⇒ PDF Planet of the Apes Pierre Boulle Xan Fielding 9780345447982 Books

Planet of the Apes Pierre Boulle Xan Fielding 9780345447982 Books

Download As PDF : Planet of the Apes Pierre Boulle Xan Fielding 9780345447982 Books

Planet of the Apes Pierre Boulle Xan Fielding 9780345447982 Books

Writing this review around five decades after Planet of the Apes was first published, I find myself wondering why it took me so long to read it. I do remember seeing the movie starring Charlton Heston many years ago and was surprised to discover that the book was not what I had imagined it would be. I thought it was just another Sci-Fi story about human astronauts encountering intelligent simians on a far distant planet. Well, it is in a way, but it is also more. First off, it doesn't have a rugged American pilot of a spacecraft named George Taylor using his wits and brute strength to overcome the hardships he endures being a captive of apes. The narrator of the original story is an unassuming French journalist named Ulysse Mérou. Hardly the image of Heston that I had in mind. But that actually makes the protagonist seem more like the rest of us ordinary folks.

The story begins when a bottle is snared in a net by Phyllis tethered to the spacecraft her beau Jinn is leisurely flying on a warm three suns filled day above their home planet. Jinn reads aloud the message, journal actually, he and Phyllis find inside the bottle. It is a tale of a startling adventure Ulysse and his two space companions, Professor Antelle and physician Arthur Levain, have on far distant planet in the year 2500. The tale is somewhat similar to the plot of the screenplay but much more involved...and, in my opinion, more interesting. Suffice it to say, the humans suffer terribly after being captured by apes who are out hunting humans for sport and scientific study.

After the French space travelers are captured, we learn that there are three separate "races" of apes on the planet: gorillas, orangutans, and chimpanzees. Each "race" is different from the other according to societal role and intelligence. I won't go into what divides each here. You'll be
more interested in how the ape society is divided when seen viewed through the human eye of Ulysse. As you probably already know, humans are looked down on by the apes as being ignorant, naked animals who don't know how to speak and who survive only by foraging for food in the jungle. Humans, the apes believe, are just simple animals incapable of learning except through imitation. Hmmm. Sound familiar?

I won't reveal what happens to Ulysse and the humans he meets while in captivity. No spoilers here. The Planet of the Apes is a very entertaining,
fast paced adventure story that even those of us who are not Sci-Fi fans will enjoy. 5 Stars


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Planet of the Apes Pierre Boulle Xan Fielding 9780345447982 Books Reviews

Had never thought to read the book of a movie that I love so dearly, and I am glad I did.

Pierre Boulle's book is a vastly superior story to that of the same name that became a movie. Pierre paints a picture of 3 men leaving a planet led by men that is superior in its capabilities. They venture forth to a new planet that sees the opposite, men are simple and apes are superior.

He explores this world with a factual approach, working to a cresencdo that leaves the reader unsure of the true nature and outcome of the journey... cryptic I know but we don't want any spoilers!

The only downside, is the lack of depth given to the characters through the narrator, which of course helps keep the book short but does not allow the reader to get lost in them either.

I truly am glad I have now read this book, and it will make watching the movie once again a special moment.
Planet of the Apes is one of the great sci-fi movies of all time, with a twist ending that is just devastating. Pierre Boulle's novel provided the source material for the movie and one of the most popular and enthralling franchises of all time. The movie used most of the novel's core story while changing the first couple scenes, and changing the last two scenes. Both the novel and movie are amazing and should be read and seen (if you haven't already).

Ulyesse Merou and two companions are traveling to Betelgeuse to explore its realm and the four planets that orbit it. One of the planets is Earth-like. The three humans go to the surface and discover a world hauntingly similar to Earth except for one thing it is ruled by walking, talking apes! Ulyesse experiences bondage, treated like an animal, struggling to convince the apes of his intelligence and his origins.

The tables have turned here, the humans are now the apes, and the apes are now the humans. The novel emphasizes, through the apes' cruel treatment of Ulyesse, humanity's ill-treatment of what we deem lesser creatures or less intelligent ones. Our arrogance as the dominant species is thrown into question as we whither on the Ape planet and become mere animals. Boulle's descriptions of the unthinking humans and ape culture are riveting. It also strikes on the theme of atrophy, similar to H.G. Wells's The Time Machine. We didn't collapse from a war, virus or natural cataclysm, we merely devolved back into animals.

The movie replaces atrophy with nuclear weapons. The most recent Rise of the Planet of the Apes utilizes a virus developed in human labs and tested on apes. While it makes apes smarter, it killed 99% of all humanity! Oh how we shouldn't have tested our pharmaceuticals on animals that could one day have their revenge!

The experience of imprisonment, maltreatment, and being seen as just an animal is frightening and Boulle delivers a compelling portrayal of all of it. A twist ending that definitely belongs in the Twilight Zone, this novel deserves its title as classic.
Writing this review around five decades after Planet of the Apes was first published, I find myself wondering why it took me so long to read it. I do remember seeing the movie starring Charlton Heston many years ago and was surprised to discover that the book was not what I had imagined it would be. I thought it was just another Sci-Fi story about human astronauts encountering intelligent simians on a far distant planet. Well, it is in a way, but it is also more. First off, it doesn't have a rugged American pilot of a spacecraft named George Taylor using his wits and brute strength to overcome the hardships he endures being a captive of apes. The narrator of the original story is an unassuming French journalist named Ulysse Mérou. Hardly the image of Heston that I had in mind. But that actually makes the protagonist seem more like the rest of us ordinary folks.

The story begins when a bottle is snared in a net by Phyllis tethered to the spacecraft her beau Jinn is leisurely flying on a warm three suns filled day above their home planet. Jinn reads aloud the message, journal actually, he and Phyllis find inside the bottle. It is a tale of a startling adventure Ulysse and his two space companions, Professor Antelle and physician Arthur Levain, have on far distant planet in the year 2500. The tale is somewhat similar to the plot of the screenplay but much more involved...and, in my opinion, more interesting. Suffice it to say, the humans suffer terribly after being captured by apes who are out hunting humans for sport and scientific study.

After the French space travelers are captured, we learn that there are three separate "races" of apes on the planet gorillas, orangutans, and chimpanzees. Each "race" is different from the other according to societal role and intelligence. I won't go into what divides each here. You'll be
more interested in how the ape society is divided when seen viewed through the human eye of Ulysse. As you probably already know, humans are looked down on by the apes as being ignorant, naked animals who don't know how to speak and who survive only by foraging for food in the jungle. Humans, the apes believe, are just simple animals incapable of learning except through imitation. Hmmm. Sound familiar?

I won't reveal what happens to Ulysse and the humans he meets while in captivity. No spoilers here. The Planet of the Apes is a very entertaining,
fast paced adventure story that even those of us who are not Sci-Fi fans will enjoy. 5 Stars