Brilliant. From what I've read about ape research, nothing here seems implausible. Telling us the stories in a fictional format enables Preston to show us also how Jennie's 'siblings' reacted to her presence. The story takes place in an interesting cultural setting, too, a nice suburb in the eastern US in the late 60s - early 70s, and that becomes relevant. Iow, lots of different perspectives and strategies of exploration of What does it mean to be human, and are we qualitatively or only quantitatively 'smarter' than chimpanzees?

(Personally, though I fully support efforts to protect the apes and their habitat, and convict of manslaughter those who poach or conduct torturous research on them, I think the apes aren't as smart as humans, because they're not protecting themselves. But that's beside the point of this wise and moving book.) ( )

A memorable read ( )

A novel, Douglas Preston's first, I think, although it is presented very believably as a true story put together by the author from notes, research and interviews. Jennie was a chimpanzee who was rescued as a baby by Professor Hugo Archibald when her mother died giving birth to her. Professor Archibald brought her back to his family in Boston, where she was raised as one of the family, believing herself to be human. This presented an irresistible opportunity for Archibald's colleagues to study Jennie's ability to communicate using American Sign Language (ASL). The Professor's family also learned it, and Jennie studied daily with a researcher from the institute. Jennie assimilated into her human family, going through many of the milestones an American child would go through: riding her tricycle, playing with her pet kitten and her brother Sandy, and rebelling against her "parents" as she entered puberty. She attained some measure of stardom as the rest of the world became aware of her and her impressive communication skills.

This is a funny, touching, and ultimately heart-wrenching story that reads like a true event. The author has done extensive research into experiments in teaching chimpanzees ASL, and occasions where chimps have been raised with human families, and says there is nothing in this novel that could not have easily happened in real life. I tend to believe him. ( )

This is a fictional story about a wild baby chimpanzee adopted by the family of an anthropologist and raised like a human child until the chimp is an adult.

Because of the time period that the story covers, it seems that the story might be inspired by the chimpanzee, Washoe, one of the first chimpanzees taught sign language. However, it quickly becomes clear that the characters and events in the story are largely fictional, with the real life instances of chimpanzees-human interaction being only inspirational.

The father in the story is a physical anthropologist who was collecting animal skeletons in Africa, when by chance, a dying mother chimpanzee brought to his camp gives birth to baby. He decides to keep it, and take it home to America. He seems to have no clear plans about how the baby chimp, named Jennie, will adapt to life in a human society, or how his family will accommodate a chimpanzee as a pet. In the US, his 7 year old son, immediately forms a strong friendship with the animal, and even treats Jennie like a sibling. However, the Anthropologist's daughter, the same age as Jennie, never becomes as close to the chimp. When it is discovered that Jennie can learn sign language, the family also learns to sign, and they are then able to communicate to some degree with Jennie. The story is told from the view point of a fictional journalist about 25 years after Jennie was brought to America. It is written as a series of interviews with family members or friends who knew Jennie, and also includes excerpts of the fictional autobiography of the Anthropologist who by then had passed away. It is a unique way to tell the story. Unfortunately, the characters themselves are not always well developed. Several characters seem to speak with nearly the same "voice". Expressions (which become annoying) such as “splendid”, “marvelous”, “that horrid …”, or “that hideous modern ...” appear frequently in the speech of least three characters. Another minor complaint I have is with the fictional author's Preface. The real author has the fictional journalist say, “I, personally, have no point of view.” It's unclear to me if that was also the real author's belief. But, it didn't seem accurate to me.

In the Afterword, the real author states that although the story is fiction, Jennie's character is scientifically accurate. The book contains transcripts of fictional sign language interaction between Jennie and humans. The potential for chimpanzee language ability is apparent from these transcripts, but it is sometimes hard to judge whether the chimpanzee is expressing conscious thoughts through sign language, or whether the signing is a form of “conditioned response”, learned because it results in immediate rewards such as food, attention, etc. As this is fiction, the reader is unable to draw conclusions with any certainty. Is the chimpanzee's sign language ability just a little more sophisticated than the inter-species communication of, say, a dog or parrot, or is it a lot more sophisticated? It is a very interesting question, and the book suggests that chimpanzees might have self-awareness and language ability very similar to that of humans, albeit never advancing beyond the level of a young human child. But it is a question that cannot be answered in a work of fiction.

The book is 293 pages long. By page 125, my stamina was waning. I think it could have been shortened a lot without any loss to the story. ( )

Excellent book. I was especially amazed at the tests and cognitive experiments they did (all of which was based on real research and actual events). I've pretty much loved everything Preston and Lincoln Child have done together and individually. ( )