Ivan the gorilla has lived most of his life behind bars, as the star attraction in a themed shopping mall. There are a few other animals there too- a parrot, an elephant in a cage next to him, a stray dog that sleeps in his cage. Ivan has enough food to eat, television to watch, and paper to draw on- he considers himself an artist, though the person who profits form selling his art says it’s “just blobs.” Ivan is fairly content with his life, he entertains himself by drawing, and discusses the oddness of human behavior with his friends. Then a new captive arrives- a baby elephant. When Ivan views her innocence and suffering (forced to learn and perform tricks), he determines to help her and improve her situation. His method was quite clever- almost didn’t work, but he had some help from the janitor’s daughter, who admired him and often gave him art supplies. This book was deceptively nice- there are some bad things that happen- one of the animals in the mall dies- and it’s written in a very simple, easy sparse prose, almost like poems on the page. I wasn’t wowed by it, but I am interested to read the sequels (there’s one from the elephant’s viewpoint, and another from the dog’s).
Borrowed from the public library. Completed on 6/10/24.
2 Responses
I’m glad you got to read this one! The next one wasn’t as good, and I’m not sure if I finished the third one or DNFed it.
Ah, I expected as much. Sequels usually don’t live up to the first one.