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Lucy Paperback – July 12, 2011

by Laurence Gonzales (Author)

4.2 170 ratings

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Primatologist Jenny Lowe is studying bonobo chimpanzees deep in the Congo when she is caught in a deadly civil war that leaves a fellow researcher dead and his daughter, Lucy, orphaned. Realizing that the child has no living relatives, Jenny begins to care for Lucy as her own. But as she reads the late scientist’s notebooks, she discovers that Lucy is the result of a shocking experiment, and that the adorable, magical, wonderful girl she has come to love is an entirely new hybrid species—half human, half bonobo.

Print length

307 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Vintage
Publication date

July 12, 2011
Dimensions

5.17 x 0.66 x 7.98 inches
ISBN-10

0307473902
ISBN-13

978-0307473905
See all details

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Editorial Reviews

Review

“[Gonzales has] Crichton’s gift for page-turning storytelling, but also a vivid, literary-grade prose style, and a knack for getting inside his characters’ heads.” —Entertainment Weekly

“Does time ever flow when you’re caught up in this one! . . . A fast-paced . . . book you’ll keep on reading, through heat or cold, rain or snow or sleet.” — All Things Considered (NPR)

Primatologist Jenny Lowe is studying bonobo chimpanzees deep in the Congo when she is caught in a deadly civil war that leaves a fellow researcher dead and his daughter, Lucy, orphaned. Realizing that the child has no living relatives, Jenny begins to care for Lucy as her own. But as she reads the late scientist’s notebooks, she discovers that Lucy is the result of a shocking experiment, and that the adorable, magical, wonderful girl she has come to love is an entirely new hybrid species—half human, half ape.

“Lucy is fundamentally a story about love. . . . Heartbreaking and heartwarming, hard to put down and hard to forget.” —The Miami Herald

“Outstanding. . . . [Lucy] is beach reading with bite.” —Chicago Tribune

“Lucy is an appealing character—a bright, perceptive, lonely, observant adolescent…. [Gonzales] makes . . . her transformation from a shy, unsure outsider into an all-American teenager thoroughly believable” —The New York Times

“Michael Crichton fans will go ape for this fascinating … Frankenstein tale.” —People

“Gonzales poses some big questions that readers will think about long after turning the last page. Lucy is a great read—and not just for adults.” —Chicago Sun-Times

“Gonzales’s Lucy is an improbably delightful young lady. . . . Lucy pulls the reader in because of the sweet girl at its center, but the novel also makes one think about what it means to be human, and how love can be a bridge to understanding and acceptance.” —BookPage

“Timely and provocative. . . . Gonzales injects [his dialogue] with doses of frivolity, wit, and a youthful insight at once frightfully innocent and calculatingly wise to the power of media and technology.” —The Boston Globe

“[A] coming-of-age-except-I’m-also-part-bonobo biotech thriller. . . . This is an enjoyable ride that makes you think about what it means to be human.” —Outside

“The clever ending Mr. Gonzales has come up with for Lucy marks a complete departure from the Frankenstein template, and it’s oddly satisfying on an emotional level.” —The New York Times

“Lucy is more than a high-school drama, a fish-out-of-water novel about how a hybrid girl tries to fit in at a suburban Chicago high school. . . . This Lucy is an action-packed politically charged thriller that puts evolution forth as an unassailable fact, and raises ethical and moral questions about biotechnical science, government power and the morality of leadership.” —Chicago Tribune

“Laurence Gonzales presents us with a captivating lead character. . . . Part science thriller, part tender novel, Lucy is written with a full awareness of the evil people are capable of. Gonzales, like Mary Shelley before him, shows us on the brink of a terrible knowledge.” —The Free Lance-Star (Fredericksburg, VA)

“Harks back to the science fiction of the mid-20th century. . . . Lucy [is] a likeable and thoroughly intriguing character with a unique perspective. . . . Reveals a generous spirit and a flair for suspense.” —The Columbus Dispatch

“Love and loss are at the core of this unusual story that analyzes life, relationships and issues of evolution.” —Woman’s Day

“Gonzales excels at creating universal moments.” —The News & Observer (Raleigh, NC)

“Shrewd social critique. . . . Gonzales raises profound questions about identity, family, animal and human rights, and genetic engineering without compromising the ever-escalating suspense. Lucy is irresistible, her predicament wrenching, and Gonzales’s imaginative, sweet-natured, hard-charging, and deeply inquisitive thriller will be a catalyst for serious thought and debate.” —Booklist

“A riveting, moving and informative survival story.” —San Antonio Express-News

“Lucy is much more than an ‘ape’ and this novel is much more than just a summer beach book.” —Curled Up With A Good Book

“Gonzales does a great job of keeping the action moving at a fast pace. . . . Gonzales comes back to the question of what it means to be human again and again. . . . Reading Lucy is an interesting way to confront this question and find your own answer.” —The Advocate

About the Author

Laurence Gonzales is the author of three novels and five books of nonfiction. His best-selling book Deep Survival has been published in six languages.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

1
Jenny awoke to thunder. There was no light yet. She reached out in darkness and found a tin of wooden matches on the ammunition case beside her bed. She selected one and struck it on the case. The flame flared red then yellow and sulfurous smoke rose. Newborn shadows danced on the walls of the hut. She touched the match to the wick of a candle and a light grew up from it like a yellow flower tinged with blue. Smoke hung in the still wet air. The interior of the hut seemed at once bare and cluttered. The walls were unpainted board, the floor was buckled plywood. Against one wall was a crude desk made out of a door, a few photographs tacked to the wall above it: Her mother at home near Chicago. Snapshots of the bonobos. Her friend Donna with the bonobos at the zoo.

Jenny swung her feet to the floor and listened. She’d heard the hissing of the rain all night. But now another sound had crept in. She pulled on her boots and stood, tall and tan and rangy in the yellow light. She ran her hand through her sandy hair and secured it carelessly behind her head.

She heard the sound again: Thunder. But now she heard the metallic overtones as the report echoed up into the hills, then returned. As she grew more awake Jenny realized that she was hearing guns. Big guns. The Congolese insurgents were firing rocket-propelled grenades. It had been a calculated risk for her to be here. But she had found the beautiful great apes known as bonobos irresistible. Year after year she had returned despite the danger. The fighting had flared and died down and flared up again for more than a decade and a half. Now the civil war had begun in earnest and she had to leave immediately. Her old friend David Meece at the British embassy in Kinshasa had warned her in no uncertain terms: You have no value and so they will kill you. When the shooting starts, go to the river as quickly as you can.

A whistling overhead. Another charge of metallic thunder. The blast from the explosion shook the pots above the camp stove. There was answering fire from the other direction.

She had expected to have more warning, an hour, half an hour. But they were upon her. She grabbed a flashlight, the machete, and the backpack that she kept ready for travel. She picked up a bottle that was half full of water and drank it in one long bubbling draught. Gasping for air she picked up a full bottle and clipped it to her belt.

She stepped out the door and into the clearing. She knew that entering the forest at night was a risk, but staying would be worse. She looked back at her hut and felt a rush of sadness, even as her pulse pounded in her neck. Then she turned and ran toward the forest, feeling the water sway uncomfortably in her gut.

The rain had stopped. The jungle before her was black and glistening in the flashlight beam. She had promised herself that she would make an effort to reach the British researcher, Donald Stone, whose observation post was on the way to the river. He had been courteous enough the few times she’d seen him. But their camps were far enough away that it had made dropping in for a casual visit impractical. All she knew was that he was studying bonobos, too, but didn’t seem to want to collaborate. Nevertheless, Jenny had decided to do her best to help him if it ever came to that. She’d heard that he had a daughter and if so . . . Well, this was no place for a child.

As she loped through the forest along familiar paths, she heard the low thump of a mortar, the whistling of the shell, then the steely shock of another explosion to the east. She smelled smoke. Then came the sporadic firing of automatic weapons.

As she hurried on, the first light of day began to penetrate the forest canopy. She switched off her flashlight and let her eyes adjust. Another shell went off and she ran ahead. Think, think: What was next? Check on Donald Stone. Then get to the river. If she could find someone with a radio, David would help. If he was still there. If the embassy was still standing. If, if, if.

She ran on through the day, following the one broad path that she knew led in the direction of Stone’s camp. She was concerned for the bonobos. They were amazingly strong yet paradoxically delicate creatures. The shock of loud noises could kill them. On the other hand, they were smart. They’d be miles away by now in the tops of the trees. Sometimes it seemed to Jenny that they were almost human. In graduate school in 1987 she had gone to work with the largest population of bonobos in captivity at the Milwaukee Zoo. They were among the last of the great apes. The first time Jenny had locked eyes with the dominant female at the zoo, she knew that she was looking at a creature who was far more like her than unlike her. Whenever she wasn’t working, she’d spend hours watching the bonobos. But once she’d gone to Congo to see them in the wild she knew where she belonged.

At a bend in the trail, she stopped to listen. The shelling seemed to have moved off to the east. She swatted at the flies and mosquitoes around her face. Sweat had soaked her shirt and was dripping from her scalp into her eyes. She wrapped a bandanna around her head and pressed on. Then a brief but intense rainstorm drenched her and she resigned herself to being wet. At least it had knocked the insects down.

She desperately wanted to rest, but as night fell she took a headlamp from her pack and kept on going. All night long she heard the fighting fade, then move closer, then fade again. Twice in the night she smelled the smoke.

Morning came slowly. A mist began to rise. The path narrowed, and she knew that soon she would see Stone’s camp. She’d been there only twice before. On both occasions she’d suggested that they work together, but Stone had politely pointed out that he had a feeding station for the bonobos while Jenny did not. The two approaches to research were incompatible. She had let it go. She was too busy with her own work to worry about his.

Jenny stopped running so abruptly that she tottered back and forth like a weighted doll. At first she thought she was looking at a twisted branch. Only now—now that her body had stopped without her consent—did she realize that it was a dark brown forest cobra perhaps a meter in length. It was coiled loosely along a branch holding its head high. She remembered what the toxicologist at the university had told her the first time she came to Congo: If you encounter one of these in the wild, don’t breathe. They read your carbon dioxide signature. If you’re bitten by one a kilometer from home don’t bother running: You will die. And you’ll be conscious the whole time while the venom gradually paralyzes you until your diaphragm stops working.

Jenny began a Tai Chi move, shifting her weight as slowly as she could. She moved back by centimeters. A minute passed. Two minutes. She had moved back only a foot or so when a shell landed. The cobra seemed to startle at the noise. It dropped to the ground and shot off into the undergrowth like a stroke of dark lightning flowing to the earth.

Jenny let out her breath and took off again. Damn him, she thought. Damn Donald Stone for not having a radio. They’d been in radio contact for the first few years. Although she rarely saw him, he was cordial enough during their occasional chats, always ending by saying that yes, he would most definitely come for tea just as soon as he could. He never came. Then he had stopped answering the radio calls.

Another shell whistled and landed and this time she heard the fragments rattling through the leaves and branches overhead. Now she ran flat out.

Half an hour later she emerged, panting, into the clearing. She froze. There was no sound but the buzzing of the flies. The evidence was all around: The revolutionaries had been there. The fuel tank on its metal stilts had been shot up, rank kerosene spilled on the ground. Stone’s things were strewn around. Books splayed open. Shakespeare. Blake. Milton. Mary Shelley. Melville. College math and science texts. Jenny thought that odd. Then she remembered the girl. Was there a girl? That was just a rumor. She’d never seen a child.

She approached the cabin cautiously. The door was broken on its hinges. She pushed it back, scraping the earth, and peered into the darkness. She could smell the residue of smokeless powder and the sharp reek of a latrine. She reached her flashlight, switched it on, and moved the beam around.

They’d shot him in the doorway and he’d fallen back inside. She did not have to touch him to know that he was dead. The blood from his shattered head had pooled around him. The few supplies they hadn’t taken were scattered and trod on by sandals, boots, bare feet. Small orange notebooks pulled down from shelves. His desk, a folding table, overturned. A boot kicked through its top.

Now, she thought, run. Go now, go to the river. There’s nothing you can do for him. But she stood staring at the dead British researcher, thinking: It could as easily have been me.

As she stepped over the debris she saw a curtain that divided the room. She pushed it aside. There on the floor she saw two more bodies, that of a teenage girl, naked, and a dead bonobo. The girl’s head was resting on the bonobo’s chest as if she had died trying to protect the animal. It struck Jenny that the rebels must have raped the girl before killing her. They always did.

“Oh, no.”

At the sound of Jenny’s voice the girl lifted her head and looked up. Jenny startled so badly that she screamed, clutching her chest and gulping air. The girl was small, with long dark hair standing out in a wild profusion of curls. Her smooth tan skin was slick with blood and covered with scratches. Her fine-featured face was smeared with mud. She was odd-looking, Jenny thought, exotic in some way that she couldn’t put her finger on. She looked out at Jenny with haunting dark green eyes.

At last Jenny said, “Are you hurt? Did they hurt you?”

The girl put her head back down on the chest of the dead bonobo and began wailing in high keening notes.

“Are you Dr. Stone’s daughter? Where’s your mother?”

The girl continued to cry, both hands covering her open mouth. Jenny crossed to her and knelt and put her arm around the girl.

“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. We have to go. It’s not safe.” Jenny stood and made another examination of the hut to see if the mother’s body was concealed somehow. But there was no one else there. She began gathering the orange notebooks and stuffing them into Stone’s backpack. It was all that was left of the man. “Get your clothes. Take what you need. Hurry. We won’t be coming back.” She found two passports among the debris and took them. “Come on. Please. I can’t leave you.”

The girl stood reluctantly and pulled on jeans and a shirt, still sobbing in ragged gulps, her chin trembling. Jenny picked up a framed photograph, its glass cracked, and put it in her own pack. Another shell whistled and burst nearby. The girl went back to the dead bonobo and fell on it, weeping.

Jenny took the girl’s limp hand. She pulled the girl away and helped her to her feet. “I’m sorry. We have to go to the river and find help.” She put her arm around the girl and drew her toward the door. “Can you speak?” The girl said nothing.

They went out of the hut and across the clearing. Then they were hurrying through the rain forest, which was interrupted here and there by great fields of flowers, bird of paradise, orchids, lobelias. They fled along worn paths beneath tunnels of red cedar, mahogany, and oak. The mist hung in the air like strips torn from bolts of cloth. As the fighting grew louder they broke into a run. Jenny could hear gunfire, explosions, and now screams. She caught occasional glimpses of a clearing sky, and as the sun drew high, the whole forest exhaled its steamy breath. When the noises of war grew faint once more they slowed to a walk. They walked all day, until the sun began to sink. They emerged into a grassy clearing, yellow in the late light. There they ate a cold meal of fruit and nuts. Though she could no longer hear the fighting Jenny dared not make a fire. They squatted on the ground, eating.

“I’m Jenny. Jenny Lowe. What’s your name?”

The girl just looked at her with those sad otherworldly eyes. Then Jenny felt her heart ache as tears ran down the girl’s cheeks. She put her arm around her and the girl leaned against her and wept.

“It’s okay. You don’t have to talk now. Let’s get some sleep.”

Jenny waited until the girl’s sobs subsided and her breathing became regular. Then she gently lay her head down in the grass and covered her with a shirt and mosquito netting from her pack. She sat back against a tree and watched the girl sleep. She’s probably in shock, Jenny thought. She can’t even talk. She wondered if the girl had grown up in the forest and what life was going to be like for her now.

She thought back to her longest visit with Donald Stone. It must have been fifteen years ago now. He had served her tea and tinned biscuits with marmalade that had been sent from England. He had a generator and a record player on which he played old vinyl albums of opera. They had gotten into a spirited discussion about which of the ancient ancestors of humans had had language. “Erectus,” he had said, “surely Homo erectus had language. I mean, look at the evidence of those elephant hunts in Spain. It might have been just sign language, but I doubt it. After all, the forest is alive with language. Listen to it now.” And he had paused dramatically, sweeping his arm all around the camp, which was walled in by the impenetrable gloom of the forest. Jenny had listened to all the jungle sounds echoing back and forth through the trees. “You see,” Stone said. “A positive flood of information, an eternal stream. It’s The Stream. The Stream, don’t you see? Everything speaks, even the trees.” She had liked him, liked his sharp mind and quick wit. But she was still mystified by how little he had wished to interact with her, the only other scientist for a thousand kilometers.

As Jenny lay musing in the darkness, she fell asleep. When she woke, the girl was gone.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Vintage; Reprint edition (July 12, 2011)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 307 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0307473902
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0307473905
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 8 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.17 x 0.66 x 7.98 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #2,438,358 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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4.2 170 ratings

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Laurence Gonzales

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Laurence Gonzales is the author of the best-seller "Deep Survival: Who Lives, Who Dies, and Why" (W.W. Norton 2003), which was released in a new edition by W.W. Norton in 2016.

The sequel, "Surviving Surival: The Art and Science of Resilience," was named one of the best books of 2012 by Kirkus Reviews.

He has won numerous awards for his books and essays, including two National Magazine Awards, the Carl Sandburg Literary Award, and the Sigma Delta Chi Award from the Society of Professional Journalists. He has won the Montaigne Medal and two Eric Hoffer Awards from the Eric Hoffer Society.

He began his association with the Santa Fe Institute in 2006, when he was first invited to visit there. He continued to visit and give talks there and was eventually named a Journalism Fellow in 2015. He was then appointed to be an SFI Miller Scholar in 2016 and enjoyed the appointment until 2020.

In 2014 he published the first complete reconstruction of a wide-bodied airliner crash, "Flight 232: A Story of Disaster and Survival." (W.W. Norton)

Richard Rhodes, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for "The Making of the Atomic Bomb," called this book, "Intense, gripping, alive with knowledge and compassion, Flight 232 is a new masterpiece of calamity and courage."

More praise for "Flight 232"

"A ferocious close-up account..." Times of London

"Masterful reporting..." San Francisco Chronicle

"A masterful book!

--Budd Davisson, Editor-in-Chief Flight Journal magazine

"I couldn't put it down. What an incredible work Laurence Gonzales has created. I have never seen such a thorough and fascinating treatise about an aircraft accident. Too bad he wasn't around to do the same with the Hindenburg."

--Barry Schiff, Author of The Proficient Pilot.

"I think it's a masterpiece. I think of books like Hiroshima, Fate Is The Hunter, or A Night To Remember, or even Alive. It's a classic, plain and simple."

- Tony Bill, winner of the Academy Award for "The Sting."

Praise for Surviving Survival

"Timely, realistic, and accessible self-help book on the potential of growth from suffering. Recommended"-Antoinette Brinkman, Library Journal

"Excellent... An education for those wishing to be of use in a stressful, often frightening world." - Kirkus Reviews, Best Nonfiction Books of 2012

"Gonzales reveals how recovery can be a transforming experience that not only moves us forward but also enriches our lives in ways we never could have imagined." - More Magazine

Praise for Deep Survival

"I tore through Deep Survival like I'd been waiting to read it my whole life. Gonzales's writing is effortless and compelling, and his research is first-rate. I can't imagine a better book on the topic." -Sebastian Junger, author of The Perfect Storm

"Far and away the best book on management, leadership and employment I have read this year...Anyone who has ever tried to understand the mind of the entrepreneur should read this book." -Rickard Donkin, Financial Times

"Riveting accounts of avalanches, mountain accidents, sailors lost at sea, and the man-made hell of 9/11." -Stephen Bodio, Sports Illustrated

"This book will help you should you ever find yourself pinned under a rock in a roaring white water river. But it will help you even more if you ever find yourself wondering why your brain works the way it does under the stress of everyday life. A fascinating look into why we are who we are." -Bill McKibben, author of The End of Nature and Enough

"Gonzales has masterfully woven together personal survival stories with the study of human perception to reach rock-bottom truths about how to live with risk." -Peter Stark, author of Last Breath: The Limits of Adventure

"[Gonzales's] science is accurate, accessible, up-to-date and insightful. An extremely good book." -Robert Sapolsky, author of Why Zebras Don't Get Ulcers

"Deep Survival provides a new lens for looking at survival, risk taking, and life itself. Gonzales takes the reader on a roller-coaster ride that ends with rules of survival we can all stand to learn. Equally important, he answers the question: what is the value of taking risks? I love this book." -Jed Williamson, editor of Accidents in North American Mountaineering

"A fascinating, fast paced, and exciting adventure into survival, (including an excellent survey of the brain basis of fear)." -Joseph LeDoux, professor of neural science at New York University and author of The Emotional Brain and Synaptic Self

"Remarkable, unique, and compulsively readable." -David Roberts, author of Escape from Lucania: An Epic Story of Survival

"Deep Survival is by far the best book on the many insights into epic survival stories I have ever read." -Daryl Miller, chief of mountaineering, Denali National Park & Preserve

"Unique among survival books...stunning...enthralling. Deep Survival makes compelling, and chilling, reading." -Penelope Purdy, Denver Post

Praise for Everyday Survival

"Well-written and fascinating...this is the kind of book you want everyone to read." -Cleveland Plain Dealer

"Part scientific exploration, part poetic meditation, Everyday Survival is a book for everyone who cares about where we have come from, and where we may be going." -Bill Miller, chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Santa Fe Institute

"The evidence Gonzales, a natural storyteller, cites is riveting...Each story is tightly told and convincingly deconstructed." -Santa Fe New Mexican

"Mixing psychology, sociology, and anthropology, Everyday Survival provides clear, cautionary lessons on the dangers of the world we live in." -Sacramento Book Review

"A plea for heightened awareness of our surroundings, and good reading for the how-things-work set." -Kirkus Reviews

Praise for Lucy

"[Gonzales has] Crichton's gift for page-turning storytelling, but also a vivid, literary-grade prose style, and a knack for getting inside his characters' heads." --Entertainment Weekly, Grade: A

"Gonzales's Lucy is an improbably delightful young lady. . . . Lucy pulls the reader in because of the sweet girl at its center, but the novel also makes one think about what it means to be human, and how love can be a bridge to understanding and acceptance." --BookPage

"Compelling. . . . Outstanding. . . . [Lucy] is beach reading with bite." --Chicago Tribune

"Timely and provocative. . . . Gonzales injects [his dialogue] with doses of frivolity, wit, and a youthful insight at once frightfully innocent and calculatingly wise to the power of media and technology." --The Boston Globe

"[A] coming-of-age-except-I'm-also-part-bonobo biotech thriller. . . . This is an enjoyable ride that makes you think about what it means to be human." --Outside

"The clever ending Mr. Gonzales has come up with for Lucy marks a complete departure from the Frankenstein template, and it's oddly satisfying on an emotional level." --The New York Times

"Lucy is more than a high-school drama, a fish-out-of-water novel about how a hybrid girl tries to fit in at a suburban Chicago high school. . . . This Lucy is an action-packed politically charged thriller that puts evolution forth as an unassailable fact, and raises ethical and moral questions about biotechnical science, government power and the morality of leadership." --Chicago Tribune

"Laurence Gonzales presents us with a captivating lead character. . . . Part science thriller, part tender novel, Lucy is written with a full awareness of the evil people are capable of. Gonzales, like Mary Shelley before him, shows us on the brink of a terrible knowledge." --The Free Lance-Star (Fredericksburg, VA)

"Harks back to the science fiction of the mid-20th century. . . . Lucy [is] a likeable and thoroughly intriguing character with a unique perspective. . . . Reveals a generous spirit and a flair for suspense." --The Columbus Dispatch

"Love and loss are at the core of this unusual story that analyzes life, relationships and issues of evolution." --Woman's Day

"Gonzales excels at creating universal moments." --The News & Observer (Raleigh, NC)

"Shrewd social critique. . . . Gonzales raises profound questions about identity, family, animal and human rights, and genetic engineering without compromising the ever-escalating suspense. Lucy is irresistible, her predicament wrenching, and Gonzales's imaginative, sweet-natured, hard-charging, and deeply inquisitive thriller will be a catalyst for serious thought and debate." --Booklist

"A riveting, moving and informative survival story." --San Antonio Express-News

"Lucy is much more than an 'ape' and this novel is much more than just a summer beach book." --Curled Up With A Good Book

"Gonzales does a great job of keeping the action moving at a fast pace. . . . Gonzales comes back to the question of what it means to be human again and again. . . . Reading Lucy is an interesting way to confront this question and find your own answer." --The Advocate

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170 global ratings

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Customers say

Customers find the book thought-provoking, interesting, and engaging. They also describe the characters as amazing, thrilling, and tragic. Opinions are mixed on the suspenseful ending, writing quality, and readability. Some find it magical and satisfying, while others say it drags at times.

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Thought provoking Character development Pacing Suspenseful ending Writing quality Readability

19 customers mention "Thought provoking"19 positive0 negative

Customers find the book thought-provoking, interesting, and engaging. They say it holds their attention and answers important questions. Readers also describe the novel as spectacular, heartfelt, and enlightening.

"...genetic profile of the Bonobo mother in order to make this story plausible is absorbing...." Read more

"...Lucy joins those three as another spectacular book...." Read more

"...Heart and science all in one book. I heard a review on NPR and that is how I found out about this book. Read it and enjoy." Read more

"...I really wanted to like this book.The Good:A novel, thought provoking concept, strong female characters.The Bad:..." Read more

4 customers mention "Character development"4 positive0 negative

Customers find the characters amazing, thrilling, and tragic. They also appreciate the strong female characters.

"...Lucy joins those three as another spectacular book. The characters are amazing and the issues dealt with, primarily "what it means to be human" are..." Read more

"...Lucy is a thrilling and tragic character - part human and part bonobo...." Read more

"...The Good:A novel, thought provoking concept, strong female characters.The Bad:..." Read more

"...It makes you think about things you never thought possible. It shows warm characters and has a great ending. Great book club book." Read more

4 customers mention "Pacing"4 positive0 negative

Customers find the book's pacing excellent, engaging, and fun. They say it's a can't-put-down read.

"...on, I felt a strong emotional connection to this amazing and engaging creature. I feared and cared about what would happen to her...." Read more

"...Enjoyed every twist & turn, from beginning to end....." Read more

"Fun, thought-provoking... A can't out down read. An odd avoidance of the main character's Lesbian potential but... Definitely worth reading." Read more

"Excellent and engaging..." Read more

18 customers mention "Suspenseful ending"11 positive7 negative

Customers have mixed opinions about the suspenseful ending of the book. Some mention it's magical and satisfying, while others say the story falls apart and drags at times.

"...I found the ending oddly satisfying and it rang true. This is a tightly and superbly written thriller...." Read more

"...some interesting concepts out there for us to consider, but the predicable plot and monotonic characterizations keep me from recommending this book..." Read more

"...The ending is satisfying in that it is about the best one could hope for under the circumstances...." Read more

"...the book with dread based on other's concerns, and I want to say, the ending works. It was hard to not devour the book in one sitting...." Read more

16 customers mention "Writing quality"10 positive6 negative

Customers have mixed opinions about the writing quality of the book. Some mention it's well-written, easy to read, and seamless along the storyline. However, others say the dialogue is atrocious and inconsistent. They also mention the narrative seems tediously preachy and choppy.

"...Gonzales' writing style is scintillating; he draws you into the story so that you smell the jungle and feel the tension and the animal instinct as..." Read more

"...This was really an atrocious book.The writing was hyperbolic, and frequently I found some turn of a phrase or zeugma forced and..." Read more

"...Overall, the vocabulary and prose are much simpler than Gonzales' other non-fiction books...." Read more

"...Intriguing and well written, this book was riveting from beginning to end...." Read more

12 customers mention "Readability"7 positive5 negative

Customers have mixed opinions about the readability of the book. Some mention it's a good read for teenagers, while others say it's an atrocious waste of time.

"...perfect in every possible way: beautiful, brilliant, charming with super-strength and the ability to talk to animals (yeah, that's right)...." Read more

"...Maybe I'm just tired of pygmy chimps.This was really an atrocious book...." Read more

"Solid book. Written for the teen but adults will get a lot out of the theme. Theme is how will American society react to a hybrid Bonobo/Human...." Read more

"...It is a good book for teens as a lot of what Lucy does and goes through they'd like..." Read more

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Micki from FL

Fabulous story!

Reviewed in the United States on July 20, 2010

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I love this story. Lucy is thoroughly enchanting. Early on, I felt a strong emotional connection to this amazing and engaging creature. I feared and cared about what would happen to her. The manner in which Mr. Gonzales describes actions such as alteration of the genetic profile of the Bonobo mother in order to make this story plausible is absorbing. His use of Lucy's deceased father's diaries to tenderly reveal her heritage is a satisfying stroke of genius.

Lucy, by virtue of her genetic amalgam alone, is thought-provoking. Gonzales' writing style is scintillating; he draws you into the story so that you smell the jungle and feel the tension and the animal instinct as you progress from one harrowing scenario to the next. While Lucy remains the central focus throughout, this book is also an anthropological exposition of what defines humanness.

I found the ending oddly satisfying and it rang true. This is a tightly and superbly written thriller. Beware: It will keep you up all night and, if you are like me, you'll find yourself pondering the deeper moral and ethical issues for weeks to come.

One person found this helpful

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Pegleg

Better than 5 stars for the most part

Reviewed in the United States on July 23, 2010

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I'll add this book to the three others that I consider amazing reads by new writers in the past year: Horns by Joe Hill, Fragment by Warren Fahy and The Ark by Boyd Morrison. Lucy joins those three as another spectacular book. The characters are amazing and the issues dealt with, primarily "what it means to be human" are intriguing and handled well. The ending is satisfying in that it is about the best one could hope for under the circumstances.

But this book had similarities, for me, to one I read almost 50 years ago. That book was The Source, by James Michener. The Source turned me against organized relgion, specifically [my] Jewish religion. Lucy is very one-sided with regards to Christianity, minimizing good christians and maximizing evil, conservative religious zealots. But, hey, it's fiction, and as fiction it is a beautiful, powerful, moving story.

5 people found this helpful

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Jeffrey Roughgarden

An easy read, a good book for young adults

Reviewed in the United States on March 2, 2022

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I bought this because I am a big fan of Laurence Gonzales' other non-fiction books, including all the "Survivor" books and even the unattractively named collection of stories called "The House of Pain." However, Lucy is entirely different and not just because it's a work of fiction. Overall, the vocabulary and prose are much simpler than Gonzales' other non-fiction books. Girls and young adults would probably like this book quite a lot.

Reviewed in the United States on September 4, 2010

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So are Bonobos the new Silly Band? Seems like they are everywhere.
I will mention that I read this book on the heels of the bonobo-oriented, much more interesting and entertaining nonfiction book "Sex at Dawn."
Maybe I'm just tired of pygmy chimps.
This was really an atrocious book.
The writing was hyperbolic, and frequently I found some turn of a phrase or zeugma forced and overwraught.
I couldn't get any sense of where things were going - was this a social commentary? Religious indictment? A thriller? Paean to tweens and twihards? A philosophical discussion of What is Human?
As I read this, it made me think of the movie "Splice" which was far more thought-provoking within its primary goal of being entertaining. I didn't think that Lucy was either.
Characters are either noble (Lucy et al.) or evil (fundamentalists). I'm all for hypocrisy bashing, but this is a one-note tune, and I couldn't wait for it to end.
I give the author 3 stars for tossing some interesting concepts out there for us to consider, but the predicable plot and monotonic characterizations keep me from recommending this book at all.

4 people found this helpful

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Marla M

Lucy

Reviewed in the United States on January 18, 2011

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I really enjoyed this book. I was a bit put off by previous reviews that didn't like the ending, but I did find the ending to be just right. I do not want to spoil the ending, but then again, I was facing the end of the book with dread based on other's concerns, and I want to say, the ending works. It was hard to not devour the book in one sitting. I am sending it to my daughter to read, knowing she will love it too. Heart and science all in one book. I heard a review on NPR and that is how I found out about this book. Read it and enjoy.

One person found this helpful

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christie

I LOVE LUCY!

Reviewed in the United States on August 1, 2010

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Laurence Gonzales is a versatile author. With his new novel, LUCY, he combines his knowledge of science and survival skills with his compassion for humanity and creates a tale revealing the BEST and the WORST of scientific thought and humanity. Lucy is a thrilling and tragic character - part human and part bonobo. The reader is immediately drawn into her struggle to be accepted in a world that defines her more by her slight genetic differences than her overwhelming similarities ; a world that challenges her very right to survive.

I believe LUCY should be mandatory reading for all adolescents, and my sixteen year old twin nieces agree. It is a MUST READ for anyone who has either perpetrated bullying on the internet, or been a victim of this unfortunate trend. Mr. Gonzales makes his point expertly in this tale: ACCEPTANCE is the highest scientific thought; the hallmark of true humanity. THANK you, Mr. Gonzales, for your insightful novel.

Chrisannne Gordon, MD

2 people found this helpful

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Top reviews from other countries

fastreader

Reviewed in Canada on August 31, 2011

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I didn't think I was going to enjoy this book but I persevered and it started to grow on me. In the end it's an engaging story with an engaging charachter; LUCY. You will not be disappointed

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