I’d been hearing the raving reviews of this novel, and so was thrilled to receive an Netgalley review copy. I started the novel and was immediately bogged down. The novel begins in the center of the story and through flashbacks the secrets are revealed. I stuck with it and learning the (not-so-secret) surprise that our narrator Rosemary was raised with a “sister” Fern who happened to be a chimp and disappeared when Rosemary was five years old.
This reveal turned out to be the most interesting part of the novel
Now I was intrigued but still having trouble slogging through the flashbacks, and overly complex story lines.
I get that this unusual chimp fostering experiment had a long armed impact on various members of the family — especially Rosemary and often the writing is magical, funny and warm — but I could not finish this book.
I had trouble relating to any of the characters and found the this ever-churning tale of family loss, coming of age, and animal abuse extremely sad. Beware — the last part of the book involves gut-wrenching and sickening animal experiments and that is where I stopped reading.
Review copy provided by Penguin Group via NetGalley.