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A review by mandalor3960
Planet of the Apes by Pierre Boulle
2.0
This is probably a rare moment when I would consider a film to be better than a book that it is based off of, and by film, I refer to the 1968 film. This is due to the rough edges in the novel that are smoothed and simplified in the film.
Of the first glaring mistakes is Hector the chimpanzee’s death. When Ulysse and the other two men land on the planet, Nova kills Hector. His body is not mentioned to be recovered by the men when they return to their ship to sleep and no one mentions him again.
When Ulysse is captured by the apes, he not treated initially like a special specimen. The Betelgeuse humans were golden-skinned while he was most certainly not golden-skinned since he remarked this as difference between him and the Betelgeuse humans. This should have been easily discernable for the apes, especially such an obvious distintion, but when Ulysse and his family replace the original humans that were to embark on the satellite trip, Cornelius admits that none of the apes will notice this change.
I am also unsure about how the professor degraded to the intelligence level of the humans on Soror. I was expecting him to have been lobotomized, and it would have been better. Instead, it seems unrealistic that the professor has become so bestial.
There were some good points in the novel like how Ulysse is able to prove his sentience towards Zira or how he is able to become free through his speech. Another great point is the theory that apes have advanced to their level of civilization through imitation of the previous human civilization. Everything outside of that is in the 2 star territory.
When it is revealed that Nova is pregnant, I cringed to death. I don’t recall any sexual intimacy that was explained before so this was a cheap surprise.
The origin of humans and apes on Betelgeuse is not explained. The choice to have the Betelgeuse humans not related to humans on Earth (because Ulysse and his two partners were to be the first humans to visit the system) ruined the film’s choice to have it revealed that it was in fact Earth all along.
My biggest criticism in how Ulysse’s story ends with him landing on Earth, but the story is found in a bottle floating in space. When Jinn begins to read Ulysse’s writing, it includes this at the beginning:
“As for me, Ulysse Merou, I have set off again with my family in the spaceship. We can keep going for several years. We grow vegetables and fruit on board and have a poultry run. We lack nothing. One day perhaps we shall come across a friendly planet. This is a hope I hardly dare express.”
Yet the letters end with him landing and discovering apes on Earth. I cannot understand the logic in this. This discrepancy makes me side with Jinn and Phyllis that the author of these papers is a someone with humor. What has become of Ulysse then? It would have been better to remove the sub-plot with Jinn and Phyllis and focus solely on Ulysse, to then end with the cliffhanger of Ulysse returning to Earth and seeing apes there as well.
Perhaps I did not enjoy this book as much because all the plot surprises had been done when I had watched the film, but this book could have done so much better and be seen as a separate work with its own standards. So much potential wasted.
Rating Update 9 June 2019
With the adoption of my new rating system, a two star rating is befitting. I have found it extremely difficult to rate this novel. I did enjoy reading half of the novel, characteristic of a three star rated book, but there were many blaring errors that I did not enjoy, cited in the original review, that would be a characteristic of a two star rated book. For now, I find that the mistakes lower the novel to a two star rating, despite me having enjoyed to read roughly half of the novel.
August 21, 2019
Update
I am still upset about the two star rating for this book. I like "Planet of the Apes" without all the flaws I mentioned in the original review, but sadly the book is not like that. A two rating seems appropriate because of all its faults.
Of the first glaring mistakes is Hector the chimpanzee’s death. When Ulysse and the other two men land on the planet, Nova kills Hector. His body is not mentioned to be recovered by the men when they return to their ship to sleep and no one mentions him again.
When Ulysse is captured by the apes, he not treated initially like a special specimen. The Betelgeuse humans were golden-skinned while he was most certainly not golden-skinned since he remarked this as difference between him and the Betelgeuse humans. This should have been easily discernable for the apes, especially such an obvious distintion, but when Ulysse and his family replace the original humans that were to embark on the satellite trip, Cornelius admits that none of the apes will notice this change.
I am also unsure about how the professor degraded to the intelligence level of the humans on Soror. I was expecting him to have been lobotomized, and it would have been better. Instead, it seems unrealistic that the professor has become so bestial.
There were some good points in the novel like how Ulysse is able to prove his sentience towards Zira or how he is able to become free through his speech. Another great point is the theory that apes have advanced to their level of civilization through imitation of the previous human civilization. Everything outside of that is in the 2 star territory.
When it is revealed that Nova is pregnant, I cringed to death. I don’t recall any sexual intimacy that was explained before so this was a cheap surprise.
The origin of humans and apes on Betelgeuse is not explained. The choice to have the Betelgeuse humans not related to humans on Earth (because Ulysse and his two partners were to be the first humans to visit the system) ruined the film’s choice to have it revealed that it was in fact Earth all along.
My biggest criticism in how Ulysse’s story ends with him landing on Earth, but the story is found in a bottle floating in space. When Jinn begins to read Ulysse’s writing, it includes this at the beginning:
“As for me, Ulysse Merou, I have set off again with my family in the spaceship. We can keep going for several years. We grow vegetables and fruit on board and have a poultry run. We lack nothing. One day perhaps we shall come across a friendly planet. This is a hope I hardly dare express.”
Yet the letters end with him landing and discovering apes on Earth. I cannot understand the logic in this. This discrepancy makes me side with Jinn and Phyllis that the author of these papers is a someone with humor. What has become of Ulysse then? It would have been better to remove the sub-plot with Jinn and Phyllis and focus solely on Ulysse, to then end with the cliffhanger of Ulysse returning to Earth and seeing apes there as well.
Perhaps I did not enjoy this book as much because all the plot surprises had been done when I had watched the film, but this book could have done so much better and be seen as a separate work with its own standards. So much potential wasted.
Rating Update 9 June 2019
With the adoption of my new rating system, a two star rating is befitting. I have found it extremely difficult to rate this novel. I did enjoy reading half of the novel, characteristic of a three star rated book, but there were many blaring errors that I did not enjoy, cited in the original review, that would be a characteristic of a two star rated book. For now, I find that the mistakes lower the novel to a two star rating, despite me having enjoyed to read roughly half of the novel.
August 21, 2019
Update
I am still upset about the two star rating for this book. I like "Planet of the Apes" without all the flaws I mentioned in the original review, but sadly the book is not like that. A two rating seems appropriate because of all its faults.