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cseibs's review against another edition
2.0
In the end, I think this book just scratches the surface. It toys with a lot of big ideas but never gets around to them. Which would be fine if this was just supposed to be an accounting of a period of time in the characters lives, but it doesn't limit itself to that - it purports to have introspection and that's where it falls short. There were too many characters given their own voice but none of them were given enough depth to make it worthwhile. If this had been just Charlotte and Nymphadora's stories I think I would have been a much more satisfying read.
rachel_smrt's review against another edition
4.0
Greenidge tackles a LOT in this book (erasure of black history, family loyalties and tensions, humanity and animal research, adolescence, racism in research...AND MORE!!) and mostly it's really impressively done.
There's a cool interview with her here: http://therumpus.net/2016/03/the-rumpus-interview-with-kaitlyn-greenidge/
There's a cool interview with her here: http://therumpus.net/2016/03/the-rumpus-interview-with-kaitlyn-greenidge/
kbholzman's review against another edition
3.0
A bizarre and oddly fascinating book. A black family is drafted into a scientific experiment in order to teach a chimpanzee how to sign.
Each member of the family reacts to their circumstances in a very different way. While the back cover states that this a provocative and compelling exploration of America's failure to find a language to talk about race, I found the strange circumstances so unlikely that was impossible to figure out exactly what the message was supposed to be. Nevertheless, I was drawn in and unable to stop reading.
Each member of the family reacts to their circumstances in a very different way. While the back cover states that this a provocative and compelling exploration of America's failure to find a language to talk about race, I found the strange circumstances so unlikely that was impossible to figure out exactly what the message was supposed to be. Nevertheless, I was drawn in and unable to stop reading.
ridgewaygirl's review against another edition
3.0
We Love You, Charlie Freeman is the debut novel by Kaitlyn Greenidge that reads like a debut novel, which is to say that it's uneven, with parts that fit together uneasily, but also with sections that show the author she will become.
Charlotte Freeman moves with her family from their crowded home in Dorchester, Massachusetts to a spacious apartment in the Toneybee Institute, where they are to take part in a research project that has them living with Charlie, a young chimpanzee, as a member of their family. Her mother and younger sister are the most enthusiastic about the project, while Charlotte is more focused on starting at a new high school.
What this book does well is to create a rising sense of dread about the events as they unfold, as well as about what happened at the Institute decades ago. The point of view changes depending on the chapter, but stays primarily with Charlotte, who is a critical observer of what is going on. Greenidge gives a weaker ending to both storylines than is hinted at earlier, and she fails to develop the motivations for conflict as adeptly as a more experienced author might have done.
Charlotte Freeman moves with her family from their crowded home in Dorchester, Massachusetts to a spacious apartment in the Toneybee Institute, where they are to take part in a research project that has them living with Charlie, a young chimpanzee, as a member of their family. Her mother and younger sister are the most enthusiastic about the project, while Charlotte is more focused on starting at a new high school.
What this book does well is to create a rising sense of dread about the events as they unfold, as well as about what happened at the Institute decades ago. The point of view changes depending on the chapter, but stays primarily with Charlotte, who is a critical observer of what is going on. Greenidge gives a weaker ending to both storylines than is hinted at earlier, and she fails to develop the motivations for conflict as adeptly as a more experienced author might have done.
littletaiko's review against another edition
2.0
If it weren't for the fact that I really liked Mister Monkey, I'd think that maybe books with monkeys weren't for me as I really did not connect wth this book or with We Are Completely Beside Ourselves. Maybe it's books where people try to bond a bit too much with monkeys that bother me. The Freeman family has been chosen to move to an institute to teach Charlie, a chimpanzee, sign language and to have him become part of their family as a son and brother. It starts off well as the events are from the oldest daughter Charlotte's point of view. Charlotte may be the only sane member of this family by the time everything is said and done. The events that unfold just get weirder and weirder with nobody actually acting like an actual logical human being from what I could tell.
schray32's review against another edition
3.0
I'm unsure of what to say about this.... odd but great at times. Ending felt rushed to me.
meghan111's review against another edition
3.0
3.5. Not a big fan of chimps in fiction, but this was compelling, had interesting themes, was easy to read if slightly ominous in tone, and had a great ending I did not expect. I enjoyed it more than the recent novel by Karen Joy Fowler.
ooh_food's review against another edition
5.0
Beautiful and lyrical and disturbing. I both really enjoyed this and also felt totally icky while reading, on a few different levels. I just fell into this book and didn't really come up for air til it was over.
lesbrary's review against another edition
3.0
I liked the sign language aspect of the novel, but the tone was just not what I was in the mood for, which is not at all the fault of the book. I liked the epilogue a lot.
quietdomino's review against another edition
3.0
Lots to like here, including the writing, the multiple narrators, the inventive satire--but sadly it all fell apart at the end.