Eva [Mass Market Paperback]

Peter Dickinson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1, 1990

THIRTEEN-YEAR OLD EVA wakes up in the hospital unable to remember anything since the picnic on the beach. Her mother leans over the bed and begins to explain. A traffic accident, a long coma . . .

But there is something, Eva senses, that she’s not being told. There is a price she must pay to be alive at all. What have they done, with their amazing medical techniques, to save her?

Editorial Reviews

Review

“Unusually rewarding and challenging.”—Booklist, Starred

“Sure to entertain, but thought-provoking as well.”—Kirkus Reviews, Pointer

About the Author

Peter Dickinson is the author of many books for adults and young readers and has won numerous awards. He lives in England with his wife.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 12 and up
  
• Mass Market Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Laurel Leaf (October 1, 1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0440207665
• ISBN-13: 978-0440207665
• Product Dimensions: 4.2 x 0.6 x 6.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (57 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #299,477 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #100 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Children's Books > Animals > Apes & Monkeys > Fiction

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An unsettling "far out" read, September 14, 2004

By 

Kara Reuter (Columbus, OH) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Eva (Mass Market Paperback)

This story opens as 13-year-old Eva wakes up in a hospital bed to find that she has been seriously injured in a car crash and has been in a coma for months. As she slowly regains consciousness, she experiences strange sensations and dreams until she learns that her life has been saved with an unprecedented medical procedure in which her memories have been implanted into the brain and body of a chimpanzee. Eva is set in the future, in a dystopian urban world in which humans have destroyed most of the world and are isolated in super high rises and fed a steady stream of television. Eva's father is a researcher of captive, habituated chimps with whom Eva was essentially raised. Eva's operation and recovery were sponsored by a manufacturer of juice products, who contractually own her and exploit her to advertise their products. As she recovers and adjusts to her new life, she begins to identify with the chimp part of herself and relates to the other chimps, leading her to resist her handlers and her parents and campaign for greater autonomy for herself and her fellow chimps. Eva eventually becomes the poster child for animal rights activists and a figure to whom many people look as an inspiration as the human race is degenerating. Eventually, like her Biblical namesake, Eva is sent to an Edenic paradise with a troop of chimps to teach them to live in the wild and be televised worldwide for the entertainment of humans. As events transpire, Eva and her troop are left possibly to repopulate the planet and begin the evolution of the human race again. The story raises all kinds of existential questions about what makes us who we are, what is our relationship with animals, and what are our responsibilities to nature and the environment. These thought-provoking themes are balanced by suspenseful action and well-developed characters (including the chimps). With the highly introspective nature of this story and the slow and mysterious revelation of the plot, this is a challenging read. Eva is a terrific book for adolescents asking their own big questions and learning how to find their own opinions and voices.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars What a good book, April 29, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Eva (Mass Market Paperback)

I read this book for a boook report and i dont really like reading books. I usually end up finishing them up the weekend before there due. But as soon as I started to read this i couldn't put it down it was sooooooo good! My mind just got caught up into all the text. If you really like exciting books i suggest this book because it just traps you inside and you cant get out. if you read this book you wont want to put it down!

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Eva! The one and only., April 27, 2000

By 

"boofanda" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Eva (Mass Market Paperback)

This book would have to be one of the best books i have ever read. Which isn't many. It explaines how a young girl was put into a chimps body and had to live like that for the rest of her life. She had to lern how to use the chimps body to move and comunicate with other chimps. This book is kinda like the kind of book that is boaring in the begining but is like "wow" at the end. I recamend this book to anyone who doesn't like to read. It will open up your mind and make you think about all the different storys and feelings there really are out in the world that is all writen on paper. But to expearience them "you" have to make the efert.