Bruno Littlemore is quite unlike any chimpanzee in the world. He falls under the care of a university primatologist named Lydia Littlemore. Learnin...
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reviews
Oct 10, 2011
Jafar
rated it: 
A book like this should come with a warning on the cover: This book will interfere with your normal life. It’s almost 600 pages, and you won’t be able to put it down. This will be a serious problem unless you’re one of those prodigal fast readers. You’ve been forewarned. To hold a full-time job and finish this book in less than a week is an achievement in itself for a sluggish reader like me. This book provides a good excuse to stay at home on a Saturday night when it’s cold and windy and you re
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Feb 15, 2011
Tony
rated it: 
Behold Genius.
Benjamin Hale is scary smart and as good a writer as it is legal to be. What a debut! He knows his Shakespeare and has captured his rhythm. And Eliot. And the Bible. The Language that flows through us all. Hale, a literary Incubus, seduces with timelessly crafted sentences on every page.
Start with a great idea....
No, to start: That is the greatest cover for a book, ever.
Now, restart with a great idea: a chimpanzee who learns to s More...
Benjamin Hale is scary smart and as good a writer as it is legal to be. What a debut! He knows his Shakespeare and has captured his rhythm. And Eliot. And the Bible. The Language that flows through us all. Hale, a literary Incubus, seduces with timelessly crafted sentences on every page.
Start with a great idea....
No, to start: That is the greatest cover for a book, ever.
Now, restart with a great idea: a chimpanzee who learns to s More...
10 comments
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(12 people liked it)
Apr 10, 2011
Lori
rated it:
Review copy from publisher
Well, there is one positive to calling out sick and feeling like death warmed over - and that is the ability to clock in uninterrupted "couch time", which allowed me to breeze through the final 150 pages of The Evolution of Bruno Littlemore today.
One of the more talked about novels back in May 2010 during the BEA's, I managed to somehow walk right by this hefty novel without adding it to my many bags of books. Huge thanks go out t More...
Well, there is one positive to calling out sick and feeling like death warmed over - and that is the ability to clock in uninterrupted "couch time", which allowed me to breeze through the final 150 pages of The Evolution of Bruno Littlemore today.
One of the more talked about novels back in May 2010 during the BEA's, I managed to somehow walk right by this hefty novel without adding it to my many bags of books. Huge thanks go out t More...
4 comments
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(3 people liked it)
Nov 14, 2011
Jane
rated it:
It has been such a long time since I read fiction this good. I almost didn't read it when I read the premise (a memoir of a chimpanzee.) It didn't seem possible that this could make a good book. I trusted the goodreads reviewers though and this time was so glad that I did. The author did an amazing job of bringing Bruno to life. I felt like I knew him and he became a part of my life for the 10 days I spent reading this book. I couldn't wait to pick up the book each day and I was sorry when
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5 comments
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(2 people liked it)
Jun 12, 2011
Rosalía
rated it:
Brilliant. Absolutely brilliant. Imagine a novel that includes Philosophy, Psychology,Biology, mystery, love, Theology, Anthropology, and...sex. I dare say to read my fellow bookworm Tony's review:
"Behold Genius.
Benjamin Hale is scary smart and as good a writer as it is legal to be. What a debut! He knows his Shakespeare and has captured his rhythm. And Eliot. And the Bible. The Language that flows through us all. Hale, a literary Incubus, seduces with timelessly crafted More...
"Behold Genius.
Benjamin Hale is scary smart and as good a writer as it is legal to be. What a debut! He knows his Shakespeare and has captured his rhythm. And Eliot. And the Bible. The Language that flows through us all. Hale, a literary Incubus, seduces with timelessly crafted More...
5 comments
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(1 person liked it)
Feb 01, 2012
Lisa
rated it: 
Whew. I finally finished this 576-page book! When I picked it up at the library, I was surprised to see how huge it was. Normally, I love thick books, but somehow I knew this wouldn't be a good thing here. Bruno Littlemore, a human trapped in an ape's body, is, to sum it up in one word: verbose. (See, I can do what he can't!)
The other problem is that Hale crams too much in one novel. In doing so, he riffs on different things about our society - all of which is amusing and often on t More...
The other problem is that Hale crams too much in one novel. In doing so, he riffs on different things about our society - all of which is amusing and often on t More...
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Aug 05, 2011
Um .... yeah. I desperately want a friend to read this book so I can debrief with them, but have a hard time telling anyone it's a must-read. It's not a bad book—one where you set it down and think to yourself, "Wow, that was a colossal waste of my time. How did they get that printed?" But it's not a "Crikeys, everyone MUST.READ.THIS." For a debut effort, I'm really impressed with Benjamin Hale, but I would suggest the book is beyond verbose. There are quite literally entire
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(2 people liked it)
Jan 25, 2012
Robert
rated it:
I was excited to read this, since blogger Mimi Smartypants, who reads an inhuman number of books, gave it four stars (a VERY rare rating for her), and while it certainly was very sharp and funny, with lots of amusing references to culture of both the highbrow and lowbrow varieties, in the end I didn't find it all that amazing. It felt sort of like a fascinating writing experiment carried too far. Sort of like those movies that get made out of Saturday Night Live sketch characters, which work as
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Jan 18, 2012
Karen
rated it: 
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
To view it, click here
Sep 20, 2011
Hayley
rated it:
Some writers focus their craft with laser precision, building it piece by piece like a type of architecture. Some writers make me so sick with their talent. These writers parade their prose back and forth like it’s their groomed Bichon Frise at Westminster. Some writers often arrogant with their skill, filling pages with leaps of precise logic and seemingly effortlessly composed metaphor.
Benjamin Hale, makes me forgot about the actual craft of writing. This is not to say that Benjamin More...
Benjamin Hale, makes me forgot about the actual craft of writing. This is not to say that Benjamin More...
Aug 21, 2011
Amanda
rated it:
The Evolution of Bruno Littlemore was published back in April, and caused nary a splash as it hit an unsuspecting public. I've seen very few reviews and not many discussion points concerning this novel. It's not been put onto any longlists or shortlists that I'm aware of, and Benjamin Hale has not been feted as one of the bravest debut novelists of recent times.
In my opinion, The Evolution of Bruno Littlemore should have exploded into people's consciousness. It should have been re More...
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(2 people liked it)
Aug 12, 2011
Robert E.
rated it:
For anyone who's met the gaze of a primate and felt unsettlingly seen, Bruno won't be that big of a leap in imagination. Rescued from the zoo, he becomes part of a language study at the University of Chicago. Left alone for the first time in a cage at night when the primatologists go home for the evening, without the comfort of his family, he flies into a rage and shreds the blanket left for him, hurling food everywhere. But he soon makes friends with the developmentally disabled custodian who c
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Jul 04, 2011
Carol
rated it:
Amazing book. Kept wondering why I was continuing to read it, and yet I was pulled along. Do not undertake it lightly. The erudite, loquacious, and pedantic man-ape narrator and the huge number of pages may drive you crazy. Ultimately, the multi-syllabic words and voluminous descriptions of every little thing fit the theme.
Navel-gazing. Lots of navel-gazing. Do apes have navels? Yes they do. Showing again, as Bruno often does, how little separates us from our sibling primates. Bruno lo More...
Navel-gazing. Lots of navel-gazing. Do apes have navels? Yes they do. Showing again, as Bruno often does, how little separates us from our sibling primates. Bruno lo More...
Jul 03, 2011
Paula
rated it:
This freakishly compelling Humbert Humbert meets Curious George tale had me at hello. There is brilliant writing ("Like Satan," the main character, a preternaturally gifted chimpanzee named Bruno Littlemore, says, "I am a beautiful loser.") and mawkish humor (including the hilarious monkey/frog sex scene with Rotpeter, Bruno's father). Even so, I found Bruno too soulless and self-centered for my taste. Despite his initial protestations of undying love for the strangely childl
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Jun 18, 2011
Judith
rated it:
This is the story of a chimpanzee who was born in captivity in the Lincoln Park Zoo, in Chicago. His life really begins when his savior, in the form of research scientist Lydia Littlemore, chooses him for further study in language development and behavioral science conducted at a prestigious local university. It is love at first sight for beauty and the beast, and the introductory scene of bestiality can be a shocker if you are not prepared for it. However, while essential to the plot develop
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Apr 06, 2011
Emma
rated it:
First, I want to express my surprise: I read a lot about this book before its publication; it was published about 2 months ago, and I no longer see anything recent said about it, or book blogging about it. It sounds as if it were very quickly dropped.
I am very surprised, as this book is phenomenal; ok let’s put aside what may gross you out, and yes the first sexual graphic scene between Bruno and Lydia is not the best passage of the book.
The writing is fantastic, it’s incred More...
I am very surprised, as this book is phenomenal; ok let’s put aside what may gross you out, and yes the first sexual graphic scene between Bruno and Lydia is not the best passage of the book.
The writing is fantastic, it’s incred More...
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Apr 02, 2011
Darin
rated it:
I heard about this book and was very excited. It's a book about a chimp who learns how to talk! It's like Nim Chimpsky but fiction! I MUST LOVE. Eh, not so much. The tone of the narrator (Bruno, the chimp who learned to talk) is just not pleasant. Spread that over 580ish pages and you have a rather challenging book to get through. In all fairness, I get WHY Bruno has his tone and perspective as the whole impetus of his evolution is his rejection of animal nature. Of course he is then rejected by
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(1 person liked it)
Mar 24, 2011
Michelle
rated it:
Is Chicago really the second city? Are chimps really less human than we are? This amazingly entertaining romp of a book takes on this, as well as even more intense, philosophical issues. A fascinating disquisition on language acquisition, consciousness, love, literature, and just about everything you could think of aside from the kitchen sink, this is also an absorbingly hilarious page turner.
The only reason I don't give it four stars is that it lags for about 100 pages (it's 576 pag More...
The only reason I don't give it four stars is that it lags for about 100 pages (it's 576 pag More...
Mar 07, 2011
Jeremiah
rated it:
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
To view it, click here
Mar 02, 2011
Sam
rated it:
A monkey gains the power of speech in this high-strutting show-off act of a debut novel. A whiz-bang opener of a story that can't quite sustain its own ideas and narrative energy, but given how much narrative energy is injected in the first two hundred and fifty pages - including, but by no means limited to, a shit-throwing primate family, monkey/woman sex, and linguistic coming-of-age - I was okay with the fact the temperature died down a little in the second half, especially insofar as it mim
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Feb 09, 2011
From the first page of Benjamin Hale's exquisite novel, The Evolution of Bruno Littlemore, Hale’s linguistic talent locks the reader into their seat and sends them ticking up the roller coaster ride of Bruno Littlemore’s life. An unlikely narrator, Bruno is a chimpanzee trying to become a man--a process he sees as “equal parts enlightenment and imprinting your brain with taboos.” Bruno acquires a fervent love of language--and of primatologist Lydia Littlemore, with whom he develops a deep (and,
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Oct 10, 2011
Jennyreadsexcessively
rated it:
What does it mean to be human? How have we evolved from our possible knuckle-walking ancestors to upright, speaking, cultured, modern Homo sapiens? Bruno Littlemore is a chimpanzee rescued from a Chicago zoo and reared among humans at a research lab who longs to become human. At the age of 40, Bruno walks upright, speaks and reads, and even directs theatrical plays (albeit with mostly ape actors). How did this remarkable transformation occur? Bruno narrates his story and, most shockingly an
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Feb 19, 2011
Jessica
rated it:
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
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Feb 06, 2011
RE: _The Evolution of Bruno Littlemore_
I read about this book of fiction in a 2/4/11 NY Times Book Review at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/06/books/...
Sounds interesting.
The Google eBook description starts out with:
========================================================
"Bruno Littlemore is quite unlike any chimpanzee in the world. Precocious, self-conscious and preternaturally gifted, young Bruno, born and raised in a habitat at the local zoo, fall More...
I read about this book of fiction in a 2/4/11 NY Times Book Review at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/06/books/...
Sounds interesting.
The Google eBook description starts out with:
========================================================
"Bruno Littlemore is quite unlike any chimpanzee in the world. Precocious, self-conscious and preternaturally gifted, young Bruno, born and raised in a habitat at the local zoo, fall More...
Jan 24, 2011
Andrew
rated it:
The advance hype for "Bruno Littlemore" stretches all the way to last June, where it was the talk of the BookExpo America in New York. The hype is justified. Benjamin Hale has created one of the most distinctive and playful narrators in years in the form of Bruno Littlemore, a talking chimpanzee who dictates his story to an assistant. If you read the first three pages, you won't be able to stop. Trust me on this.
Bruno is intelligent, witty, and quite arrogant--a wonderfully More...
Bruno is intelligent, witty, and quite arrogant--a wonderfully More...
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Feb 18, 2012
Osvaldo
rated it:
Once again I am frustrated by my inability to grant ½ stars on Goodreads. I would give this 3½ stars if I could. I more than liked it. I less than really liked it. I am sure Ben Hale would know a good word for the liminality of my liking - or at least, he'd know how to look up good one in the kick-ass thesaurus he must have.
Despite being a long book I flew through it - though I must admit there were a few parts I kind of glossed over thinking Hale's editor could have done a bette More...
Despite being a long book I flew through it - though I must admit there were a few parts I kind of glossed over thinking Hale's editor could have done a bette More...
Dec 19, 2011
Cheryl in CC NV
rated it:
I am *so* glad I spied this at the library. It's huge (by my standards at least), but I read 1/2 of it one night (when I was supposed to be sleeping, but oh well).
A little like Flowers for Algernon, but with more science and romance and heartbreak and gorgeous language. Story-telling that immerses one in the chimp's world, heightened sense of smell and all. Lots of provocative issues, exploring what it means to be human, what kinds of experiments are justified, how it works to do sc More...
A little like Flowers for Algernon, but with more science and romance and heartbreak and gorgeous language. Story-telling that immerses one in the chimp's world, heightened sense of smell and all. Lots of provocative issues, exploring what it means to be human, what kinds of experiments are justified, how it works to do sc More...
Aug 05, 2011
Gary
rated it:
Interested in a story about a chimp that learns how to think, talk and act like a human? This is the book for you. However, if you're looking for a plausible explanation of how such a thing could happen, this is not the book for you. Likewise, if you're squeamish, you may wish to look elsewhere.
The conceit of a chimp that develops human-like thought is fraught with possibilities and author Benjamin Hale generally delivers. How does the member of another species view we crazy humans? More...
The conceit of a chimp that develops human-like thought is fraught with possibilities and author Benjamin Hale generally delivers. How does the member of another species view we crazy humans? More...
Apr 06, 2011
Bookmarks Magazine
rated it:
Whether they ultimately praised the book or not, the comparisons critics needed to make in order to describe The Evolution of Bruno Littlemore—mainly comparisons to Vladimir Nabokov’s Lolita but also to Salman Rushdie and Franz Kafka—give some idea of Hale’s ambition. In general, reviewers felt Hale was up to the task, producing an innovative and interesting work of fiction. But they tended to acknowledge two excesses. The first is the book’s length, which some critics felt was a sign of the fir
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Mar 03, 2011
Danny
rated it:
Finally finished this book! Nothing wrong with the book, I flew through the first 400 or so pages, but then I got sick and I apparently can't concentrate enough to read when by throat is scratchy and my sinuses are about to have a snotsplosion.
Of course, the book does take a narrative turn near the end too, so that might have added to my inability to continue on. Who knows.
The point is, I really, really, enjoyed reading this book, which I didn't expect to do because I pick More...
Of course, the book does take a narrative turn near the end too, so that might have added to my inability to continue on. Who knows.
The point is, I really, really, enjoyed reading this book, which I didn't expect to do because I pick More...
