The Evolution of Bruno Littlemore

Um …. yeah. I desperately want a friend to read this book so I can debrief with them, but have a hard time telling anyone it’s a must-read. It’s not a bad book—one where you set it down and think to yourself, “Wow, that was a colossal waste of my time. How did they get that printed?” But it’s not a “Crikeys, everyone MUST.READ.THIS.” For a debut effort, I’m really impressed with Benjamin Hale, but I would suggest the book is beyond verbose. There are quite literally entire chapters you could blow off and still enjoy the the story of Bruno, chimp extraordinaire, and the love of his life, Lydia. I know there have been readers that struggle with the beastiality plot point. For me, I wasn’t so much offended by it from Bruno’s standpoint than I was visualizing Lydia reciprocating. But then again, we don’t get Lydia’s perspective. Was the loss of her husband and child too much, and she was driven insane? Was her medical condition to blame for her behavior? Who knows. Maybe if Bruno could have stopped yapping for a chapter or two and let someone else do the talking.