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| A BEAUTIFUL TRUTH | COLIN MCADAM | HAMISH HAMILTON | MARCH 2013 |
Walt and Judy are deeply in love, but Judy longs for a child and finds that life is holding few surprises. Walt measures all beauty against Judy but doesn’t want her eyes to get any sadder. They stay side by side and search for distractions, realizing they may never have a family. On a day when hope seems low, Walt finds an unexpected opportunity in the pages of Life magazine. They meet Looee, who was born in Sierra Leone, and they raise him at home in the hills of Vermont and regard him as their son.
At the Girdish Institute, a group of chimpanzees has been studied for decades. There is proof that chimps have memories and solve problems, that they can learn language and need friends. They are political, altruistic, get angry, and forgive. Mr. Ghoul has been there from the beginning, and has grown up in a world of rivals, sex, and unpredictable loss.
Looee and Mr. Ghoul travel distant but parallel paths through childhood, adolescence, and early middle age until Looee, who endures the darker side of Girdish, ends up meeting his kindred spirit long after he moves from Vermont.
I'm so glad that Rachel from Penguin Canada sent me a copy of this novel. It's not a book I would have picked up solely from reading the description, but Rachel's insistence that I would love the prose - and be thinking of Looee long after I finished reading the book - convinced me that this story was not one to miss.
The book is told from the perspectives of humans and chimpanzees. At first, I found it difficult to read from the point-of-view of a chimpanzee. The phrasing is choppy and the sentences don't always make sense, but with time I was able to overlook the structure and I found myself looking forward to these chapters. While hearing the story from the point of view of Walt or Judy is necessary at the beginning of the novel, A Beautiful Truth finds its voice in the minds of the chimpanzees.
Looee is such an impressive character. His actions make sense when you read through his thoughts. It was frustrating to know what he wanted and to understand the motives behind his actions when the humans he's communicating with can't figure out what he's trying to say.
A lot of what I've read about this novel focuses on Looee (which makes sense since he's the main character and has an interesting storyline: a chimpanzee raised as a human boy in a family house), but the character that I loved the most was Mr. Ghoul. Mr. Ghoul's story takes place in an institute and he is taught how to communicate using human language. I loved reading about his story and the way he communicates by pointing at symbols - and how his knowledge affects the interactions he has with other chimpanzees.
The language is at times crude, other times beautiful. The story is terrifying and full of wonder. It's an exceptional literary novel. If you're looking for something different and have an interest in getting inside the mind of an animal other than humans, then give this book a try. I'm still having trouble putting my thoughts into words, so you'll have to read this one for yourself.
At the Girdish Institute, a group of chimpanzees has been studied for decades. There is proof that chimps have memories and solve problems, that they can learn language and need friends. They are political, altruistic, get angry, and forgive. Mr. Ghoul has been there from the beginning, and has grown up in a world of rivals, sex, and unpredictable loss.
Looee and Mr. Ghoul travel distant but parallel paths through childhood, adolescence, and early middle age until Looee, who endures the darker side of Girdish, ends up meeting his kindred spirit long after he moves from Vermont.
I'm so glad that Rachel from Penguin Canada sent me a copy of this novel. It's not a book I would have picked up solely from reading the description, but Rachel's insistence that I would love the prose - and be thinking of Looee long after I finished reading the book - convinced me that this story was not one to miss.
The book is told from the perspectives of humans and chimpanzees. At first, I found it difficult to read from the point-of-view of a chimpanzee. The phrasing is choppy and the sentences don't always make sense, but with time I was able to overlook the structure and I found myself looking forward to these chapters. While hearing the story from the point of view of Walt or Judy is necessary at the beginning of the novel, A Beautiful Truth finds its voice in the minds of the chimpanzees.
Looee is such an impressive character. His actions make sense when you read through his thoughts. It was frustrating to know what he wanted and to understand the motives behind his actions when the humans he's communicating with can't figure out what he's trying to say.
A lot of what I've read about this novel focuses on Looee (which makes sense since he's the main character and has an interesting storyline: a chimpanzee raised as a human boy in a family house), but the character that I loved the most was Mr. Ghoul. Mr. Ghoul's story takes place in an institute and he is taught how to communicate using human language. I loved reading about his story and the way he communicates by pointing at symbols - and how his knowledge affects the interactions he has with other chimpanzees.
The language is at times crude, other times beautiful. The story is terrifying and full of wonder. It's an exceptional literary novel. If you're looking for something different and have an interest in getting inside the mind of an animal other than humans, then give this book a try. I'm still having trouble putting my thoughts into words, so you'll have to read this one for yourself.
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