Lucy, Laurence Gonzales
Lucy, Laurence Gonzales
1 Rating(s)
List: $20.00 | Sale: $14.00
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Lucy

Author: Laurence Gonzales

Narrator: Abby Craden, Kim Mai Guest

Unabridged: 10 hr 59 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 07/13/2010

Categories: Fiction

Synopsis

Laurence Gonzales’s electrifying adventure opens in the jungles of the Congo. Jenny Lowe, a primatologist studying chimpanzees—the bonobos—is running for her life.

A civil war has exploded and Jenny is trapped in its crosshairs . . . She runs to the camp of a fellow primatologist.

The rebels have already been there.

Everyone is dead except a young girl, the daughter of Jenny’s brutally murdered fellow scientist—and competitor.

Jenny and the child flee, Jenny grabbing the notebooks of the primatologist who’s been killed. She brings the girl to Chicago to await the discovery of her relatives. The girl is fifteen and lovely—her name is Lucy.

Realizing that the child has no living relatives, Jenny begins to care for her as her own. When she reads the notebooks written by Lucy’s father, she discovers that the adorable, lovely, magical Lucy is the result of an experiment.

She is part human, part ape—a hybrid human being . . .

Laurence Gonzales’s novel grabs you from its opening pages and you stay with it, mesmerized by the shy but fierce, wonderfully winning Lucy.

About The Author

Laurence Gonzales is the author of three novels and five books of nonfiction. His best-selling book Deep Survival has been published in six languages.

Reviews

AudiobooksNow review by Ronda Lane on 2020-01-04 11:13:29

I'd never heard of the author, but the story-line was so intriguing I decided to purchase it. So glad I did. I really enjoyed this book! I gave it 4 out of 5 stars. I would have given it 5 stars, except I was disgusted by several PC agendas being shoved down our throats. The story would have been far better without them, they weren't needed and added nothing to the story but disruption. Seemed they were added as an afterthought, as though someone else suggested he incorporate them into the book? Just my opinion. I also didn't appreciate the anti-God / anti-Christian rhetoric, but at least that wasn't a constant issue in this book. Seems everyone is supposed to be tolerant of everyone else except Christians? Not hardly fair to Christians, is it? But otherwise, this book was unique and the story-line riveting.

Goodreads review by Jim on May 25, 2022

I really enjoyed this book by Laurence Gonzales, published in 2010. The protagonist is Lucy Lowe, a bonobo-human hybrid. She is the "creation" of a scientist working in the Congo, studying the bonobos, or, as they used to be known, pygmy chimps. When Congolese rebels kill the scientist and the bonob......more

Goodreads review by Elizabeth on September 15, 2010

The back cover of this book touts "a daring biotechnical thriller in the tradition of Mary Shelley and Michael Crichton." This description is like buying a mislabeled can of vegetables at the grocery store: you chose a can of peas from the shelf; you are expecting to find peas inside; but you really......more

Goodreads review by Susan on August 23, 2010

Lucy began as her father's experiment. He raised her in the jungle while giving her a strong British education. She was also raised by her mother who gave her an introduction to life as a bonobo. The rest of the story is about what happens after her parents are killed and she is rescued and taken to......more

Goodreads review by Ellis on April 09, 2015

I’m going to be at ComicCon this year (so will Wil Wheaton, George Takei, and Chris Ware, although they're not going to be, you know, with me), helping present a panel on Powerful Women: Now With Clothes. A mosey down my Goodreads list shows that lot of what I read does not contain women, powerful o......more

Goodreads review by Elizabeth on February 27, 2011

I know a lot of reviewers on Amazon.com panned this novel. I still decided to go ahead with it based on the reviews on NPR last fall. Even with a master's degree in anthropology, I still enjoyed this novel. The gene-splicing technology is similar to that proposed for bringing back the Woolly Mammoth......more

Quotes

"Michael Crichton fans will go ape for this fascinating [book]."

—PEOPLE (3 stars out of 4)


"What does it mean to be human? This question is at the heart of Gonzales’ multifaceted tale. . . Gonzales poses some big questions that readers will think about long after turning the last page. Lucy is a great read—and not just for adults. It’s not classified as a young adult novel, but it could easily become a YA hit as well as a best-seller in the general fiction market."

—Teresa Budasi, Chicago Sun-Times

"Eminently believable . . . both heartbreaking and heartwarming, hard to put down and hard to forget. It is original like Lucy."

—The Associated Press

“[Gonzales has] Crichton’s gift for page-turning storytelling, but also a vivid, literary-grade prose style, and a knack for getting inside his characters’ heads.”
 
—Entertainment Weekly (EW gave it an ‘A’)


“A fast-paced, thought-engendering book you’ll keep on reading, through heat or cold, rain or snow or sleet.”
 —Alan Cheuse, All Things Considered
 
“Compelling. . . pulls the reader in because of the sweet girl at its center, but the novel also makes one think about what it means to be human, and how love can be a bridge to understanding and acceptance.”
—BookPage

"An imaginative leap in a nail-biting story. . .Gonzales raises profound questions about identity, family, animal and human rights, and genetic engineering without compromising the ever-escalating suspense. Lucy is irresistible, her predicament wrenching, and Gonzales’ imaginative, sweet-natured, hard-charging, and deeply inquisitive thriller will be a catalyst for serious thought and debate."
—Booklist

“Masterful. . . utterly memorable.”
—Kirkus (starred) 
 
“A fast-paced Crichtonesque thriller. . .”
—Entertainment Weekly, one of their 18 Books We Can’t Wait to Read This Summer

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