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bahoulie's review against another edition
3.0
This was a fun adventure book, based in a small bit of reality, written by someone who obviously loves natural selection.
magdon's review against another edition
4.0
Crazy fun read. You probably dont need to know anything about Darwin to enjoy this, but all the other reading I've been doing about him did help.
anatomydetective's review against another edition
2.0
Morrow seems to have lost his spark, at least for me. His most recent novel had a premise that sounded so enjoyable to me, and yet by the end I was bored and disappointed. The only good thing I am taking from this book is the plan to read [book:Rosalind Franklin: The Dark Lady of DNA|326851].
danquioxte's review against another edition
4.0
I wish the Mormon stuff has been better researched. The mistakes threw me out I'd the story when I was enjoying it.
riduidel's review against another edition
3.0
Il m'aura fallu du temps pour arriver au bout de cet épais roman d'authentiques aventures à travers le monde.
On y suit Chloé Bathurst qui après des débuts d'actrice prometteuse, devient la gardienne du zoo de Darwin (le savant, pas la ville) avant de s'embarquer les pour des raisons difficilement raconta les dans un voyage vers les îles Galapagos qui lui fera subir un naufrage, remonter l'amazone en bateau, traverser les Andes en dirigeable avant de démontrer la théorie de l'évolution à un cénacle de polygame et de criminels. Et tout cela n'est que la partie émergee d'un récit foisonnant et picaresque que je ne pouvais imaginer avant d'en terminer la lecture.
Parce qu'il y a énormément de très bonnes choses dans cette histoire : des personnages charismatiques (à commencer évidemment par cette héroïne), des situations aussi périlleuses que rocambolesques. Et surtout un ton distancié, presque ironique qui, allié à un style dans la veine du XIX ème siècle, rend la lecture aussi divertissante qu'enrichissante. Pour tout dire, je ne pensais pas me régaler autant en lisant les aventures d'une comédienne de ce siècle. Autrement dit c'est une lecture des plus hautement recommandables.
On y suit Chloé Bathurst qui après des débuts d'actrice prometteuse, devient la gardienne du zoo de Darwin (le savant, pas la ville) avant de s'embarquer les pour des raisons difficilement raconta les dans un voyage vers les îles Galapagos qui lui fera subir un naufrage, remonter l'amazone en bateau, traverser les Andes en dirigeable avant de démontrer la théorie de l'évolution à un cénacle de polygame et de criminels. Et tout cela n'est que la partie émergee d'un récit foisonnant et picaresque que je ne pouvais imaginer avant d'en terminer la lecture.
Parce qu'il y a énormément de très bonnes choses dans cette histoire : des personnages charismatiques (à commencer évidemment par cette héroïne), des situations aussi périlleuses que rocambolesques. Et surtout un ton distancié, presque ironique qui, allié à un style dans la veine du XIX ème siècle, rend la lecture aussi divertissante qu'enrichissante. Pour tout dire, je ne pensais pas me régaler autant en lisant les aventures d'une comédienne de ce siècle. Autrement dit c'est une lecture des plus hautement recommandables.
lizshayne's review
3.0
I think the 3 stars is a bit generous, although the last 25 pages or so were significantly better. Probably because of the characters present.
This was a very silly book--good silly, but silly nonetheless. It read like a pastiche of a Victorian novel and the characters and completely improbable events that were always greeted with an erudite witticism only added to that element. I liked the silliness.
But silliness has to be balanced with depth. You can't take me on a 450 page adventure and provide with me characters who lack any real emotional depth. It took until the last ten pages before I was reasonably convinced that any characters was actually experiencing feelings and, in the meantime, the narrative had provided five marriage proposals and three conversions, both towards and away from religion. If you're writing a story about evolution and belief - even a very silly story - you HAVE to convince me that faith and its loss are real. No one will ever be Terry Pratchett again, but Pratchett's novels are the ideal example of mixing brilliant absurdity, trenchant critique, and characters whose emotions are palpable.
THese characters just...sat there on the page. With the exception of Charles Darwin, I found the idea that any of them had real inner feelings to impossible and that took most of the bite out of the theological wrangling and the perils of the journey. I would have enjoyed this story so much more if the ridiculousness had a bit more heft.
(It occurs to me that the novel might not mean to be ridiculous. I hope it did mean to be. I would feel very bad if it wanted to be taken seriously, because nope! So not happening.)
This was a very silly book--good silly, but silly nonetheless. It read like a pastiche of a Victorian novel and the characters and completely improbable events that were always greeted with an erudite witticism only added to that element. I liked the silliness.
But silliness has to be balanced with depth. You can't take me on a 450 page adventure and provide with me characters who lack any real emotional depth. It took until the last ten pages before I was reasonably convinced that any characters was actually experiencing feelings and, in the meantime, the narrative had provided five marriage proposals and three conversions, both towards and away from religion. If you're writing a story about evolution and belief - even a very silly story - you HAVE to convince me that faith and its loss are real. No one will ever be Terry Pratchett again, but Pratchett's novels are the ideal example of mixing brilliant absurdity, trenchant critique, and characters whose emotions are palpable.
THese characters just...sat there on the page. With the exception of Charles Darwin, I found the idea that any of them had real inner feelings to impossible and that took most of the bite out of the theological wrangling and the perils of the journey. I would have enjoyed this story so much more if the ridiculousness had a bit more heft.
(It occurs to me that the novel might not mean to be ridiculous. I hope it did mean to be. I would feel very bad if it wanted to be taken seriously, because nope! So not happening.)
nigellicus's review
5.0
Wonderful historical-intellectual-theological-scientific romp. Chloe Bathurst, actress turned zookeeper, must raise funds to rescue her father from penury. She sets her sights on the £10,000 prize offered by the libertine Shelley Society for the first person to succesfull prove or disprove the existence of God. Appropriating the work of her employer, one Charles Darwin, she sets sail with her brother and a conflicted reverend to collect specimens from the Galapagos Islands to prove her purloined theory of natural selection, while a rival expedition sets out to search for the remains of Noah's Ark on Mount Ararat. Tempests and shipwreck follow, and a voyage up the Amazon and over the Andes, racing a ship full of convicts under orders to massacre all the lizards and birds and turtles of the Islands. Adventure a-plenty, and a great deal for the brain to chew on while enjoying the pastiche-Victorian stylings and the indefatigable character of our heroine and her motley collection of followers and devotees.
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