The heroine of this love story is Madelene Burden. Lonely and disillusioned despite her upper-crust London existence, she's a modern-day sleeping b...
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Nov 17, 2008
Jennifer
rated it: 
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.
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Jan 19, 2010
Margaret
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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 scientif 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 scientif More...
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Jun 20, 2009
Sun
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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 beautifu 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 beautifu More...
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Mar 12, 2008
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.
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Oct 23, 2008
Dan
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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."
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May 30, 2009
Cate
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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
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Mar 20, 2007
Richard
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This is one of my favorite books. It's so bizarre and lyrical and romantic. Read it.
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Oct 14, 2009
Melissa
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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
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Nov 26, 2007
Nona
rated it:
short, bizarre, sexy and alarming. almost perfect.
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Apr 16, 2008
Josh
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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
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Oct 23, 2009
Linda
rated it:
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
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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.
Jan 25, 2012
Tilde
rated it:
Lidt for typisk hørt-1000-gange-før civilisations/videnskabskritik. Den første halvdel af bogen er ellers lovende - interessant hovedperson, fængende osv. Men omkring midt i bogen bliver alting bare lidt for meget og det bliver tydeligt, at hele plottet er bygget op på den her forudsigelige kritik af (lidt for) begejstrede videnskabsmænd, der tror de ved det hele..
Jun 15, 2009
Juliet
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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.
Jun 16, 2009
Lee
rated it:
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 <Smilla's Sense of Snow> but found it thought provoking in a way that was not. The topic was not as compelling for me personally as that of <Borderliners> which was also thought provoking.
Dec 22, 2008
Cate
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This is a fabulous fantasy read written by the Danish author that wrote Smilla`s Sense of Snow. Easy read, thoroughly enjoyable!
Dec 22, 2008
Jeanne
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An incredible love story. The choices of how and who we love and what you might have to do to follow the love.
Feb 26, 2011
Laurie
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Although this is a novel it reads like a true story. It is a very touching book.
Dec 11, 2008
Bettie
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This will be a parable full of insight to some out there - skewed vets maybe.
And that, ladies and gentlemen is the most charitable comment I can think of at this precise moment.
And that, ladies and gentlemen is the most charitable comment I can think of at this precise moment.
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Sep 27, 2007
Thea
rated it:
After I read this book, I tried to recommend it to a lot of people, but most of them refused to read it on the grounds that it's about a love affair between a woman and an ape, no joke.
I would still recommend it! It's by one of my favourite authors, and it's a beautiful book. It was the first book I ever read that suggested that humans are just another kind of animal, and therefore we should be nicer to animals - but unlike any of the other books I've read on that topic, it's fictio More...
I would still recommend it! It's by one of my favourite authors, and it's a beautiful book. It was the first book I ever read that suggested that humans are just another kind of animal, and therefore we should be nicer to animals - but unlike any of the other books I've read on that topic, it's fictio More...
Aug 12, 2010
Karschtl
rated it: 
Gave up after the first two chapters, doesn't seem to be my kind of book.
Oct 23, 2008
Terpsicore
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Well, that was a very surprising book indeed, everybody had said so. Reconciled myself with Peter Hoeg ( I did have some trouble with Smilla). But I must admit the man is good. It is hard to get away with such a plot.
And I loved Madelene's emancipation. Thanks for "pushing" it to me, M!
And I loved Madelene's emancipation. Thanks for "pushing" it to me, M!
