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Monkey Wars
Author:
Kurti, Richard
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Class:
Fiction
Age: 12-19
Language: English
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LC: PZ7.1
Grade: 7-12
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ISBN-13: 9780385744416
LCCN: 2014038203
Imprint: Delacorte Books for Young Readers
Publisher: Delacorte Press
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Pub Date: 01/06/2015
Availability: Out of Print Confirmed
List: $17.99
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Hardcover
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Physical Description:
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409 pages ; 22 cm
H 8.5",
W 6",
D 1.4",
1.125 lbs.
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LC Series:
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Brodart Sources:
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Brodart's For Youth Interest: Popular
Brodart's Insight Catalog: Teen
Brodart's TOP Young Adult Titles
Brodart's YA Reads for Adults
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Bibliographies:
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Middle and Junior High Core Collection, 12th ed.
Middle and Junior High Core Collection, 13th ed.
Middle and Junior High Core Collection, 14th ed.
Texas Tayshas Reading List
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Awards:
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Horn Book Guide Titles, Rated 1 - 4
Publishers Weekly Starred Reviews
VOYA's 5P Picks
VOYA's 5Q Picks
VOYA's Best Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror
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Starred Reviews:
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Publishers Weekly
~VOYA (Voice of Youth Advocates Magazine - Retired Journal)
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TIPS Subjects:
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Animals
Action/Adventure
Fantasy
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BISAC Subjects: |
YOUNG ADULT FICTION / Fantasy / General
YOUNG ADULT FICTION / Animals / General
YOUNG ADULT FICTION / Historical / Military & Wars
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LC Subjects:
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Imaginary wars and battles, Juvenile fiction
Langurs, Fiction
Langurs, Juvenile fiction
Macaques, Fiction
Monkeys, Fiction
Monkeys, Juvenile fiction
Rhesus monkey, Fiction
Rhesus monkey, Juvenile fiction
Rhesus monkeys, Fiction
War, Fiction
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SEARS Subjects: |
Langurs, Fiction
Monkeys, Fiction
Rhesus monkey, Fiction
War stories
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Reading Programs: |
Accelerated Reader Level:
7
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Points: 16.0
Lexile Level:
920
Reading Counts Level:
6.4
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Points: 22.0
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| Annotations |
| Brodart's TOP Young Adult Titles | 03/01/2015 |
| When a langur monkey named Mico discovers his own kind's role in a fatal attack on the rhesus monkeys roaming the Kolkata streets, Mico must take a stand against those he once considered family as he fights to save the rhesus monkeys. 416pp. |
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| Starred Reviews: |
| Publishers Weekly | 11/10/2014 |
| Ages 12-up. Screenwriter Kurti draws from history to deliver a powerful allegory in the style of Watership Down or Animal Farm. Set in Kolkata, this dark fable sees warring tribes of monkeys struggle for dominance: aggressive langurs, led by the fearsome Lord Gospodar, launch a campaign to destroy the peaceful rhesus monkeys, seizing their territory and driving the survivors into cramped ghettoes. Soon, Gospodar is murdered and replaced by the charismatic and cunning Tyrell, who dreams of conquering the entire city, exterminating his foes, and driving out the humans themselves. Caught up in all of this are rhesus Papina and langur Mico, whose friendship defies boundaries, offering a hope for peace or an opportunity for betrayal. The parallels to WWII and Hitler's rise to power become increasingly blatant as the story progresses, with Tyrell holding his own Night of the Long Knives, for instance, but the novel is no less effective and unnerving for it. Kurti takes creative license with his monkeys' capabilities and anthropomorphic qualities, but otherwise keeps this effective, memorable tale rooted in reality. Agent: Hilary Delamere, the Agency. (Jan.). 416p. PUBLISHERS WEEKLY, c2014. |
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| ~VOYA (Voice of Youth Advocates Magazine - Retired Journal) | 02/01/2015 |
| 5Q 5P M J S. Teens will enjoy this page-turner parable of war through the eyes of rival monkey troops in India. The gentle rhesus monkeys are invaded by their enemies, the langur, in a territorial land grab. Two young monkeys from each troop meet and become best friends and lovers in a retelling of the Romeo and Juliet story. Mico, the young langur, is small yet brilliant, and his intelligence brings him prestige in the eyes of Tyrell, the emerging leader of the troop. All Mico really wants is peace and time to spend with Papina, his rhesus friend, yet he learns about dominance, manipulation, brainwashing, and intimidation, all tools of a totalitarian leader. The resemblance to Hitler becomes stronger throughout the story. Teens will come to understand how history is doomed to repeat itself. An echo of Planet of the Apes, a little bit of Orwell's Animal Farm, and a well-crafted time line combine to bring greater understanding of human history as it is mirrored in the lives of our nearest primate cousins. The story is believable, and the characters are well developed. This book will be useful in discussions about apathy versus taking a stand, the domination of one culture over another through time, ethnic cleansing, relocation, boundaries, and genocide. Highly recommended, this book is great fodder for debate and discussion.--Jane Murphy. 416p. VOICE OF YOUTH ADVOCATES, c2015. |
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| Journal Reviews |
| Booklist | 12/15/2014 |
| Grades 7-10. British screenwriter Kurti offers an imaginative fable about the nature of power and the responsibility of the individual. In Kolkata, rhesus monkeys have been suddenly and brutally evicted from the prime real estate of a large and peaceful cemetery by langur monkeys. Many rhesus are brutally massacred, and the survivors are forced to live in slums. Kurti focuses on two plot elements: a Romeo-Juliet relationship between rhesus Papina and langur Mico, and Mico's rise to power under the crafty leader, Tyrell. Short chapters with plenty of action contribute to the cinematic feel. For the most part, Kurti skillfully maintains our suspension of disbelief in a world of hyperintelligent monkeys who speak remarkably refined English. It's a lengthy read, despite the fast pace, and judicious editing could have tightened a lagging middle section. A fascinating epilogue describes Kurti's family history in Nazi Germany and explains his motivation in using monkeys as protagonists. Striking cover art shows the red-black face of a monkey, whose eyes reflect skulls. The open-ended conclusion suggests a sequel. Carton, Debbie. 416. AMERICAN LIBRARY ASSOCIATION, c2014. |
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| Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books | 04/01/2015 |
| R. Gr. 8-10. This grim fable starts rough and gets rougher as Mico and Papina, two different species of monkeys, attempt to maintain a friendship (and, eventually, a relationship) in the midst of a vicious war. Both are natural leaders, inclined toward kindness and gentle authority, but they are primarily surrounded by blindly obedient followers who obey bloodthirsty rulers. The worst is Tyrell, a horrifyingly sneaky, tyrannical, and abusive monkey who oozes his way into power and then enforces his reign with terror and torture. There's an intriguing balance between monkey behaviors and those that mirror humans; additionally, while there is lots of grooming and shrieking, there are also species-specific behaviors (the Barbary apes who will do anything for money) that are more difficult to map onto human actions. Although there are genuinely poignant, loving moments nestled among the tragedies, mostly Kurti successfully (if depressingly) presents what it would look like if small, individual battles over territory or food escalated, under the direction of a single bloodthirsty, charismatic, insane leader, into a full-scale monkey war. Apparently, war is hell for monkeys too. AS. 407p. THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE UNIV. OF ILLINOIS, c2015. |
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| Horn Book Guide | 11/01/2015 |
| 4. Alternating between the aggressive warlike tribe of langur monkeys and the decimated peaceful clan of rhesus monkeys the langurs have brutally attacked, the story follows one langur who tries to affect change from within the ranks of his tribe. Much of the narrative strains credulity, but Kurti's ambitious examination of fascism and political corruption is compelling. de. 410pg. THE HORN BOOK, c2015. |
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| Kirkus Reviews | 11/01/2014 |
| A real-life conflict between rival monkey species in Kolkata becomes a dark, violent fable of totalitarianism and resistance.Mico is a very young monkey when humans entice his langur troop into chasing the disruptive rhesus out of the city; even so, he knows that this victory is more gruesome than glorious. When the young rhesus Papina sneaks back to discover her father's fate, the two forge an instantaneous bond. Soon, clever, imaginative Mico ascends the langur hierarchy while secretly feeding information to Papina and the other rhesus refugees. As Tyrell, the new langur dictator, grows ever more ambitious, bloodthirsty and paranoid, Mico finds it increasingly difficult to juggle his loyalty to his tribe and his duty to his conscience. With its pomp, pageantry and brutally effective terror tactics, its ghettos and genocide, the langur tyranny deliberately evokes the Nazi regime. As a Hitler analog, Tyrell's frothing villainy overshadows his charisma, but the allure of power--even for the most conscientious--is portrayed with frightening effectiveness. The straightforward prose has a disconcerting tendency to switch viewpoint midscene, yet it also ratchets up the suspense and dread with unrelenting urgency, compelling readers to keep the pages turning. Graphic and implacably grim, the tale does not shy away from the toll oppression exacts from victims, perpetrators, collaborators and bystanders alike. Powerful and disturbing. (Animal fantasy. 14 & up). 416pg. KIRKUS MEDIA LLC, c2014. |
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| School Library Journal | 12/01/2014 |
| Gr 7 Up. In this debut novel following in the tradition of George Orwell's Animal Farm and William Golding's Lord of the Flies, war and politics shape the lives of several monkey troops. Rhesus monkeys in Kolkata have reportedly turned violent against humans, who then use langur monkeys to keep the rhesus population under control. The langurs drive out a troop of peaceful rhesus monkeys who had been living in a cemetery, establishing it as their power base. Mico, a brilliant but physically unassuming langur, becomes entangled in the political machinations of Tyrell, the brainpower behind the langur takeover, and also falls in love with Papina, a rhesus whose father was killed in that early cemetery battle. As the langurs grow in power, Mico discovers the ruthlessness at the heart of their regime and decides to ingratiate himself toTyrell in order to take him down from the inside. The novel is told in third person, but from varying perspectives. Kurti attempts to create a parable for human tyranny, violence, and complicity. He depicts the primates as almost-human characters with tails and a fruit-based diet. Many of their actions are entirely implausible, and the characters' inner thoughts and monologues generally lean toward overexplained melodrama. An interesting premise that will provide readers with an introduction to fascism and political corruption, but does so without subtlety or complexity. Kyle Lukoff, Corlears School, New York City. 416p. SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL, c2014. |
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9780385744416,dl.it[0].title
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