Melody Murray's Books

I had this book out from the library for months before I could bring myself to crack it open. It seemed so fraught with peril, and I was afraid of it.It's the story of a young man, the son of scientists, who gets inextricably involved with his parents' experiment around teaching a baby chimp ASL while raising him as a human, or as near enough to a human as to make no difference. It's also the story of a young man falling in love for the first time, and adjusting to school, and dealing with a welter of confusing feelings.Solidly written, emotionally affecting, and not terribly wrenching. There's no happy ending coming, one can see this from the beginning. The journey is very worth taking, and I think this is a wonderful book for young adults who may not have thought through animals in labs and what can and does happen to them sometimes. Set at a fairly comfortable (and believable) remove in the early 70s, it's a gripping, well-plotted tale. Some of the characters are pretty black and white, but overall it's nicely done.