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139th out of 513 books
—
498 voters
The Woman and the Ape
The heroine of this love story is Madelene Burden. Lonely and disillusioned despite her upper-crust London existence, she's a modern-day sleeping beauty drowsing gently in an alcoholic stupor. But the prince whose kiss brings her to life is not tall, dark, and handsome. He's a short, dark, 300-pound ape named Erasmus. The victim of a smuggling attempt gone awry, Erasmus is...more
Paperback, Large Print, 272 pages
Published
September 1st 1997
by Penguin Books
(first published 1996)
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Loved this book...an insightful parable about man and animals, free will and destiny, science and humanism. The main character is an alcoholic housewife, Madalene, married well, who runs away with an anthropoid ape (he talks) named Erasmus.
Peter Hoeg is the same guy who wrote Smilla's Sense of Snow, which I liked a lot, but this is much, much better.
Peter Hoeg is the same guy who wrote Smilla's Sense of Snow, which I liked a lot, but this is much, much better.
Es geht um eine neue Affenart, die dem Menschen erstaunlich ähnlich ist, um erotische Anziehungskraft eines Affen auf eine Frau (KingKong lässt grüßen) und die aus diesem Konflikt entstehende Gesellschaftskritik. Interessant zu lesen, aber mit dieser vorhersehbaren Moral etwas platt, auf jeden Fall nicht überragend.
I love this Peter Hoeg. I really liked Smilla's Sense of Snow and Borderliners, and parts of The Danish Book of Dreams were beautiful and memorable.
This, like The House of Mirth, is about a young woman trying to make her way in the world while obeying society's rules for rich young women. Unlike the House of Mirth, the character in this book breaks these rules by having sex with a highly evolved species of ape. Really.
I love Peter Hoeg's detailed descriptions of scientific procedures, and the d...more
This, like The House of Mirth, is about a young woman trying to make her way in the world while obeying society's rules for rich young women. Unlike the House of Mirth, the character in this book breaks these rules by having sex with a highly evolved species of ape. Really.
I love Peter Hoeg's detailed descriptions of scientific procedures, and the d...more
I fear I am not intelligent enough to draw the maximum from this book. I was at least halfway through before I could stop using the synopsis as a road map to remind myself what was going on. The prose is dense and highly intelligent but much of its message was lost on me. All I took from the first hundred or so pages was that a form of alcohol exists which you can drink and not end up incoherent and embarrassing and find yourself waking up with your tongue fused to the carpet. In fact it renders...more
An ape arrives in London on a boat. Adam Burden, respected behavioural scientist, has it hidden on the grounds of his house. His wife Madelene, is a Danish alcoholic. Somehow the author and his PR believe this makes for not only a story, but a parable.
While admiring author Peter Hoeg's understanding of science, especially biology and neuroscience, and his surprising dry humour, I was ready to go where the author wanted to take me. But I had to get off at the point where the beautiful but not qu...more
While admiring author Peter Hoeg's understanding of science, especially biology and neuroscience, and his surprising dry humour, I was ready to go where the author wanted to take me. But I had to get off at the point where the beautiful but not qu...more
While this book by Peter Høeg did not get high ratings in the reviews I read, I found the book delightful. I love the opening scene in which a super-intelligent ape creates havoc with his captors in London. I like the way it treats "scientists" studying an exotic animal in an unnecessarily destructive way.
While this is a bit of science fiction, the story is a could-be one with Peter Høeg's usual sharp observations, on contemporary Britain in this case.
While this is a bit of science fiction, the story is a could-be one with Peter Høeg's usual sharp observations, on contemporary Britain in this case.
A surprisingly strong novel for what begins as a simple page turner. To coin a phrase, "A strange ape comes to town," as Peter Hoeg tells the story of a mysterious primate and a rich, disenchanted young woman. I have to give PH credit: He takes his premise to two bold but logical conclusions. Good summer or travel reading. Shorter and mores satisfying than his better-known bestseller "Smilla's Sense of Snow."
I just recently realized I read this long ago, near when it came out, maybe 2000? It was a very interesting idea (view spoiler), but was a bit too bizarre for me. My remaining images are the main characters' surprising conversation in the lab, the brain-jarring "town hall" meeting, and some climbing among trees and walls. But I am not clear I actually learned anything; the the...more
Peter Hoeg ha uno stile davvero inconfondibile, che apprezzo molto, ma che ho trovato più aderente alla narrazione del suo capolavoro, Il Senso di Smilla per la neve. In ogni caso a me questa storia un po' fantascientifica e surreale è piaciuta abbastanza, anche perché ci richiama a tematiche sempre attuali e per me di un certo interesse. Leggendo si scopre come l'essere umano alla fine sia un po' più animale, e l'animale un po'più essere umano di quello che si crede.
Ho trovato il ritratto dell...more
Ho trovato il ritratto dell...more
This novel captured first my imagination and then my heart. Hoeg draws you in with exceptional characters and an action packed plot. Madelene, a wealthy but depressed upper class Londoner, appears to have everything, yet her life is not so simple. Insecure and depressed, Madelene is an outsider, even in her own house, medicating herself with alcohol. she discovers that her ambitious husband has procured an ape called Erasmus, on which he plans to experiment. Madelene rescues Erasmus from his cag...more
Mar 20, 2007
Richard
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
people who want a new twist on magic realism
This is one of my favorite books. It's so bizarre and lyrical and romantic. Read it.
Not sure exactly what I thought of this novel. I do enjoy Hoeg's prose style, but I found this novel hard to embrace. It does present an intriguing story, but it was hard to care about the main characters, human or ape. There is a coldness to this novel, which surprised me given that one of his other excellent novels, 'Smila's Sense of Snow' (a novel with cold in its very core) projected a warmth entirely lacking in this distant UK-based story. I didn't hate it, but I would not recommend it to s...more
The Woman and the Ape is about a wealthy, alcoholic housewife, Madelene, who reassess her life when an unusual ape offers her a peach. Peter Hoeg's incisive observations about class, wealth, power, freedom, civilization and beauty, keep this easily readable, animal-rights themed novel, intriguing. Madelene's annoying but unpredictable behavior adds surprising twists to what's bound to happen. You won't go bananas over the book, but the provocative ideas are rife for discussion, even if Hoeg's ta...more
short, bizarre, sexy and alarming. almost perfect.
У меня есть привычка перед чтением открывать книгу в рандомном месте и читать пару абзацев. Если бы я этого не сделала с Хёгом, то книга была бы для меня прежде всего о том, как женщина и обезьяна занимаются сексом xD А так я была морально готова и смогла впитать не только сомнительную зоофилию.
ДА, не такого первого знакомства с Хегом я ожидала =)) Тем не менее — присутствует у него этот скандинавский glimpse, никуда от него не денешьcя, хотя действие и происходит в Лондоне. А это означает, чт...more
ДА, не такого первого знакомства с Хегом я ожидала =)) Тем не менее — присутствует у него этот скандинавский glimpse, никуда от него не денешьcя, хотя действие и происходит в Лондоне. А это означает, чт...more
If you approach this book as a kind of essay on the topic of animals and London (in terms of how many animals are either consumed in London as food or maintained there as pets, zoological spectacles and research objects), you will find a lot to like in this book. If you approach it as an essay on the relation of the animal world to civilized humanity, you will find perhaps less to like, but at least the outlines of a very complicated problem: should the civilized world impose some kind of limit...more
How it rarely happens with compulsory reading, I really enjoyed reading this book.
With bright characters, events and cleverly introduced technical vocabulary, it created a surprisingly lively image of higher societies and also man's view on the world, actions and attitude towards nature and everything and everyone they believe to be beneath them.
The book presented me with a question - who is the animal and who is the human in our society, and in a way answered it.
With bright characters, events and cleverly introduced technical vocabulary, it created a surprisingly lively image of higher societies and also man's view on the world, actions and attitude towards nature and everything and everyone they believe to be beneath them.
The book presented me with a question - who is the animal and who is the human in our society, and in a way answered it.
Jul 13, 2010
Trish
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
2009,
book-club-sarasota
I was not thrilled about this selection for one of my book clubs. However it ended up being one of my favorites. I felt empathy for the characters and found the story and characters well developed. The loneliness and pain felt by Madelene and the Ape were believable and despite their flaws I found myself hoping they would succeed. Good discussion book for a book club and an interesting read if you don't belong to one.
A disturbing story of a bored woman who runs away with an ape. But it is a lot more than that, it dissects human attitudes to the natural world and our relationships with other species. At the same time it looks at the animal in every human - we're not that far removed from the apes at all when you think about it are we? A compelling, thought provoking read.
Loved this little book, put me in mind of Life of Pi, Greystoke and King Kong all wrapped up together. :) Great piece of escapism with some very interesting statistics and facts,environmental and animal rights issues. The flowering relationship of Madalene and Erasmus was done with, a few far fetched moments, but it's a fantastic magical ride :)
This story is really "out there" yet, amazingly, I was able to maintain the willing suspension of disbelief necessary to read it. I did not like it as well as but found it thought provoking in a way that was not. The topic was not as compelling for me personally as that of which was also thought provoking.
The clothes make the man. I did enjoy reading this book. I'm not much of a science fiction fan, but there is a message here - very important - that we are all sharing this planet together, and we seriously do need to realize that we cannot just keep taking all of the resources for us so called humans.
I gave this book 50 pages. It was interesting to me for the first several pages, then I became bored with the storyline and the characters. I just couldn't build enough interest back up to want to continue.
This is a fabulous fantasy read written by the Danish author that wrote Smilla`s Sense of Snow. Easy read, thoroughly enjoyable!
Started this novel too late last night, skipped to the end this afternoon. I like the idea but didn't care for the presentation.
Provocatively deals with questions such as "what is it to be human" and ideas such as love and intelligence. Intriguing.
A far-fetched plot and weird premise that were almost saved by the greater point the author was trying to make... but not quite.
An incredible love story. The choices of how and who we love and what you might have to do to follow the love.
Mar 28, 2013
Søren Søndberg
is currently reading it
Jeg nåede en tredjedel ind i bogen, og så gav jeg op. Ufatteligt kedeligt og højpandet sprog, der på kompliceret vis forsøger at fortælle om en fordrukkens kvindes forhold til en abe...? Mit liv er for kort til den slags.
I surpriced myself by actually liking this book even though it took some time to get in to it.
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Peter Høeg was born in Copenhagen, Denmark. Before becoming a writer, he worked variously as a sailor, ballet dancer, and actor. He published his first novel, A History of Danish Dreams (1988), to positive reviews. However, it was Smilla’s Sense of Snow (1992), a million-copy best seller, that earned Høeg immediate and international literary celebrity. His books have been published in more than th...more
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“Det var ikke en rituell prognose, som et bryllupsløfte eller et nyttårsforsett. Det var en edsavleggelse av et slag Madelene ikke hadde vært beveget til på tyve år. Det var den fryktløse troskapserklæringen uten tanke på fremtiden som et barn gir en uunværlig lekekamerat.”
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i think it was just one of t...more
Nov 18, 2008 05:59am
I think the cover was a factor for me as well.
Nov 18, 2008 06:07am