The Murderer's Ape

I love a good Swedish to English translation (except for that one time I attempted Wallander) so I thought that The Murderer's Ape by Jakob Wegelius would be no exception. However, I cannot unequivocally state that I loved this book...or that I loathed it. The book is told from the standpoint of a gorilla who has been christened Sally Jones. She's been around humans her entire life and therefore not only understands what they are saying but can read as well. She's a gifted engineer who the reader discovers has the ability to figure out most mechanical devices be they accordions or airplanes. (This is integral to the storyline.) Her best friend is a (human) man she refers to as Chief and who took her on as a partner when he got his own show more ship. But all of this was before they ran into some trouble. Without giving too much away, the two are separated and Sally is forced to adapt in order to survive. At its heart, this is an adventure story with a lot of drama. What I enjoyed were the illustrations which were done by the author and accompanied the heading of each chapter as well as a gallery of character portraits at the very beginning. Some of the issues I had with this novel were in its dealings with race, religion, and ethnicity. It was hard for me to pinpoint if the problems I had could be explained by viewing it through the lens of the time in which the novel took place but I found them unsettling nonetheless. Overall, I wasn't totally blown away but I wouldn't throw it out of an airplane door either. 4/10 show less

Sally Jones, steamboat mechanic and gorilla, and her friend and boss, Captain Henry Koskela, become pawns in a political game and when Koskela is falsely convicted for murder, Sally Jones spends all her time and effort traveling the world to prove him innocent. I picked this up after reading an article about how well Wegelius described early 20th century Lisbon, and because the cover seemed mysterious, and because the back blurb and the title made the story sound very intriguing. All the descriptions of Lisbon (and the rest of the places Sally Jones travels to) are indeed wonderful and it's easy to imagine what the Portuguese capital was like some 100 years ago with its narrow streets and alleys, the trams climbing the steep streets, show more and the Fado bars full of people enjoying a song and crying into their drinks. The back blurb and the title, however, has very little to do with the contents of the book, unfortunately, and if you were hoping for a thriller-type mystery you'll be disappointed. This is very much reminiscent of Jan Lööf's comics and unfortunately it makes me want to reread Lööf rather than read more of Wegelius. It is a nice story, though, and the good characters are as likable as the bad characters are despicable. Note that this is not currently translated into English. show less

Long, but charming story of a gorilla and her many adventures and new friends as she tries to prove to innocence of best friend, a ship's captain. After reading it, I learned that the book is the second in a trilogy; I didn't need to read the first book to enjoy this one. If we assume that a gorilla can be more intelligent than many humans and capable of enough manual dexterity to type, sew, make and repair accordions and ship and airplane engines and equipment, then this is a work of realistic fiction.

A very fun and often moving adventure with beautiful artwork. Like a Victorian novel as adapted by Wes Anderson, and, you know, narrated by a gorilla.

Several reviews of this promised a fun read and it did not disappoint. I was intrigued as well by the premise of a Finnish ship captain Henry Koskela and his mate/engineer Sally Jones (who is a gorilla) in a mystery adventure translated from Swedish. I didn't even notice at first that it was Young Adult fiction (i.e. nothing hugely terrifying or horrifying happens) although the reading level becomes clear very quickly. It was still a very enjoyable swashbuckling type of adventure.

Apparently this is actually the 2nd book in the Sally Jones series, although it is the first to be translated into English. The first book "Legenden om Sally Jones" (The Legend of Sally Jones) is yet to be translated.

I listened to the Audible Audio edition read show more by Kimberly Farr and her performance was excellent. show less

For a book from the perspective of a globe-trotting gorilla engineer whose best friend is framed for murder, this was unexpectedly serious. I liked it!

Read about this one in the NY Times Book Review. Sounded interesting, and did not disappoint. Captain Henry Koskela (a/k/a Chief) and female gorilla Sally Jones are hired by Alfonse Morro to pick up some tiles along a river in their small cargo ship. Things go awry at the pickup, Alfonse Morro falls in the sea back at the port, and Chief is arrested for his murder. Sally Jones goes on the run, and subsequently enlists the help of new friends to prove the Chief's innocence as he is convicted and sentenced to 25 years. Sally Jones sets off on an adventure. Wegelius is a talented storyteller, and his themes of kindness, friendship and love, greed, deceit, cruelty and hatred resonate. His characters are top-notch, especially but hardly show more limited to Sally Jones herself: tenacious, and whose care/love for Chief providing the strength to persevere against long odds and powerful enemies. 4.5 stars. show less