Planet of the Apes

Written the year I was born, I grew up watching the movie version of course .. and loved it! After my Mother in law's passing, I found an original copy of Planet of the Apes among her book collection. I thought it nostalgic to give it a read .. Wow, I had no idea what was patiently waiting for me for almost 6 decades.No true Sci-Fi aficionado could call themselves such without having read the original Planet of the Apes.

And I love the cover of this particular publication...kinda campy (and it smells good haha).But seriously a great read. I highly recommend this book. Masterfully written, sophisticated, emotional, and absolutely intelligible.No matter how many times you've seen the movie and known the plot inside and out, this classic piece of sci-fi literature still manages to captivate and surprise you at every turn.

this is required reading for my daughter's sophmore Literature class. I didn't know it was a book. I'll be reading it myself when her class is over!

Thanks for a great book.

"Planet of the Apes" is a 1963 Science Fiction novel by Pierre Boulle (also known for his classic WWII POW novel turned film, "The Bridge over the River Kwai"). The novel is a unique reading experience, different from watching the classic movie of the same name.So there are two ways to approach reviewing this book:1) as a stand alone novel, without making any comparisons to the classic 1969 movie and the competent 2001 remake. Or,2) as a kind of conceptual, literary companion to the entire universe created by the epic series of Ape movies (Planet, Beneath, Escape, Conquest, and Battle), TV shows, and other media products.If you are from my generation and watched all the original movies before you ever thought about reading Pierre Boulle's novel, it might be impossible to review this book fairly as a stand alone novel. Almost every review you read will mention the movie(s). Almost any comparison with the movies makes the novel appear simplistic and eccentric, a mere social commentary in the form of fantasy like Swift's "Gulliver's Travels" or other literary fiction that explored issues of civilization, race, social classes, eugenics, etc. such as Conrad's "Heart of Darkness."This is unfortunate because this is a fine novel. Ironic. Edgy. Entertaining. Fantastic. Escapist. And the kind of novel to make you think. Everything I like in good literary fiction. And it is a short, quick read. I liked it very much and recommend it for all those reasons.Some of the more interesting facets of the novel include the first person narrative by the French cosmonaut, Ulysse Merou; the placement of the ape world in a far galaxy; the ape world technologically resembling a roughly 1940s Europe; and the narrator's assessment of how apes could come to replace human beings on the evolutionary ladder by simply imitating mankind and adapting to their new roles gradually, while humans declined in equal measure. This last evolutionary "origin" story is actually depicted with much less clarity over the course of the entire movie series. So if you are a fan of the films, by all means, read this novel for that reason alone!The original 1969 Planet of the Apes film benefitted from the scientific progress in space travel and the maturation of science fiction as a literary genre that took place between 1963 and 1969 (much as the film "2001: A Space Odyssey" was so much more fleshed out and superior to the 1948 short story by Arthur C. Clarke that inspired it, "The Sentinel"). Add to that the apocalyptic sentiments of the late 1960s that would produce a host of post-apocalyptic movies in the 1970s and you can see how the Planet of the Apes concept evolved from novel to film.By 1969, the astronauts could only be American and the entire space crew and mission depicted in the film sounds wonderfully like what an American and European audience would expect a real NASA mission to be like. Charlton Heston's "Taylor" is the epitome of secular American cool-guy cynical hero. Yet when you read the first person narrative of the novel's Ulysse Merou and remember the 1969 film, you sense that somehow Heston's dialogue wonderfully channeled the heart and soul of Pierre Boule's French cosmonaut perfectly.There are many key differences between classic film and classic novel which I don't want to get into due to spoilers. Suffice to say, Boulle's novel ends differently than the film, but no less shockingly, ironically, nor unexpectedly. It is a powerful ending in its own right.Just read this brilliant, classic, sci-fi novel. It is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

Poor Description and quality back page of book was riped 👎👎👎👎

An excellent little book. Pierre Boulle's original tale is very different from the Hollywood movies. The surprise ending absolutely surpasses the Hollywwod Statue of Liberty ending.