reality television show, Ape House.
Isabel thinks of these animals as her family and will stop at nothing to rescue them from their fate. Whether she succeeds, and if so, how, is the back-drop to the ongoing 24hr live screening of the apes as they go about thier semi-humanised lives.
Some fascinating content and alsmost a 5 star read - wish I could give 4 1/2 stars on SAmazon.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Like the other reviewers I bought this book after reading my now all time favourite book Water for Elephants. Unfortunately as much as I really wanted to love this book just as much, it was nowhere near as good.
Positives: I loved the apes, their interactions with humans, each other and even their surroundings was mostly (see below) endearing and delightful. It's fast paced with plenty of action and has you turning the pages wanting to find out what happens next.
Negatives: I found the way the bonobos sexual habits were used and the frequent references in this book slightly disturbing and just a little bit distasteful and I think that this is probably the main reason that I didn't enjoy this book as much as I could have.
All in all I think this book could have been as endearing as Water for Elephants but, for me anyway, missed the target :(
Positives: I loved the apes, their interactions with humans, each other and even their surroundings was mostly (see below) endearing and delightful. It's fast paced with plenty of action and has you turning the pages wanting to find out what happens next.
Negatives: I found the way the bonobos sexual habits were used and the frequent references in this book slightly disturbing and just a little bit distasteful and I think that this is probably the main reason that I didn't enjoy this book as much as I could have.
All in all I think this book could have been as endearing as Water for Elephants but, for me anyway, missed the target :(
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I've read all of Sara's books now and what I love is that they are so completely different. Many authors stick to a similar theme, but with different people or places. Each of Sara's books are unique and very well written.
I was a bit worried about this book initially wondering if I might have to read too many uncomfortable sentences about animal cruelty, but this was not the case. I loved how the characters developed and their personalities shone through as the book progressed. It had some good twists in it that kept you turning the pages, so much so that I finished it in two days - I would have finished it sooner had that pesky thing called 'work' not got in the way!!
Can't wait for the next Sara Gruen book now :)
I was a bit worried about this book initially wondering if I might have to read too many uncomfortable sentences about animal cruelty, but this was not the case. I loved how the characters developed and their personalities shone through as the book progressed. It had some good twists in it that kept you turning the pages, so much so that I finished it in two days - I would have finished it sooner had that pesky thing called 'work' not got in the way!!
Can't wait for the next Sara Gruen book now :)
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Sara Gruen has a magical touch.
I absolutely would put 'Water for Elephants' at the very top of my personal all time favourite books and then I would put 'Ape House' in the Top 5. Read more
Published 3 months ago by meganwonderdog
Not as far fetched as I thought
Although I am an animal lover this is not a book I would have chosen for myself, but as my sister bought it for me I had to give it a go. Read more
Published 4 months ago by Sooze
Bonobos, bombs and unbreakable bonds
Most of the reviews I've read of this book have been quite unanimous on one point: that 'Ape House' isn't as good as 'Water for Elephants'. Read more
Published 5 months ago by Miss E. Potten
fascinating insight into animal/human communication
It is very obvious that Sara Gruen has done her homework well.
Isabel is working with bonobos, teaching them how to communicate with humans. Read more
Isabel is working with bonobos, teaching them how to communicate with humans. Read more
Published 7 months ago by SusieH
Bonzi love reader ..kiss kiss....
This probably isn't a book that I would have chosen to pick up myself but it was selected for a book club I am part of and so I decided to give it a try...... Read more
Published 7 months ago by S. Knight
Nice Change
"Ape House" is a light read that attempts to open the animal world to us by bringing the Bonobos Apes to life in an original way. Read more
Published 8 months ago by Toni Osborne
Ape House
Apart from the fact that author Sara Gruen doesn't seem really sure whether this is an adventure story or a documentary, this is a good book about humans' ability to communicate... Read more
Published 11 months ago by L. Signy
A Very Different Animal
Having thoroughly enjoyed Sara Gruen's previous novel Water for Elephants, I was eagerly anticipating Ape House, thinking it would paint an equally tender portrait of the bonobo... Read more
Published 15 months ago by Lovely Treez
STERLING READING OF AN INTRIGUI9NG STORY
Another story by the estimable author of "Water For Elephants," Sara Gruen, deserves a first class narrator, which is precisely what is found in Bill Boehmer. Read more
Published 19 months ago by Gail Cooke
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