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momomachado's review against another edition
4.0
This book is hands-down the best Kenneth Oppel has written and is everything you would want from a YA novel. I got it for my teenaged brother, and we both loved it. I think that the ending was a little rushed, but perhaps Oppel plans on doing a follow-up?
lalangela's review against another edition
5.0
My 10 year old recommended this book to me! It was a great read!
tanyac's review against another edition
3.0
I just recently watched the Project Nim documentary so when I picked up this book and saw a very similar concept/story I was simultaneously curious and kind of questioning.
This book is obviously written from a different perspective - that of Ben, the "big brother" of Zan the chimp - and Zan lives with a family (in Canada). Even though I felt like I questioned the originality of the story line due to it's similarities to the story of Project Nim, I ended up enjoying it for the development of the family bonds, and the maturation of Ben throughout the book.
And it has a much nicer ending than Project Nim did. So you weren't left feeling beat up and sad.
This book is obviously written from a different perspective - that of Ben, the "big brother" of Zan the chimp - and Zan lives with a family (in Canada). Even though I felt like I questioned the originality of the story line due to it's similarities to the story of Project Nim, I ended up enjoying it for the development of the family bonds, and the maturation of Ben throughout the book.
And it has a much nicer ending than Project Nim did. So you weren't left feeling beat up and sad.
tashrow's review against another edition
5.0
In 1973, thirteen-year-old Ben moves with his family to Victoria from Toronto. He not only has to deal with leaving his friends behind and moving to a new city and climate, but he has a new little brother. His new “brother” Zan is a chimpanzee, taken from its mother when it was only days old and brought to Ben’s house to be part of an experiment conducted by both of his parents in whether chimps can learn language and how being raised as a human child will affect him. At first, Ben is caught up in his own teen concerns: a pretty girl and how to be an alpha male in his new school. But slowly he warms to Zan and eventually grows to consider him a real sibling. As Zan learns to sign and communicate, the divisions between his parents’ two approaches become magnified and their approaches to parenting Ben as well. All too soon, Ben is forced to confront the truth about the experiment and its result. The question will be answered, what kind of brother will Ben be to Zan?
Oppel really had his work cut out for him here. Bring the 1970s to life with all of its unique perspectives and style plus write a convincing teen boy character and finally create an animal character that rings true. And he manages it all with great style. The time period is deftly created from small touches, never hitting readers over the head with it. Ben is a boy who is easily related to by readers. He struggles in school, would rather be with his friends or outdoors, and has a big crush on a girl. At the same time, he makes classic mistakes with the girl, frustrates his parents, and gets in plenty of scrapes. Nicely, Ben’s crush echoes what is happening with his father and the experiment. He’s not a perfect hero, but because of that he reads as a real person with plenty of emotional depth.
Zan, the chimp, is a wonder of writing. By turns he charms, aggravates, frightens, bites, mauls, tantrums, and adores. He is never written as a human child, never given human emotions. Oppel never loses sight of the fact that Zan is pure animal, that loss of perspective is left to Ben.
The book is deep and haunting. At times even before things unraveled, I read it with a pit in my stomach, knowing that something was going to unravel the Eden that was being portrayed. It is a book that explores experimentation on animals, what makes us human, what the animals in our lives mean to us, and what it is that connects us all to one another. It is a book of self exploration, the clarity of comprehension despite the pain, and what one must lose to do right by those we love. In short, it is a glory of a novel.
A great read that is impossible to set aside, this book will stay with you long after you finish it. If you are like me, you will finish it with deep gasping breaths, tears and great satisfaction. Appropriate for ages 13-15.
Oppel really had his work cut out for him here. Bring the 1970s to life with all of its unique perspectives and style plus write a convincing teen boy character and finally create an animal character that rings true. And he manages it all with great style. The time period is deftly created from small touches, never hitting readers over the head with it. Ben is a boy who is easily related to by readers. He struggles in school, would rather be with his friends or outdoors, and has a big crush on a girl. At the same time, he makes classic mistakes with the girl, frustrates his parents, and gets in plenty of scrapes. Nicely, Ben’s crush echoes what is happening with his father and the experiment. He’s not a perfect hero, but because of that he reads as a real person with plenty of emotional depth.
Zan, the chimp, is a wonder of writing. By turns he charms, aggravates, frightens, bites, mauls, tantrums, and adores. He is never written as a human child, never given human emotions. Oppel never loses sight of the fact that Zan is pure animal, that loss of perspective is left to Ben.
The book is deep and haunting. At times even before things unraveled, I read it with a pit in my stomach, knowing that something was going to unravel the Eden that was being portrayed. It is a book that explores experimentation on animals, what makes us human, what the animals in our lives mean to us, and what it is that connects us all to one another. It is a book of self exploration, the clarity of comprehension despite the pain, and what one must lose to do right by those we love. In short, it is a glory of a novel.
A great read that is impossible to set aside, this book will stay with you long after you finish it. If you are like me, you will finish it with deep gasping breaths, tears and great satisfaction. Appropriate for ages 13-15.
aimee70807's review against another edition
5.0
This book is also five stars but pales in comparison to its shelf-mate. Airborn is still my favorite young adult book in years (maybe of all time), so I was thrilled to see another book by the same author.
Half Brother follows a young man whose scientist parents choose to raise a baby chimpanzee as part of their family to find out whether the species can learn ASL. So it's very thought-provoking and (despite descending into Disney-movie-esque plot now and then) riveting. But there's not the same sense of breathless wonder that makes Airborn one of my all-time favorite books.
Half Brother follows a young man whose scientist parents choose to raise a baby chimpanzee as part of their family to find out whether the species can learn ASL. So it's very thought-provoking and (despite descending into Disney-movie-esque plot now and then) riveting. But there's not the same sense of breathless wonder that makes Airborn one of my all-time favorite books.
satyridae's review against another edition
4.0
I had this book out from the library for months before I could bring myself to crack it open. It seemed so fraught with peril, and I was afraid of it.
It's the story of a young man, the son of scientists, who gets inextricably involved with his parents' experiment around teaching a baby chimp ASL while raising him as a human, or as near enough to a human as to make no difference. It's also the story of a young man falling in love for the first time, and adjusting to school, and dealing with a welter of confusing feelings.
Solidly written, emotionally affecting, and not terribly wrenching. There's no happy ending coming, one can see this from the beginning. The journey is very worth taking, and I think this is a wonderful book for young adults who may not have thought through animals in labs and what can and does happen to them sometimes.
Set at a fairly comfortable (and believable) remove in the early 70s, it's a gripping, well-plotted tale. Some of the characters are pretty black and white, but overall it's nicely done.
It's the story of a young man, the son of scientists, who gets inextricably involved with his parents' experiment around teaching a baby chimp ASL while raising him as a human, or as near enough to a human as to make no difference. It's also the story of a young man falling in love for the first time, and adjusting to school, and dealing with a welter of confusing feelings.
Solidly written, emotionally affecting, and not terribly wrenching. There's no happy ending coming, one can see this from the beginning. The journey is very worth taking, and I think this is a wonderful book for young adults who may not have thought through animals in labs and what can and does happen to them sometimes.
Set at a fairly comfortable (and believable) remove in the early 70s, it's a gripping, well-plotted tale. Some of the characters are pretty black and white, but overall it's nicely done.
ritakd's review against another edition
3.0
This book started off really well. The writing was good, and the plot was relatively interesting. I did not like the middle of the book, though. Ben's social life bored me a bit, and I knew almost all of the facts about chimps in the book. The end was the best part, since most of the action was there, and the ending was very touching. Even though I didn't like this book as much as I could have, I'd recommend it to people who like chimps and who like high-school-life-novels.