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Theory of Bastards Paperback – April 24, 2018
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The Philip K. Dick Award–winning sci-fi novel: “A riveting page-turner” about the behavior of primates―human and otherwise―“in a very near and dire future” (The Washington Post).
Winner of the 2019 Neukom Institute Literary Arts Award for Speculative Fiction
One of The Washington Post’s 50 Notable Works of fiction in 2018
In a world where coastal cities flood, dust storms plague the Midwest, and implants connect humans directly to the Web, Dr. Francine Burk has broken new ground in the study of primate sexuality. While in recovery from a long-needed surgery―paid for with a portion of her McArthur “genius” award money―Frankie is offered placement at a prestigious research institute where she can verify her subversive scientific discovery: her Theory of Bastards.
Leaving Manhattan for a research campus outside Kansas City, Frankie finds that the bonobos she’s studying are complex, with distinct personalities. She comes to know them with the help of her research partner, a man with a complicated past and perhaps a place in her future. But when the entire campus is caught in a sudden emergency, the lines between subject and scientist―and between colleague and companion―begin to blur.
Audrey Schulman Award–winning novel explores the nuances of communication, the implications of unquestioned technological advancement, and the enduring power of love in a way that is essential and urgent in today’s world.
- Print length416 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherEuropa Editions
- Publication dateApril 24, 2018
- Dimensions5.25 x 1.25 x 8.25 inches
- ISBN-101609454375
- ISBN-13978-1609454371
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Editorial Reviews
Review
Praise for Theory of Bastards
"[...] a riveting page-turner about bonobos [...] In the second half you will be unable to look away from the page, hardly be able to draw a breath [...] in creating white-knuckle tension or describing sudden violence, Schulman can rival any of our more famous thriller writers."--Michael Dirda, The Washington Post
"And, fittingly, it is Frankie's take on the 'benefit in having the lover's baby rather than the husband's' (in other words, the theory of bastards) that both gives the novel its title and marks the culmination of Schulman's quixotic yet surprisingly successful attempt to fashion the scientific study of human and bonobo sexual preferences into enthralling fiction."--The Globe and Mail
"Ms. Schulman is a swift, confident, engaging writer who wields her considerable research--the novel includes a five-page appendix documenting her sources--with a nimble touch."--The Wall Street Journal
"Ms Schulman's finest novel yet is an examination of sexual relations, the 'careful theatre' of civilisation, and humanity's responsibilities in a rapidly changing world. It is both an edifying read and an exhilarating one."--The Economist
"Theory of Bastards is lifted by its science, flecked like mica throughout the story [...] The writer skillfully weaves fact with fiction. Her chapters are short, her sentences clipped and efficient, if not beautiful [...] a clever story about female desire with its own fascinating origins."--Newsday
"[A] deeply unusual, psychologically astute novel about technology and survival, sex and love. [...] Beguiling, irreverent, and full of heart."--Kirkus (Starred Review)
"[A] wonderful, intricate novel [...] set in the palpably near future [...and] a propulsive story rooted in a future that feels possible. The incorporation of research into the narrative is seamless, and the result is an astute, impeccable page-turner readers will savor."
--Publishers Weekly (Starred Review)
"Schulman has written a futuristic tale that places animals and people on a journey of survival. Francine is a reproductive scientist and is doing research on bonobos monkeys. These gentle animals are very intelligent and communicative. In the midst of this landscape natural disaster occurs and man and monkey must flee their habitat to escape disaster. A fascinating look at the cooperation between man and beast and the attachments that are forged. Awesome!"--Stephanie Crowe, Page & Palette
"This is the most absorbing novel I've read all year! Page after ravishingly vivid page, Audrey Schulman creates a not-far-in-the-future world that feels as real as our own. The science she draws on is 100 percent accurate, the technology she foresees is completely believable, and the relationships between the humans and bonobos are among the richest and most compelling of any personal connections described in literature. And the ending--wow."--Sy Montgomery, author of The Soul of an Octopus
Praise for Audrey Schulman
"Audrey Schulman does a beautiful job of balancing adventure, suspense and self-discovery."--Michele Ross, CNN
"[A House Named Brazil is] Quirky and thoughtful... Schulman renders the strange beauties of a world that draws on resources scarcely known to us."--The New York Times
"A genuine page-turner with literary content."--Boston Globe
"Lyrical . . . Suspenseful . . . Schulman's heroine [in The Cage] is a true original transformed emotionally and physically by experiences marvelously imagined and compellingly described."--The Los Angeles Times
"Bizarre yet intriguing . . . More than enough to keep readers turning pages. . . Schulman's language is lovely."--USA Today
Praise for Audrey Schulman's Three Weeks in December
"A fresh and complex novel."--The New York Times Book Review
"Schulman delivers the known world in startling new sounds, colors, tastes and smells."--The New York Times
"Against a backdrop of punishing nature and menacing warlords, Schulman meticulously explores the inner lives of her characters."--The New Yorker
"Unexpected, absolutely original, believable and so beautifully told that the reader leaves the book feeling amazed and completely satisfied."--Shelf Awareness
"Deftly weaving the forays of two individuals...into the unknown heart of Africa."--Publishers Weekly
About the Author
Product details
- Publisher : Europa Editions (April 24, 2018)
- Language : English
- Paperback : 416 pages
- ISBN-10 : 1609454375
- ISBN-13 : 978-1609454371
- Item Weight : 1.1 pounds
- Dimensions : 5.25 x 1.25 x 8.25 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #560,569 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #1,529 in Technothrillers (Books)
- #2,372 in Hard Science Fiction (Books)
- #28,500 in Literary Fiction (Books)
- Customer Reviews:
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A storyteller who pulls you in and doesn't let you look away. Exceptional writing filled with understanding and compassion.
Into this world steps Frankie Burke, a recent MacArthur grant winner. She’s decided to move from Manhattan to Missouri and study the bonobos at the Foundation to carry on her work in evolutionary theories. Bonobos are gentle primates who won’t hurt humans and have exuberant sex before mealtimes to mitigate aggression and competition. The leader is an alpha-female. These creatures, with the intelligence of four-year-olds, are the closest animals to early humans.
Frankie is healing from surgery, and is hoping for a full recovery. Most of her life was spent in pain and suffering from a disease which is revealed at its own narrative pace. That is how Schulman tenders her story—measured disclosures and progression. Frankie is at the bonobo enclosure daily, studying their interactions, eating habits, sexual behaviors, and mating rituals. She selected an assistant there almost at random; because of her reputation, she could have had her pick. But she chose a quiet ex-military researcher with a buzz cut and startling blue eyes, named David Stotts, or just Stotts.
Frankie and Stotts possess separate dispositions, but he was strong and concise and he assisted her to walk, to fall safely to the ground, and instinctively she knew they would be honest toward each other. “I don’t like praise…Don’t give me any,” Frankie says to him early on. “Stotts would stand out in a crowd, like a fox in a group of Pekingnese. Alert, coiled and capable.”
The locus of the book is Frankie--her healing, her life entire, which informs what and how she studies. While Frankie’s background is laid bare, Stotts is mostly an enigma, who we primarily see through Frankie’s eyes. As the narrative progresses, her professional relationship with Stotts evolves, shot with occasional and subtle playfulness. Her post-surgical status allows her to eat foods that were previously forbidden, and Stotts is amused at her taste for mayonnaise, chocolate, and meat—all rolled together and popped in her mouth!
The bonobos bind Frankie and Stotts in shared devotion of a species, these chimp-like primates, with names like Sweetie, Tooch, Mama, Goliath. The interactions swing from casual to fraught, depending on various factors, such as Frankie’s demands and Stotts’ attentiveness, consistently impressive. His daughter suffers from serious asthma, and has left with his wife for London for treatment. In the meantime, Frankie is trying to win over the bonobos, so that she can spend more time in their enclosure interacting and proving her theory. One thing intriguing she discovered—for all their exhibitionist sex, there are times when they also have “secret sex.”
The latter part of the book is when the dystopian elements appear to take over, reminding me of other novels in its class, such as GOLD FAME CITRUS, by Claire Vaye Watkins, and GODS WITHOUT MEN, by Hari Kunzru. The tone and atmosphere, especially, were reminiscent of STATION ELEVEN, by Emily St John Mandel. The events that coalesce into a force of nature may have been conventional, but Schulman doesn’t get lazy and rely on the easy literary heritage of others to deploy her plot and themes. The irony of Frankie’s disease and surgery plays a poignant role, and her relationship with her past, with the bonobos, and with Stotts is nuanced and credible.
Schulman’s quixotic tale of the sex lives of bonobos and the theory of ovulating women is commanding, confident, and heartbreaking. The enduring power of love is evoked within the immediacy of harrowing crises. In fact, the presence of the bonobos, who are more than mere players in this novel, illuminate most brilliantly and tenderly one clear question: what it is to be human. That is the pinnacle of potent literature and the sublime power of Schulman’s storytelling.
Top reviews from other countries
The main character is well drawn but the only character who is. She is a researcher investigating bonobos - similar to chimpanzees. The story plays out in sequential days. Findings don't play out as quickly as they do in the book. If the story had taken place over months not days, it would have made more sense. The bonobos are more fully realized than most of the humans.
The story doesn't conclude so much as stop. Once the idea of what the characters will do is pretty clear, it just wraps. Several big unknowns left to ponder. Oh well.
Mas aí você vai lendo e não acontece *absolutamente nada*. Li até a metade e nada. Como insisto, fui até 70% e nada. Acontece uma chuva lá, mas nada. Não dá pra entender o objetivo do livro, onde ele quer chegar. Perdi o interesse total.
Capaz de acontecer alguma coisa nos últimos capítulos (ou não), mas não tive paciência pra chegar lá. 70% de bla bla bla é acima do limite do suportável.
For me, the author managed to combine a page-turning plot with thought-provoking ideas about evolution and excellent characterisation (particularly the relationship between Frankie and her assistant, Stotts). I think it's fair to say it may not be everyone's cup of tea though - especially if you don't have that much interest in the ideas which it explores or you take the view that non-fiction is the place for that kind of thing. It's possible that may explain some of the less favourable reviews.
It is all of these things and yet somehow falls short in each department. I came very close to discontinuing at about the halfway point as it just seemed to be going nowhere. The flashbacks were clearly intended to give personal backstory and round out the mc but she wasn't terribly interesting. This slowed the already slow pace of the main story and I became quite frustrated.
Ultimately, I somewhat enjoyed the story but the plot and mc were not the most compelling.



