Ape House - Softcover

Gruen, Sara

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1444716026 ISBN 13: 9781444716023

Publisher: Two Roads, 2011

Synopsis

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, severely injuring Isabel and 'liberating' the apes to an unknown destination, John's human interest piece turns into the story of a lifetime.

About this title

Review:

DON'T MISS YOUR BUS STOP . . . reading this week's talking-point book, Ape House by Water for Elephants author Sara Gruen. It's a funny, provocative lampoon of pop culture, about a group of sign-language-speaking bonobo monkeys who are liberated from a science lab, only to wind up on a reality TV show. (Grazia)

Ape House is gripping, emotionally exhilarating and, by a large margin, the best novel I've read in the past 12 months. Or perhaps 24.... A twisting pacy plot . . . vivid page-turner . . . mining the same literary vein as Jodi Picoult and TC Boyle whose strong, conflicted characters and ethically charged plots deliver brilliant but challenging fiction. (James Urquhart, Independent)

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)

Book Description:

From the bestselling author of Water for Elephants comes another immensely engaging novel ....

About this edition

• Publisher: Two Roads
• Publication date: 2011
• ISBN 10: 1444716026
• ISBN 13: 9781444716023
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 384