Summary: This novel takes place during a unique time in the history of France, just after Napoleon seized power from the Revolutionary Republic. A boy who is about ten years old is taken from the wild, -where he has lived all his life on his own- to Paris’s Institute for the deaf. Immediately judged as an idiot who will never speak or fully function in society, he is left in isolation and his own filth. A doctor, Jean Marc Gaspard Itard, by chance comes into contact with the boy and decides to undergo the experiment of his socialization and education. He wants to use Victor to determine if the concepts that man defines himself by -speech, invention, and civilization, that what separates man from other animals- are these innate or learned traits? The boy is named Victor, and he lives at the Institute with the Doctor, a maid and cook named Madame Guerin, and her daughter Julie who often visits.
Evaluation: I wouldn’t call this novel a fun read, although it is extremely interesting. The author’s choice to occasionally narrate Victor’s thoughts with concepts and vocabulary that he is not supposed to understand or be able to articulate is perplexing. There is no happy or neat resolution, and ultimately the doctor’s fails with Victor, and in his later work with deaf students. This novel tackles heavy concepts and theories of humanity, society, sexuality, and education all set against a unique backdrop of post revolutionary France. I would recommend Victor carefully; everyone interested in historical novels will not automatically like it. This book would be good for older high school students, perhaps with an interest in education or social behavior. ( )