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Product Description
From Publishers Weekly
Though Boyd made his reputation with novels of larky humor, his new work is a literate tale of romantic suspense that eschews comic relief and holds the reader's attention with effective foreshadowing. Like his last novel, The New Confessions , this highly readable tale is primarily a first-person narrative. Here Boyd's storyteller is Hope Clearwater, who has fled marital difficulties back in England to study chimpanzees in Africa. Through her eyes the reader is introduced to a bevy of English and American eccentrics, some benign, others malevolent in their effects on one another and on the chimpanzees. As a nonexpert, Hope observes the chimpanzees from an unusual perspective (which mirrors her refreshing and deeply felt attempts to understand her idiosyncratic estranged husband, a mathematician), and her discovery of warring factions among the supposedly peace-loving chimps roils academic and emotional waters for everyone. The novel, contradictorily, is both rambling and tightly woven, with Boyd inserting insightful, third-person commentary on the characters' inner lives. As befits a protagonist telling her own story, Hope often doesn't know where she's going until she gets there, but Boyd's skill in developing her character overrides some slight confusion about the more picaresque aspects of her adventure. Boyd should widen his audience with this adroitly written, accessible tale.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Library Journal
Hope Clearwater lives alone in a beach house in an unnamed African country, trying to patch together her shattered life. An ecologist, she had come to Africa to participate in primate research and to heal the deep wounds of her marriage to a brilliant English mathematician; but she soon found herself plunged into another crisis, one that threatened not only her career but also her life. In a book packed with scientific and mathematical metaphors, Boyd explores how people create, defend, ignore, or subvert the belief systems that govern their lives. If on one level this is an intellectual thriller, on another it is very much an exciting and riveting adventure story, and on yet another a subtle examination of the power grid of personal relationships. Highly recommended. Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 2/15/91.
- Charles Michaud, Turner Free Lib., Randolph, Mass.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
- Charles Michaud, Turner Free Lib., Randolph, Mass.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Most helpful customer reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fascinating, suspenseful book,
This review is from: Brazzaville Beach (Paperback)
This book was extremely well written, taking the reader through a journey of Hope Clearwater's past and present. A mixture of the civil unrest of Africa, chimpanzees and the difficulty of her mathematician husband. This novel was captivating, I could not put it down ! I recommend this novel to anyone !
3.0 out of 5 stars
Interesting but not fascinating,
By A Customer
This review is from: Brazzaville Beach (Paperback)
This is the story of Hope Clearwater who studies chimpanzees in Africa while reminiscing on her failed marriage back in England. While I found the chimpazee study and the description of the scientific world around it interesting and informative, I did not find myself carried away by the narrative. Not a bad book, just not as good as I was hoping it would be.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Suspenseful and intelligent - I loved it!,
By How can a novel that discusses the difference between turbulence and topology in mathematics be a page turner? You'll have to read this book to believe it. Other than the name of Hope Clearwater - a bit too much in this otherwise subtle tale - Boyd writes deftly and passionately, sometimes with horrifying precision as he describes what is happening among the chimps. This suspenseful and intelligent novel deserves a wide readership. I only wish I had learned of it sooner!
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