15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
An Incredible Synthesis, July 15, 2009
This review is from: The Wauchula Woods Accord: Toward a New Understanding of Animals (Hardcover)
I have admired many of Charles Siebert's work over the past 10 years or so, from his essays in The New York Times to his other published works. And though I fell in love with his poetic memoir titled Wickerby, his latest work is by far, his craftiest storytelling yet. Siebert has managed to take a roughly two hour secretive encounter with a retired chimpanzee performer, who is nestled in an actual chimpanzee retirement community, and poses deep philosophical and scientific questions about the connection between the two of them, all the while trying to determine why Roger, the chimpanzee's name, seems to think he knows him from some past experience he had. Siebert weaves his past experiences with human-animal encounters along with the latest scientific data and historic accounts of human-animal interactions to help him and the reader discover some answers to the questions that just might lead us to a better understanding of animals, and ourselves. Bravo!
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33 of 38 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Fact or fiction?, August 16, 2009
This review is from: The Wauchula Woods Accord: Toward a New Understanding of Animals (Hardcover)
I like history, but I've never much cared for historical fiction. Life's too short to waste time trying to figure out what parts of a book are fact and what parts are made up. And that's where I have a problem with The Wauchula Woods Accord. It falls into a fuzzy category that you might call fictiony non-fiction. Or maybe non-fictiony fiction.
Like Charles Siebert, I have spent a lot of time at the Center for Great Apes, where I have volunteered for several years. So when I learned of this book, I felt compelled to read it. I could understand how he felt a connection with a chimp, Roger. But I was confused when I read Siebert's account of walking across the grounds of the Center in the middle of the night and slipping into Roger's nighthouse. I know that the holding areas are all carefully locked in the evenings and that all locks are double checked. Then I learned from the director of the Center for Great Apes that Siebert told her he was using "a certain amount of creative license" and that some events were "fictionalized for dramatic effect" (in Siebert's own words from a hand-written note).
OK. The author is using the fantasy of a night spent with Roger as a literary structure on which to build this story about chimps in captivity. There is a vague warning on the copyright page of the book stating that "...events such as the night-time visit and physical contact with Roger have been compressed, reordered, or embellished," but nowhere does Siebert actually tell the reader that his night with Roger is all in his imagination.
Further into the book, I discovered more factual problems. On page 162, he describes an experience in the primate house at the zoo in Portland, Oregon, that supposedly took place in 1979. I immediately realized that his description of the setting and the incident (a young chimp dousing his face with a mouthful of water) was impossible. Either he had a false memory of something that happened long ago at a different zoo, or else he was inventing the whole story -- just as he had invented the night with Roger. By the time I finished the book, I had no idea which parts were true and which were imagination. And the facts he presents about the history of chimps and other animals in captivity are not backed with any specific references, so there is no way to figure out whether he mis-remembered or creatively interpreted even those.
The Wauchula Woods Accord is a decent read, but be advised that it is a book about Charles Siebert and his feelings more than it is a book about the animals he wants us to care about and understand.
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21 of 24 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
I went ape over this book!, July 6, 2009
This review is from: The Wauchula Woods Accord: Toward a New Understanding of Animals (Hardcover)
I purchased this book after having enjoyed Mr. Siebert's work in the NY Times Magazine. I think it is a fascinating and entertaining look into the author's mind, and the thinking process of higher life forms. Mr. Siebert has a real page turner here. While attempting to study the world of retired chimps, he manages to examine not only the ape's mind but that of their keepers,& the society that put them in "retirement" homes. It delves into many environmental and sociological issues, but these themes were woven in so seamlessly, that the book was hard to put down. I enjoyed it immensely and appreciate that one does not have to be a scientist to follow along on this fascinating trip!
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