Helpful Score: 2
This is my favorite book of all time. I read it in college and it changed the way I look at everything. Ishmael is a Gorilla who has something important to teach the world. Quinn uses him as a guide to help convey his view of the world today. It covers ideas from religion to sustainable development. The book can be quite deep in parts, I sometimes read passages several times, however it is well worth it.It leaves you thinking, wondering and inspired to do better. I have read the book more times than I can count and I continue to learn from it. Well worth the read.
Helpful Score: 1
From Publishers Weekly
Quinn won the Turner Tomorrow Award's half-million-dollar first prize for this fascinating and odd book- not a novel by any conventional definition...
The unnamed narrator is a disillusioned modern writer who answers a personal ad ("Teacher seeks pupil...Apply in person.") and thereby meets a wise, learned gorilla named Ishmael that can communicate telepathically. The bulk of the book consists entirely of philosophical dialogues between gorilla and man, on the model of Plato's Republic.
Quinn won the Turner Tomorrow Award's half-million-dollar first prize for this fascinating and odd book- not a novel by any conventional definition...
The unnamed narrator is a disillusioned modern writer who answers a personal ad ("Teacher seeks pupil...Apply in person.") and thereby meets a wise, learned gorilla named Ishmael that can communicate telepathically. The bulk of the book consists entirely of philosophical dialogues between gorilla and man, on the model of Plato's Republic.
