The Evolution of Bruno Littlemore

A new book and one with many good reviews, so I picked this up on my Nook, but I am not sure what I think about ths yet. The premise of the book is that Bruno is a chimp born in a zoo, sold to an experimental lab at a university, who acquires language, falls in love with the female doctoral student who works with him, and begins to "evolve" into a human being.

Bruno becomes so educated that his vocabulary is filled with erudite language. He becomes a painter and actor. He loses his fur due to the stress of loving Lydia and their relationship becoming public when she is found to have a brain tumor. She is pregnant with their child. Their apartment is staked out by a streetcorner preacher and his followers, all of them alternately praying for and condemning them. Bruno walks upright, and after losing his hair, begins to make the final transition toward looking like a human with the help of plastic surgery.

The premise seemed promising, but the book sprawls out and Bruno is not a sympatheic character, and the story, told as Bruno is dictating his memoirs, is full of side comments, philosophy of the theatre and literature, and ultimately seems cold-blooded and dry. It is hard to feel much about the relationship between Bruno and Lydia, hard to feel sad or sympathetic of their trials and stresses. It's difficult to feel much of anything about it all.

Year End Summary

It's been a good year - quality and quantity. I have read 78 new books, and many of them have been excellent. Some, such as the Hunger Games series, Matterhorn, and Room, were well reviewed in the press this year, and others were older and/or not widely promoted.

Memorable books that I may or may not have metioned in the last year included:

The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest by Stieg Larsson - the final book in the trilogy by the late Swedish author, this wrapup was not as engaging as the first two books but still satisfying. I am only sorry the author is gone and that there will not be more tales forthcoming.

The Help by Kathryn Stockett was popular enough that a film is in the works, a novel of the lives of black maids in the segregated South. Personal and moving.

I discovered Lee Child's Jack Reacher series this year and read all seventeen books available this year. A great character, even if some of the plots are a bit too much. I'll continue to follow this author.

Translated from Russian, the series of books by Sergei Lukyanenko on a world secretly populated by dark and light magicians, vampires, and werewolves who live in truce, and police each other's actions under the terms of an elaborately drawn treaty began with Night Watch, followed by Day Watch and Twilight Watch. A dark but carefully plotted series.

I also read the first book in a new young adult series that postulates a world where young people are computer-matched with their ideal mates, and their behaviors are carefully monitored. When the young heroine, Cassia, is matched with two different boys in error, she's told that one was a mistake, but she isn't so sure. It looks like a good beginning to an interesting series.

Hoping for more great books in 2011.