DON'T MISS YOUR BUS STOP . . . reading this week's talking-point book, Ape House by Water for Elephants author Sara Gruen. It's a funny, provocative lampoon of pop culture, about a group of sign-language-speaking bonobo monkeys who are liberated from a science lab, only to wind up on a reality TV show. * Grazia *
Ape House is gripping, emotionally exhilarating and, by a large margin, the best novel I've read in the past 12 months. Or perhaps 24.... A twisting pacy plot . . . vivid page-turner . . . mining the same literary vein as Jodi Picoult and TC Boyle whose strong, conflicted characters and ethically charged plots deliver brilliant but challenging fiction. * James Urquhart, Independent *
If you love animals like I do, it's a must read. * Ellen DeGeneres, host of the Ellen Show *
had me instantly enraptured * Dallas Morning News *
Gruen's astute, wildly entertaining tale of interspecies connection is a novel of verve and conscience - the fate of the bonobos is a brilliantly satirical surprise. * Booklist (starred review) *
It is a page-turner written with flair, imagination and a sharp sense of irony. * Globe and Mail *
Very, very few novels can change the way you look at the world around you. This one does. * Robert Goolrick, author of A Reliable Wife *
Consider reality TV, meth labs, over-the-top animal-rights activists, Botox, tabloids and Internet diatribes, and you, too, might come to the conclusion: People should be more like animals. Sara Gruen's entertaining, enlightening new novel will certainly leave you thinking so. * Miami Herald *
Has the dramatic tension of a crime thriller... Twists and turns, lies, and treachery abound in this funny, clever, and perceptive story. * Library Journal (starred review) *
Ape House is difficult to put down, filled as it is with genuine hilarity and heartbreak. * Toronto Star *
The biggest accomplishment of Ape House is that it brings bonobos to life. The writing is effortless, as though Gruen sat down and wrote the book in one breezy afternoon. * Vanessa Woods, New Scentist *
Gruen delivers a tale that's full of heart, hope, and compelling questions about who we really are. * Redbook *
Propulsive... Gruen writes with the commercial breathlessness of a cozier Dan Brown. * Entertainment Weekly *
'Ape House is a moving account of a close bond between human and ape - and human and human too.' * Take a Break (Fiction Feast) *
'enlightening and believable' * Guardian *
'Gruen writes about her animal characters with energy and empathy. . . . [she] has a lovely, noticing eye. Fron tiny silver flecks drifting off champagne cork foil, to a dogbowl sliding away from a rescued pit bill, there is plenty of surface detail to detain the reader.' * Financial Times *
It's a very addictive read . . . I thoroughly enjoyed it. * TheBookBag.co.uk *
Superb * The Sun *