books 2007: Eva, by Peter Dickinson

[supercheesegirl]

After a horrible car accident and a lengthy coma, 13-year-old Eva wakes up... different. So different, in fact, that now she's a chimp! Her body was so badly damaged in the accident that her parents and doctors tried an experimental procedure in which they transferred her neural impulses into the body of a female chimpanzee. So Eva is alive, in the sense that she has consciousness and her memories, but now she's a chimp. This book definitely didn't go where I was expecting, based on the back cover. Nothing chimp-related was mentioned in the blurb, so the part described by the blurb is over in maybe 10 pages and it goes on from there, with Eva adapting to her new body and people's new perceptions of her. Eventually she realizes that her destiny is very different now from what it was when she was a girl. This book was kind of notable because though it's YA fiction, and written at that level, it's really pretty dark, both in what happens to Eva and in the future world where Eva lives. I don't know that I would have liked this book had I read it when I was a kid; I can appreciate it now, but I still don't know that I liked it.

Well, I had been wanting to read a Peter Dickinson book. He's married to Robin McKinley, one of my all-time favorite writers, and all I'd read of his work were a few stories in a collection they wrote jointly not too long ago (and I thought all her stories were better). I'd be willing to try Dickinson again, but I doubt I'll seek him out. However, the book was worth the dollar I spent on it.

Comments

[birdmaddgirl.livejournal.com]

my favorite childhood movie is based on something peter dickinson wrote. oh, flight of dragons. i still know your theme song by heart. and i still love you.

[supercheesegirl.livejournal.com]

Holy crap I love that movie. I love that movie even more than I love The Last Unicorn. I want them to put it out on DVD because my old taped-off-TV VHS copy is really worn out. And I so wasn't connecting my Peter Dickinsons there.

[birdmaddgirl.livejournal.com]

i love you for having this movie. it would be pretty awesome if that came out on dvd! my vhs copy cuts off the last few seconds. but it has some random early 80s commercials interspersed. which amuses me.

[(Anonymous)]

Ah, see, mine cuts off some of the beginning. I think most of my taped 80s VHS do that--I never saw the first ten minutes of Revenge of the Nerds until maybe a year or two ago. I was totally floored.

i liked it

[sheseesbackward.livejournal.com]

i read this book a few years ago when it was floating around my work. i really liked it. i think the premise is so interesting and makes one think. i think some YAs would really get into it. i haven't read anything else by him, so i'd like to try...

Re: i liked it

[supercheesegirl.livejournal.com]

See, this is why it's awesome that you're on LJ now! We both read a ridiculous amount of YA fiction. Yay books!