Summer Holiday Book Review - Ape House

picture via here

Even before the first page of this book I loved it.  Who doesn't love an author who thinks to compare the intelligence of a chimp with that of a pop idol?? And does it so simply

Give orange give me eat orange me eat orange give me eat orange give me you.  Nim Chimpsky, 1970s

Gimme gimme more, gimme more, gimme gimme more.  Britney Spears, 2007

Ape House is the story of Isabel Duncan, a scientist studying language acquisition in bonobos and John Thigpen, a reporter who visits the lab on assignment. Shortly after his visit, the lab is blown up, Isabel is seriously injured and the family of bonobos disappear. The family are soon being advertised on billboards and become the stars of Ape House, a chimp version of Big Brother. The world, in its craze for reality TV, tunes in to watch. Isabel's desperation to get the bonobos back and John's desire to beat a rival to the real story sees them team up with a host of quirky, likeable characters each with their own agendas.

It's an easy book to read as the characters are well developed and the side stories, for the most part, enhance the main plot. Bonobo DNA is 98.7% the same as human DNA so it is fascinating to consider that in language research labs bonobos can communicate and reason with humans and do so willingly. As with Sara Gruen's previous book, Water for Elephants, Ape House is extensively researched and many of the human-ape dialogues and scenes in the book are based on actual conversations and events. With that in mind, the material about the treatment of animals in medical research labs is particularly confronting.

The verdict - Read it! At least once. Twice if you are like me and find yourself reading it as quickly as you can just to find out what happens in the end that you miss some of the finer details.