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Brazzaville Beach

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Hope is professional in her approach so that the chimps are never anthropomorphised, but clear parallels are drawn between the behaviour of the chimps and the war going on in the human world. In the camp, she finds evidence that challenges the main theory of the internationally-celebrated owner, which allows plenty of contemplation and questioning.

It's also causing problems for her husband who eventually goes insane with predictably disruptive results. Hope, the main character, tells about her marriage in the UK and her work life in Brazzaville as a chimpanzee monitor during civil war time. Boyd was selected in 1983 as one of the 20 'Best of Young British Novelists' in a promotion run by Granta magazine and the Book Marketing Council.As the book opens, Mallabar is just putting the finishing touches on another book that should prove to be the definitive word on the primates he finds incapable of aggressive behavior, and Grosso Arvore, which was very quickly running out of money, has just been given another grant that will allow it to function for another two years – at least. S. Byatt’s Possession, though I certainly wasn’t one, and they shouldn’t be skipped because this is primarily where Boyd develops his thread regarding Hope’s current life on Brazzaville Beach. The primate scientist also appears to be at first beguiling, soon becomes a cantankerous ego maniac.

The main character of the book is Hope Clearwater, an English woman, who is studying the behavior of chimpanezes in Africa. After all, he has to be right if he wants his newest book to succeed and the funding to keep flowing in. Each half couldn't be more different, but the theme of professional ambition is the same, and both halves end in catastrophe.

The contrast between these two parts of her life, as well as Western and African cultures, represents a central challenge for Hope (and thus Boyd) to integrate. Intertwined with that story is the African Hope, who goes to work for another brilliant man named Mallabar, who is about to publish a renowned book on the peaceful chimps. He is the author of "The Peaceful Primate" and "Primate's Progress" and the recipient of million-dollar grants.

His own three-part adaptation of his novel Armadillo was screened on BBC 1 in 2001 as was his adaptation of his novel Restless (2012). As this work was widely publicized, it is not much of a spoiler to reveal that the plot of this book deals with Hope making discoveries of such violence and encountering conflicts and resistance in acceptance of her findings. Like his 2012 book, Waiting for Sunrise, Boyd employed a complex structure in this 1990 novel about science and discord, both marital and professional. I hadn’t read anything by William Boyd before so didn’t really know what to expect, but it worked well for me.

Following the cake and birthday songs, her father speaks to her in private, "Trouble is," he said, "I'm so fucking bored. She always wanted her man to be extremely intelligent and highly unusual, however, as she eventually realizes, she will continually take second place to John's true love - mathematics. Though Hope seems to have come to terms with the events of her life that led her to reside on Brazzaville Beach, the reader may not find it quite so easy. Mallabar, who’s studied chimps in the wild for decades, reportedly knows more about them and their habits than anyone else in the world. When he was offered a college lecturership, which would mean spending more time teaching, he was forced to choose between teaching and writing.

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