“Theory of Bastards by Audrey Schulman

Firstly, whoever came up with the cover to this novel should be thrown out the nearest window. The cover has absolutely nothing to do with the book except that the propagandist is a female. This horrible book cover put me off of reading this book for a long time. I’m not sure who the cover is trying to appeal to, but I think someone who sees the cover and thinks this will be a romantic novel, will be sorely disappointed and may throw themselves out the nearest window.

Once you get past the cover, this book is very, very good. It is about a female researcher who is studying the mating habits of bonobos monkeys (apes?). The story follows her research of the monkeys, and her lab assistant. There are flashbacks of her life, where you learn about her experience with pain and relationships. Near the end, this book does a complete U-turn and turns into a sort of The Road with monkeys? It is bizarre but works really well.

This is the type of book that defies categorization. Is it a dystopian novel? A romantic novel? General fiction about a woman’s life? It’s hard to describe to your friends, but it was a wonderful read. Too often you open a novel and sort of know what you are getting into, but not with this book. I read reviews and they said the novel was good, but it didn’t get into the plot. I’m glad I didn’t investigate it too thoroughly before reading it. It’s nice to be surprised sometimes.

It was also interesting how the author gave references at the back of the book. You don’t often find a further reading section in most novels. It is nice though; it really shows you that the author did their research, and gives you a place to go and learn more about the topics touched upon in the novel

Rating: ★★★★★ Book #46 in my #ReadingChallenge2021 #Books #BookReview #AudreyShulman #pain #bonobos #dystopian “,