Ape House by Sara Gruen

I lied, I read other books in the last couple months.

Ape House by Sara Gruen was pretty good. It was the book that lead me on to Water for Elephants.

This book is set in contemporary time. It's about these apes who can communicate effectively with sign language who are kidnapped by a Reality-TV producer and put on TV. The guy thought the animals would be television gold because the apes are very open about their sexuality and often have bisexual intercourse with each other.

The story goes between the apes, the scientists that want to save the animals, the animal activists, the people exploiting the animals, and a journalist publishing the story. The summary on the book jacket hints at this romance between the scientist and the journalist, but it totally doesn't pan out as hinted. They barely have a romantic relationship... that part was a little disappointing because I kept expecting something crazy complicated but didn't see anything remotely like it.

The story is mostly about how far people will go to exploit something, and what needs to be done to protect the vulnerable.

Like Water for Elephants, this book is interesting and thought provoking but not so deep that you're turned off by the philosophical discussion. Despite that, I can't decide if I like Sara Gruen... she's trying to be thought provoking but she always steps back just before she hits the edge of depth and it annoys me. I suppose I just prefer either one or the other, action or thought. Gruen's books have action but not too much... and there's thinking but not enough to alienate the casual reader... But the endings are almost too neat, and that seems to alienate me more. I'm not sure what I'm saying, when I like happy endings... but it just feels a little off to me. Nothing ends that perfectly.

Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen

Water for Elephants is so good. I was initially reminded of Stone Angel by Margaret Laurence because the narrator is an aging person who remembers important events in their youth, but this book is less angry and regretful and more a homage to the circus rather than the narrator's decline.

The narrator is Jacob, a 91 year old man living in a nursing home. The circus arrives and sets up beside his nursing home, and he relives his youth in the circus. He remembers the circumstances that got him there, how he met his wife, and how he came to be the man he is. The details are vivid, and paint an amazing picture of what life was like in a circus during the 1930s Great Depression.

It also painted a genuine picture of what it is like to age... and that always makes me sad when I can see it myself in person.

Sara Gruen is a great writer, and I can't wait to read her other book.