The Evolution of Bruno Littlemore

by Benjamin Hale

Bruno Littlemore; linguist, artist, philosopher. A life defined by a soaring mind, yet bound by a restrictive body. Born in down-town Chicago, Bruno's precocity pulls him from an unremarkable childhood, and under the tuition of Lydia, his intellect dazzles a watching world. But when falls in love with his mentor, the world turns on them with outrage: Bruno is striving to be something he is not, and denying everything that he is. For despite his all too human complexities, dreams and frailties, Bruno's hairy body, flattened nose and jutting brow are, undeniably, the features of a chimpanzee.

Like its protagonist, this novel is big, abrasive, witty, perverse, earnest and accomplished. The Evolution of Bruno Littlemore goes beyond satire by showing us not what it means, but what it feels like be human - to love and lose, learn, aspire, grasp, and, in the end, to fail.

• ISBN10: 1848875339
• ISBN13: 9781848875333
• Publish Date: 1 April 2011 (first published 1 January 2011)
• Publish Status: Out of Print
• Out of Print: 28 February 2014
• Publish Country: GB
• Imprint: Atlantic Books
• Edition: Main
• Format: Paperback
• Pages: 592
• Language: English

Reviews

[brokentune]

The WTF factor is strong with this one.

The story of Bruno, a chimpanzee who learns how to speak and who slowly "evolves" into a man started out really strong. Bruno described the circumstances of his captivity and hints at the story that led up to his current condition. However, the story takes long, long, long time to tell, and Bruno is a somewhat less than reliable narrator. Well, either this, or Hale left out some relevant explanations of certain turns in the plot.

While there is something clever about describing mankind from the perspective of a chimp and relating that evolution is not as big a step up from the animal kingdom as man would believe it to be, the story itself just isn't gripping me.

DNF @ 37%.

[violetpeanut]

I don't know quite what to say about this book. I struggled deciding between 4 and 5 stars. I enjoyed it but was thoroughly exhausted at the end.

The basic premise of the book is that Bruno is a chimpanzee who, over the course of his life, learns language and to speak and comes to think of himself as human.

The writing is amazing. I was shocked to find that this is from a first-time author. I found myself using the dictionary feature of my Nook quite often. Actually, the book (and therefore the narrator, Bruno) were quite verbose. At some points I found myself spacing out and had to re-read paragraphs because there was just so much. This, however, is integral to the book. Because it is written from Bruno's point of view, the big words and lengthy descriptions only serve to reinforce Bruno's evolution from chimp to human.

The plot was interesting although disturbing at several points. Bruno's life with Lydia was especially disturbing. I would actually love to read this story again only written from Lydia's point of view. What the hell was she thinking??

This book is about so many things. At it's core it explores what it really means to be human but it also touches quite a bit on philosophy and humor and religion and theater and so many other things. It was exhausting mentally. I don't think my brain has had such a workout in years.

There were parts of this book that I struggled to get through. The middle moved a little slow for me. Despite this, I give it 5 stars. It's just too good not to.