Galapagos Regained

Wonderful historical-intellectual-theological-scientific romp. Chloe Bathurst, actress turned zookeeper, must raise funds to rescue her father from penury. She sets her sights on the £10,000 prize offered by the libertine Shelley Society for the first person to succesfull prove or disprove the existence of God. Appropriating the work of her employer, one Charles Darwin, she sets sail with her brother and a conflicted reverend to collect specimens from the Galapagos Islands to prove her purloined theory of natural selection, while a rival expedition sets out to search for the remains of Noah's Ark on Mount Ararat. Tempests and shipwreck follow, and a voyage up the Amazon and over the Andes, racing a ship full of convicts under orders to show more massacre all the lizards and birds and turtles of the Islands. Adventure a-plenty, and a great deal for the brain to chew on while enjoying the pastiche-Victorian stylings and the indefatigable character of our heroine and her motley collection of followers and devotees. show less

In Galapagos Regained: A Novel, by James Morrow, we meet Chloe Bathurst, a sometime actress in 1850s London who finds herself cast out of her theatrical company when she gives an impromptu speech on socialism. Her father, meantime, has been consigned to the workhouse to pay off his debts, totalling some 2000 pounds. Chloe, desperate to find money to save her father, begins working as a zookeeper's assistant at the home of Charles Darwin, who has brought home some animals from the Galapagos Islands that need to be tended; of course, she learns of his theory of evolution and finds it intriguing, but it is not until the Percy Bysshe Shelley Society in Oxford creates the Great God Contest, in which a sum of 10,000 pounds will be awarded to show more whomever can definitively either prove or disprove the existence of God that Chloe develops an ingenious plan using Darwin's theories to win the prize. What follows is a great race to the Galapagos, to secure the creatures that she hopes will gain her the gold.... Galapagos Regained is another of James Morrow's wonderful musings on the nature of religion, religiosity and science; it also contains his well-honed sense of humour and almost Swiftian satirical bent. The description above only sets up the main story line, but there are other story lines as well, which intersect and contrast with the primary tale of Chloe and her companions. As a stand-alone novel, this would serve as a good introduction to Morrow's work, although it is quite dense and assumes a level of both scientific and philosophical knowledge in the reader that is challenging to meet. Religious people will be outraged by the book, which Morrow would say is all to the good, I think; but those with open minds will be intrigued, challenged and amused by this novel. Recommended! show less

London in the mid-19th century, Chloe Bathurst's theater career gets derailed when she finds out her father is broke, in a workhouse unraveling rope. She goes off script during a performance "her father's plight having soured her on the world and all it's institutions, not excluding the theater" and gets fired. Chloe arrives late to an interview to be the governess of Charles Darwin's many children, but becomes a sort of zookeeper to Darwin's vivarium instead, taking care of the menagerie of giant turtles, birds, and both land and marine iguanas. It's there that she hears about the Oxford "Great God Contest" the Percy Bysshe Shelley award to prove the existence (or not) of God with a prize that could get her father out of his dire show more situation. So begins an adventure by sea and by air balloon to the Galapagos archipelago to find the Tree of Life, collect the evolved creatures that may prove God doesn't exist. Chloe meets quite the band of misfits, including a woman left to die on a treeless island by a crew that thought she was cursing their ship. Chloe loses and regains her faith, depending on the part she must play and events that happen in her life. I immediately though Chloe was an interesting character as in the first sentence she describes her twin brother as "tiresome" (I've been thinking recently that it's almost against genetics that twins can ever have a negative thought about each other, needing to be much closer than other siblings that aren't twins -- a study for Darwin, I suppose.) Chloe also buys her theater's pirate clothes before starting her journey.

The writing style is vivid, rich, full of life and substance, colorful, very intelligent and then I realize that all of these could describe Darwin or his surroundings at times. I must admit that I'm not quite aware of Morrow's other books, having only read one of them a while ago, but this book seems like a departure from his usual style that I assume is a little less bizarre than usual. Morrow writes religious satire, but this one seems it could be more scientific and historical (being chockfull of historical characters), more grounded in reality than his other books. I think the comparisons to Jules Verne are accurate - very scientific, adventurous science fiction. Jules Verne has the science but he also has those underground sea monsters and volcano rides. It's a nice primer on the basics of biology as well, like natural selection. (Most of the science coming from letters a Reverend in a mental hospital is receiving from his son by carrier pigeon from around the world.) It's really an epic smart historical novel rather than science fiction. This novel seems to be aiming for a broader audience and I really hope Morrow gets that audience. I'm very glad I happened to catch this one, and I hope others give it a chance too. I haven't said enough about this surprise and I couldn't possibly say enough. show less

James K. Morrow is one of my favorite authors, a satiric genius up there with Twain and Heller. He specializes in satirizing religious excess, so devout folks without a sense of humor might not want to read his stuff. All others will appreciate how he lays out the arguments of both sides with a sense of whimsy and a dash of the absurd. For example, The Last Witchfinder is narrated by a book--one of the most important books of the modern age: The Principia: Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy by Isaac Newton. Galápagos Regained takes on the most revolutionary scientific proposition of the nineteenth century--the origin of species through evolution and natural selection.

This book smacks of a more traditional historical fiction. show more Morrow's signature fantasy elements don't show up until half-way through and then as an imaginary element of an insane asylum patient. The bulk of the story is about Chloe Bathhurst, an out-of-work actress trying to win a 10,000 pound prize offered by a fictional group to whoever could prove or disprove the existence of God--in order to pay off her father's debts and get him out of prison, rather than true belief either way. We follow her trip across the Atlantic, up the Amazon river, over the Andes by hot balloon, and to the Galapagos by faux Noah's Ark. Chloe is accompanied by a variety of offbeat characters--not all of whom survive--in a wild series of adventures. Along the way, Chloe undergoes a conversion, reverts, and inspires converts on both sides. A fun and educational romp that smacks of around the world in 80 days.

I vacillated between 3 and 4 stars on this one, but realized I was comparing Morrow to himself rather than to other authors I've read this year. This book is really good, but not quite up to what I expect from him. I loved several of his earlier works and "just" really liked this one. But it's so much better than most of what I've read, he gets the higher rating. show less

Something of a picaresque romp to the Galápagos, with lots of philosophical and theological discussion tossed into the mix. A bit of fantasy, a lot of whimsy, and a great deal of fun to read.

Evolution and Theater

This is fantastically researched and inventive. The actress steals Darwin's treatise, travels the world and shows what evolution can do. Hilarious parody on the Great God debate, but not without seriousness. Viva Mr. Morrow!

Solid Morrow alternate history novel about evolutionary theory vs deism, among other things. Very similar to The Last Witchfinder, in that both are lengthy picaresque tales featuring a smart independent woman overcoming though not vanquishing the restrictions of her time. I kept thinking this was an earlier novel than Witchfinder, but actually it came nine years later. It's less impassioned than Witchfinder. The stakes are lower: our heroine's quest is primarily to raise money for her debtor father, not to avenge the burning of a favorite aunt by demolishing witch trials. And the auctorial fury is less for the same reason.

Recommended as is everything I've read by Morrow, but not as stunning as The Last Witchfinder.