The one with Hope Clearwater, who's scientist recording the behaviour of a troop of chimpanzees, in an African country that's experiencing civil war. She tells her own story, with flashbacks to her earlier life with her eccentric mathematician husband, interspersed with events with the chimps and her adventures in Africa.

I've read this before, and had a memory of Sue recommending it to me. But it wasn't published until 1990, so it can't have been Sue. What I had remembered was the disturbing chimp behaviour; what I'd forgotten was how disturbing that was, and I'd also forgotten all the other aspects of the story. See below

I'd got the audiobook out of the library and was entranced by the narrator, Harriet Walter, who did a fantastic job - she had a dreamy, slightly uninterested style, which fitted really well. On about disc 5 the CD was so badly scratched it was unplayable, so I took it back to the library and bought the Kindle book with audible narration (the same recording) and listened to the whole lot.

I think the book was pretty good in its own right, but HW really brought it to life, so I'm glad I bought it and would listen to it again.

I highlighted a couple of bits in the Kindle book:

'Look at the chimpanzees,' Ntino said, 'look how they swing so easily through the branches. This is the happiness of the chimpanzee.'

'How can you know?' Iko said. 'You are not a chimpanzee. How can you know if it is happy or not?'

'You are not me,' Ntino said. 'How do you know that I do not know the happiness of the chimpanzee.'

The paths were spattered with coins of sunlight

I found a copy of some notes I made when I first read the book, which was in March 1999. Seems like it wasn't a personal recommendation that got me into it after all:

I heard the author on "Book Club" on R4 discussing this book with an audience, and bought it subsequently. It tells the story of a woman scientist who is studying chimpanzee behaviour in Africa, and alternates this story with scenes from earlier (and later) in her life. Doesn't sound on the face of it very interesting, but was pretty readable. Before coming to Africa, she was married to a scientist who was researching various maths problems, so we get some sections talking about that, and while at the chimpanzee colony, she witnesses events among the animals which contradict all previous experience and cause significant problems for the researchers. I think there's meant to be a load of metaphors here (I didn't hear all the R4 program so can't be sure) relating human relationships and chimp ones, but I don't know if I got them all. But a dead interesting read, and I'll be looking for more by this author.

Completed : 24-May-2016 (audiobook)