A review by rglossner
We Love You, Charlie Freeman by Kaitlyn Greenidge

3.0

For the first hundred or so pages, I could not put this down. Then the inexplicable reaction of Laurel, the mother, to Charlie, the chimp, began to be a problem for me. Her attachment to Charlie is one of the engines that drive this story, and if you don't believe that she uprooted her family, ignores her daughters, and becomes estranged from her husband in order to become a surrogate mother to a chimpanzee, then the family story stops working. I did think that the flashback to Nymphadora in 1929 was well done, and helps the reader understand the not-so-subtle racism inherent in the experiments at the Toneybee. And the tragedy of Callie, the younger daughter whose life is stunted by her mother's withdrawal, is haunting. I want to read more from this author.