Customer Reviews

Monkey Planet

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I was in my early teens and devouring everything I could read and I don't know why I chose this book, but it has been in the top-5 of my personal list for close to forty years.

At the time, I had not read anything from a European author let alone a Frenchman, but this book revealed that a well structured and told story was not the sole purvue of English. I was engaged from the first page and read through the day and night until I had finished. The ending was both exciting and unexpected (at least, by a naive young boy). The details of the story have stayed with me so well that I was greatly disappointed by Holywood's later visual interpretation in "Planet of the Apes." After a long hiatus, I can look back at both the book and the movie and understand the differences and the strengths of each. But for me, the original story will always be the more powerful because of the author's talent and skills, and because to this day the effect it had on me has not diminished.

I strongly recommend this to any reader, but especially to afficionados of SciFi. I will be surprised if you too do not rank it at the top your list of favourites along with Bester's best works (especially, "Tiger!Tiger!" - aka "The Stars My Destination"), Asimov's "I, Robot", Larry Niven's "A Gift from Earth", Heinlein's "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress", Jack London's "Before Adam" and anything by Philip K Dick.

If you have children, please encourage them to experience for themselves a simple tale of 'humanity' well told.

Any fan of S/F stories has to read 'Monkey Planet'. Its influence, especially through the 'ape' franchise, is evident in all subsequent S/F media. As a stand alone novel, it is a thought provoking and emotional story that unfolds through the reading of message in a bottle. What prevents it from getting four stars is the feeling that it has lost some shine in translation. A personal feeling backed up by no fact whatsoever. A book you have no choice in reading but you will enjoy greatly regardless.