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A review by littlemimus
Half Brother by Kenneth Oppel
3.0
3.5
This book explored many interesting subjects including animal testing (specifically for chimps) and the idea of what truly makes one a person. It also touched on family and how research could affect the dynamics. I could relate to Ben then, with his father expecting high grades all the time, having passionate talks on the news and science, and also, the yearn for attention. I found the book went in depth enough in terms of going through said subjects for a middle-grade novel, with facts inserted appropriately, but it was not as informative for me as I passed the target audience. Also, since Half Brother is for children, the author had to refrain from making the story too dark, so the book wasn't as deep as it could have been. Nonetheless, I felt emotion at many parts and almost teared up sometimes, which goes to say how good of an author Oppel is (I loved his stories growing up). Or how much I could relate to the characters.
However, I felt like this book had many clichés in terms of character development, dialogue, and relationships with other humans. If the chimp, Zan (who I surprisingly loved more than I thought I would), was eliminated, I doubt I would have enjoyed the book as much.
This book explored many interesting subjects including animal testing (specifically for chimps) and the idea of what truly makes one a person. It also touched on family and how research could affect the dynamics. I could relate to Ben then, with his father expecting high grades all the time, having passionate talks on the news and science, and also, the yearn for attention. I found the book went in depth enough in terms of going through said subjects for a middle-grade novel, with facts inserted appropriately, but it was not as informative for me as I passed the target audience. Also, since Half Brother is for children, the author had to refrain from making the story too dark, so the book wasn't as deep as it could have been. Nonetheless, I felt emotion at many parts and almost teared up sometimes, which goes to say how good of an author Oppel is (I loved his stories growing up). Or how much I could relate to the characters.
However, I felt like this book had many clichés in terms of character development, dialogue, and relationships with other humans. If the chimp, Zan (who I surprisingly loved more than I thought I would), was eliminated, I doubt I would have enjoyed the book as much.