Book Beginnings and Bookends: The House on First Street: Week 1 Questions

1. Have you visited New Orleans before? Do you think a visit to the city is necessary to connect to this book?
I've visited New Orleans twice, and while I don't think that a visit to the city is necessary to connect to this book (or enjoy it), I think it would definitely help. New Orleans is a unique place, and lots of the stories and references that Julia includes can only be fully appreciated if you have experienced NOLA firsthand. Some of the bizarre things that she mentions might seem a bit unbelievable unless you have been there and know that New Orleans is the capitol of bizarre things :)
2. What are your thoughts on Julia's writing style? Do you like the way she tells stories?
She has a good sense of humor. Some of her writing is a little bit too tongue in cheek, but for the most part it's fun and witty. She also describes things very colorfully with great adjectives :) She does name drop a lot which gets tedious; I don't know the people whom she mentions but I get the feeling that she assumes that I would know them and be impressed that she's friends with them.
3. To me Julia took a laid back approach to the evacuation warnings and even devastation. What was your reaction to her approach? How do you think you would have handled a flood of such proportions?
I was a little shocked that she would plan a dinner party the night before Katrina hit! That said, however, she mentioned that when you live in a place that is always getting dire warnings of impending disaster that you kind of become immune to them and tend to think that your city is going to be spared one more time. That seems to be what she was thinking. I'm a worrier so I probably would have evacuated far before Julia did, but I also rather admire her laid back approach. She managed to come out OK without much stress!
4. Julia instantly was solicited by her editors to do pieces on the disaster. Do you think she gave an accurate portrayal?
I've learned a lot more about Katrina and its consequences for NOLA residents in this book than I knew before, but Julia might be a bit biased in her portrayal. She definitely loves New Orleans, and I don't know if she gives the city, state, and federal leaders a fair judgment for their decisions in the crisis or not.

Ape House: Chapters 26 - Epilogue

1. How would you describe the relationship between John and Isabel?


They're good friends who respect each other a great deal. I think that they admire each others' work and character. I get the feeling that if John had not already been married he would have romantically pursued Isabel since the author hints in several places that John is physically attracted to her.


2. What was your reaction to finding out Peter's role in the explosion and capture of the apes?


I was appalled. I can't believe that Peter put Isabel, his fiancee, in serious physical danger and broke her heart by kidnapping her beloved apes and then spent time with her after the bombing, lying to her face. And even when she found out about his involvement, he still thought that he could get back into her life. Incredible!

3. Both John and Amanda ended up achieving their professional goals. Amanda ended up getting pregnant and John is excited about having a baby. Do you think this is the end to their problems? Can John and Amanda be happy?


They will certainly have more problems in their lives and in their relationship, but I think this episode in their marriage showed them that they truly do love each other and can get through anything together. In the Epilogue, they seemed really happy.

4. What did you find to be the most intriguing about the bonobos?


I thought it was very intriguing that one of the bonobos was able to identify one of the men who had participated in the bombing. Wow! I also thought it was very intriguing that the bonobos remembered Isabel so well and asked for her by name, even though they had been separated from her for quite some time. 

5. Which character did you enjoy reading about the most?


I really liked John. He was such a nice, decent, stand-up kind of guy. I really admired how he cared for his wife when she was depressed and how he saved that man's life when there was the explosion at the meth lab. I also really liked Ivanka. She was certainly a surprise! I thought she might give John a really hard time, but then she ended up being a good friend to him.

6. Was the ending what you expected? Did things resolve the way you thought they would?


I had not expected that John and Amanda's careers would take off the way that they did. I was happy for them; they had worked so hard and deserved some recognition. I had expected that Isabel would reunite with the bonobos, but I didn't expect that they would end up in a facility even nicer than the language lab had been!

7. And finally, any overall thoughts or feelings that these questions haven't addressed? How would you rate this book for others? Any part that you loved? Anything you hated? SHARE!

Sometimes the level of detail on the bonobos was a bit too much. Sara Gruen had obviously done a lot of research on bonobos for this book and seemed determined to include all of her information even if it didn't really contribute to the story. The parts where the readers were taken into the bonobos' minds were overkill for me. She is a very good writer, though, and I especially enjoyed her skills at characterization. She really made the characters come alive. I'm looking forward to reading "Water for Elephants" in the near future!

Ape House: Chapters 13-25

1. Would you watch or be tempted to watch a show like Ape House?

I might watch a bit of it at first because I would be interested in the bonobos, but it seems like the show is just as cheesy and fake as other reality TV shows so I would probably lose interest quickly. And I would definitely not pay a subscription fee to watch it!


2. Do you think John did the right thing by quitting his job and moving to L.A.?

I think it was the right decision for him. His boss was obviously persecuting him and looking for any reason to fire him; he really didn't have much of a future at the newspaper in Philly. And his wife was out in L.A.; he wanted to be with her and support her. It was a risky, scary decision since he didn't have a job when he moved and they needed his paycheck, but I can understand why he did what he did.

3. We haven't seen a whole lot of Isabel in this section, but what do you think of Peter now that we know more about him?

I'm SO glad that Isabel isn't engaged to him anymore. What a creep! She is way better off without him.

4. Can John turn the ape story for the tabloid into something he is proud of? Is he getting a little bit of redemption by being assigned to his dream story again even if it is for a tabloid?

I think that John can write a wonderful article on the bonobos for the tabloid, but whether the tabloid publishes it or not is a different story. His boss could also edit his story a lot to make it more "tabloid-friendly." I hope that doesn't happen and he can write his dream story the way that he wants to and that it will lead to better opportunities for him, but his boss doesn't seem that supportive so that might be very unlikely.

5. Have your thoughts on John and Amanda's marriage changed since last week? Where do you see their marriage headed?

I was getting worried that Amanda was turning into a "Hollywood bot" when she started getting work done on her face and buying really expensive clothes, but I was really relieved when she became fed up with trying to fit in and regretted moving to L.A. and the damage she had done to her marriage. I think John and Amanda are going to be OK. I think that their marriage is going to survive and that they're going to have a baby.


6. What do you think will end up happening to the apes?

I think that as soon as the ratings for Ape House dip, Faulks is going to try to get rid of the apes. I have a feeling that he'll try to sell them to a testing lab, but I hope that they eventually go to a zoo or sanctuary where Isabel can take care of them.

Ape House: Chapters 1-12

 

 Woohoo! This is my first time to join in on the discussion for the blogging book club Book Beginnings & Bookends :) This month we're reading Sara Gruen's Ape House. Check out my answers to the first set of discussion questions below.

 

 

 

1. What was your initial reaction to the idea of a language lab with bonobos who are capable of having conversations with humans? 

 

I was fascinated to read about the bonobos communicating with humans through American Sign Language. I wanted to be with John Thigpen when he got to visit the lab and experience this first-hand! Even though I thought the bonobos and the work done at the lab was very interesting, I was a little disturbed by how attached Isabel was to the bonobos. She calls them her family and has their pictures all over her apartment! It almost seems that she has let her "relationships" with the bonobos replace human relationships, and that just isn't healthy. I think that she's too close to them- emotionally and physically. I was also a little disturbed that the bonobos seemed to order the humans around at the lab. It was kind of like the bonobos were royalty and the humans were their servants - rushing to fetch them anything they wanted. 

2. Isabel said early in the book that the apes know they're apes and know that the humans are humans, but they don't see any superiority with either... What do you think the major difference is between the two?

The bonobos are mainly concerned with satisfying their apetites - food, sex, etc. - as much as possible. They don't show the restraint that humans do.

3. What are your thoughts on John and his feelings toward Isabel? How do you think their relationship will play out?

 

John only spent a few hours with Isabel so I would think that his feelings for her would only be a physical attraction. The author seems to indicate in several points, though, that there's more to these feelings or that something further will develop between these two. I'm disappointed in this aspect of the story because John seems to genuinely love his wife, and the author seems to foreshadow that his marriage is eventually going to collapse and he's going to end up with Isabel. I'm hoping that's not the case!

4. How do you think Isabel will respond to the apes being taken?

I think she's going to be utterly disconsolate since she considers them to be her family. I think that she's going to stop at nothing to get them back.

5. Do you think Celia is part of the team that ambushed the learning center?

 

I don't think so. I think that she's too obvious a choice to be the real villain. I think that she's going to be instrumental in helping Isabel find the bonobos.

6. What are your thoughts on John and his relationship with Amanda? 

 

John is very supportive of Amanda. He really wants the best for her and tries to make that happen. He has also been very patient with her as she struggles with depression. I feel some sympathy for Amanda because I can only imagine how difficult it would be to deal with the failure of a first book and all of those rejection notices for a second book! But I also think that she's being selfish moving out to LA to work on a risky project and leaving her husband behind in Philadelphia. She seems to place her needs ahead of John's needs and is willing to sacrifice their relationship to further her career. I think that at some point in the book John is going to burn out, and there's going to be a crisis in their marriage.