A Chimp in the Family by Vince Foster

Yes, that's right. Monkeywright.com's first review of a book about... monkeys! Well, actually, it's about a chimp. Her name is Sophie, and she's cool. Vince Foster has created a memoir of his time spent in England and Africa hand rearing an orphaned chimp. Sophie is abandoned by her mother, and Foster volunteers to take her home to hand rear her with the hopes of keeping her alive long enough to introduce into the zoo's chimp population. He gets the enviable job of living with a chimp. He details not only his day to day activities with Sophie, but also draws some interesting scientific parallels between human genetics and behavior, and that of primates. What makes this book truly fascinating is the birth of Foster's son shortly after the arrival of Sophie. Now, he's raising two children, one chimp, and one human. Through them, Foster shows that chimps are capable of feeling joy, of playing, of small amounts of deductive reasoning, and most of all, that they are capable of love. Sophie tries unsuccessfully to merge with the chimps at Foster's zoo in England. They are relentlessly cruel to her. Before Foster can save her, he's called off to help start a chimp preserve in Africa. He must leave Sophie behind to fend for herself. His maternal (and I choose the word carefully) bond with Sophie is too strong, however, and through some deft political maneuvering, he gets Sophie transferred to his preserve in Africa. She blossoms here, and finds a society she can meld with. But further challenges lie ahead, and Sophie's life is far from smooth sailing.

Sadly, this book dispelled a notion I had about animals and their society. I've long thought that while animals are capable of killing for food or protection, they weren't capable of the cruelty of man. Portions of this book, in extremely graphic detail, proved me wrong. Chimps and other animals can wage war. They can abuse. And they are capable of cold-blooded murder. When contrasted with the acts of love they can show (Sophie adopts a monkey at one point, and protects Foster's young son), primates become fully realized beings: not just a species of animal, but a living, functioning society. They are more like us than we think, and sadly we, too often, are more like them than we realize.

Foster does not provide enough important details of his life one major point, and it's frustrating: HOW DID HE GET THIS JOB? Of course, I need to know. I want to raise chimps. Who wouldn't? The intro of the book is a little too fleeting. He's working a day job, and suddenly he quits and is working at a zoo. No mention of a degree in zoology that I can remember.

The writing can shift quite abruptly at times, and some of his asides can detract from the throughline of Sophie's plight. The ending is horribly abrupt, but effective in the way it highlights the tragedy of man's heavy-handed approach to the wild.