This was a total impulse buy from me. I have seen this book go around ages before, but I didn't really look into it much, and there were a lot of mixed reviews, so I haven't given it much thought.
But recently, I saw it on Book Depository and there was this edition that was really cheap so I bought it. And a couple of days ago I picked it up.
And it was amazing. Truly great. I had no idea what this book was about. And if you decide to read it, I suggest you do the same and just dive into it head on, without any information about its plot. I feel that this book has a much stronger impact like that.
However, this will be a spoilery review. So maybe don't read this anymore if you're planning on reading this. (And I strongly advise that you do!)
I found this book to be rather intelligent. I think it was meticulously thought out and executed. The big thing about this book, the major spoiler - this book is about a girl who was a part of a family that decide to bring up a chimpanzee. Now, back in the day when behaviourism was so big, there were a lot of experiments like this. Chimpanzees were brought into human families, and they were raised as human children, mostly for looking into how this would affect their language and communication. One such experiment was the one which was done with a chimpanzee called Nim. (There's a movie about it, that's really good and sincerely kind of ridiculous.)
Fowler starts from this, and builds on it. This is a story told from the perspective of Rosemary Cooke, whose parents were psychologists and who decided to take a chimp into there home and raise it as their own. Fowler doesn't tell us this until about 100 pages into the book. Which was really smart. Rosemary describes to us Fern, her absent sister, who was taken one day from their home under, to us unknown, circumstances. So the whole time you're thinking that Fern is in fact human. And what this manages to do is to make you see what Fern was to Rosemary and to her whole family. She really thought of her as a sister.
The whole book is really beautifully written. It follows many different chronological story lines, it's all over the place. But the thing is... it works. Perfectly and seamlessly.
Rosemary isn't necessarily a character you can relate to. I believe the whole experience wasn't good for her. As you might expect. But you feel for her. You really do. I think Fowler manages to make you feel appalled by the situation and at the same time really understanding of it.
I can understand the mixed reviews of this book. The topic is really controversial and not for everybody. But I personally think it was really masterfully done and unbelievably fascinating. I am studying psychology, so my fascination with this book might stem from it. But I personally believe that the psychological undertones of this book go way beyond its experiment and reveal deep truths about family and human nature.
This book is at its core - a story about a family. And a really great one at that.
I really do recommend this one, especially if psychology even remotely interests you. If you do end up reading it, please let me know how you feel about it!
Rating: ✯✯✯✯✯
