≫ [PDF] Galapagos Regained A Novel James Morrow 9781250054012 Books

Galapagos Regained A Novel James Morrow 9781250054012 Books

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Galapagos Regained A Novel James Morrow 9781250054012 Books

Chloe Bathurst is an actress, a zookeeper and a thief. She's also responsible for waking up Charles Darwin to the implications of his monumental idea. [And you thought it was Alfred Russel Wallace.]

Chloe, born into mid-19th Century England, and thoroughly appalled at the debtors' prison her ne'er-do-well father has earned for himself, has decided she will, by hook or crook, collect the ₤2000 needed to rescue him. Problem: her politically incorrect ad libs have just cost her an actress' paycheck. Maybe an au pair position would help?

Enter the Darwin household, the only one willing to give her a try. But although the nanny job is gone, there is zookeeper work in Charles' vivarium out back. In it, are sample residents of his Galapagos excursion 3 years prior: tortoises, finches, iguanas and the like.

And with the new profession, comes a new obsession. Chloe learns of an ongoing contest in town: prove or disprove - either one - the existence of God to the satisfaction of 4 of 6 learned panelists, 3 Anglican, 3 Atheist, and win ₤10,000 pounds! Is it Coincidence or Providence that lands her sitting on the goldmine of evidence for the Bioworld's self sufficiency?

When she proposes using her acting skills to present Darwin's ideas for him, he refuses. Thus her thievery, of enough of his papers to get an idea of his concepts for herself.

Before long all hell breaks loose. Chloe, with her ne'er, ne'er, ne'er-do-well brother Algernon, and a band of rogues head for the Galapagos. Since Darwin won't lend her his animals; she must get her own.

Meanwhile, the Anglican hierarchy gets wind of this attempt to deal death to the Christian God concept and decides to strike out for Mt. Ararat. Finding Noah's Ark would effectively counter thrust the Godless ones. Of course they send a spy with Chloe. Reverend Malcolm Chadwick professes open mindedness, but their verbal jousting sets sail with their ship on the ocean current. And away we go.

After a harrowing boat trip up the Amazon, a rubber plantation rebellion, a tribe of Jewish South American natives [no, really] still awaiting their messiah [Chloe of course is nominated, but turns down the need for crucifixion], a totally loopy Emperor/Judge of the Galapagos, Orrin Eggwort, and a volcano which explodes on cue, Morrow has filled this story to overflowing with twists, curves, turns and branches...a lot like the Tree of Life, Chloe's beloved metaphor for Evolution.

But Morrow isn't done. Sprinkled throughout the narrative is a deeply surrealistic hookah den into which the main actors in Darwin's subsequent elaboration emerge to explain how one gets from heritable traits with variation to a mechanism for the same, including Mendel's pea plants, Teilhard's hominid skulls, and Watson & Crick's DNA. [Well, Dr. Rosalind Franklin, responsible for the early X-ray diffraction work on DNA structure gets the credit here.] The explanation is succinct enough for a textbook of its own, but the author humanizes each hero, adding a beautiful extra dimension.

Meanwhile, Chloe, the Darwinian, and Malcolm, the Anglican Creationist, bonk heads throughout their adventures and come away changed. Nature is beautiful [witness the birds, the sky]; Nature is horrible [digger wasps - look them up]. What does each say about the character - and possibility - of a Creator?

Some thoughts and observations...

1 - Morrow makes good use of Gericault's master oil, "Raft of the Medusa". Displaying her chutzpa early on in a play based on the ill-fated wreck, Chloe, as one of several survivors, warned against a descent into cannibalism. "He who would eat his fellow man must answer to his God!" Then she adds, "And he who would eat his God must answer to his fellow man!" Only later did her fondness for spontaneous re-writes land her in the occupation of zookeeper.

2 - On hearing from Chloe her plans for bringing Galapagos back to England, Darwin, too, invokes the spirit of the "Raft". "Get thee to South America, Miss Bathurst. Find your inverse Eden. Who am I to judge your overweening ambition? We're a damned desperate species, the lot of us, adrift on a wretched raft, scanning the horizon with bloodshot eyes and hollow expectations. Go with my blessing."

3 - A few Morrowisms worth remembering...

From a news story about the two expeditions: "...whichever ship brings back the better evidence [animal variation vs the Ark] will be giving us to know whether we descended from the loving hands of Providence or the hairy loins of primates."

From Darwin, himself: "Furthermore, though personally prepared to forsake theism, I question whether anyone has the right to deprive his fellow human beings of its comforts."

"Was God's non-existence an adequate reason to call his authority into question?"

"Nothing good has ever followed the sentence, "Last night, our prophet appeared to me as in a dream."

4 - In a surreal moment near the story's close, Darwin receives word of his vindication [coronation?] in time to toast Teilhard and raise a glass to Franklin before beginning his stint in Eternity. The intoned "Good night, sweet prince." is richly deserved.

So, how do Chloe and Malcolm resolve their considerable differences? Do the Anglican Creationists bring back the Ark? Does Chloe win the prize and free her father? Do the South American Jewish aborigines find their messiah? And how big a mess does the volcano make?? This book is bursting with memorable people and plot lines. All it needs is your eyes.


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Galapagos Regained A Novel James Morrow 9781250054012 Books Reviews

Wickedly funny, intelligent, outrageous, scareligious, with characters to like, including Charles Darwin.
A good book in the Morrow tradition; factual, funny, well worth the read. My problem is that I compare everything he writes to "The Last Witchfinder", and that masterpiece is impossible to top!
Almost impossibly funny,and a wonderfully well-written romp of the imagination.
This is fantastically researched and inventive. The actress steals Darwin's treatise, travels the world and shows what evolution can do. Hilarious parody on the Great God debate, but not without seriousness. Viva Mr. Morrow!
I really enjoyed this story. It has been a while since I've read an entire book, but I found myself wanting to find time to read more and see what happens next. Very well written, and full of adventure as well as a philosophical element that kept me entertained and intrigued. I'd read it again.
This is a wildly fun book to read. While tackling ideas of huge importance, James Morrow manages to deliver a fast-moving narrative replete with explosions, shipwrecks, love, lust and skirmishes both physical and intellectual as it follows the misadventures of actress Chloe Bathurst. Her motivations are relatable she wants to save her father from the workhouse and pay off his debts. Opportunity arises in the form of the fictional Shelley Prize, a reward offered to settle the question about whether or not God exists. She plans to use the ideas of a reticent Charles Darwin to disprove the existence of God, and thus begins a wild ride with unexpected twists and turns which includes [redacted spoiler]. Did I mention there is swash-buckling? There's swashbuckling. Hoorah!
The regret being that this wonderful book was 70 years too late. Several decades before achieving the craggy gorgeousness of her old age, the late Katherine Hepburn was transcendentally beautiful and already possessed of a gift for mesmerizing camera and viewers. She would have been perfect as Chloe Bathurst.
Now to the good parts zany enough to captivate Douglas Adams, satirical enough to satisfy Gilbert and Sullivan, those fearless senders-up of all things Victorian; ingenious plotting that sends two groups off on mutually incompatible missions; wonderful dialogue and, even better, conversation among three or more, which apparently is more difficult to write; several instances of deus (actually deae) ex machina; eccentric and fascinating characters; and, finally, the author's ability to incorporate into the story generally accepted concepts about evolution in a way that is both accurate (not an expert, but you don't need to be, that's not why we're her today) and so poignant.
This is probably the best book I'll read this year.
Chloe Bathurst is an actress, a zookeeper and a thief. She's also responsible for waking up Charles Darwin to the implications of his monumental idea. [And you thought it was Alfred Russel Wallace.]

Chloe, born into mid-19th Century England, and thoroughly appalled at the debtors' prison her ne'er-do-well father has earned for himself, has decided she will, by hook or crook, collect the ₤2000 needed to rescue him. Problem her politically incorrect ad libs have just cost her an actress' paycheck. Maybe an au pair position would help?

Enter the Darwin household, the only one willing to give her a try. But although the nanny job is gone, there is zookeeper work in Charles' vivarium out back. In it, are sample residents of his Galapagos excursion 3 years prior tortoises, finches, iguanas and the like.

And with the new profession, comes a new obsession. Chloe learns of an ongoing contest in town prove or disprove - either one - the existence of God to the satisfaction of 4 of 6 learned panelists, 3 Anglican, 3 Atheist, and win ₤10,000 pounds! Is it Coincidence or Providence that lands her sitting on the goldmine of evidence for the Bioworld's self sufficiency?

When she proposes using her acting skills to present Darwin's ideas for him, he refuses. Thus her thievery, of enough of his papers to get an idea of his concepts for herself.

Before long all hell breaks loose. Chloe, with her ne'er, ne'er, ne'er-do-well brother Algernon, and a band of rogues head for the Galapagos. Since Darwin won't lend her his animals; she must get her own.

Meanwhile, the Anglican hierarchy gets wind of this attempt to deal death to the Christian God concept and decides to strike out for Mt. Ararat. Finding Noah's Ark would effectively counter thrust the Godless ones. Of course they send a spy with Chloe. Reverend Malcolm Chadwick professes open mindedness, but their verbal jousting sets sail with their ship on the ocean current. And away we go.

After a harrowing boat trip up the , a rubber plantation rebellion, a tribe of Jewish South American natives [no, really] still awaiting their messiah [Chloe of course is nominated, but turns down the need for crucifixion], a totally loopy Emperor/Judge of the Galapagos, Orrin Eggwort, and a volcano which explodes on cue, Morrow has filled this story to overflowing with twists, curves, turns and branches...a lot like the Tree of Life, Chloe's beloved metaphor for Evolution.

But Morrow isn't done. Sprinkled throughout the narrative is a deeply surrealistic hookah den into which the main actors in Darwin's subsequent elaboration emerge to explain how one gets from heritable traits with variation to a mechanism for the same, including Mendel's pea plants, Teilhard's hominid skulls, and Watson & Crick's DNA. [Well, Dr. Rosalind Franklin, responsible for the early X-ray diffraction work on DNA structure gets the credit here.] The explanation is succinct enough for a textbook of its own, but the author humanizes each hero, adding a beautiful extra dimension.

Meanwhile, Chloe, the Darwinian, and Malcolm, the Anglican Creationist, bonk heads throughout their adventures and come away changed. Nature is beautiful [witness the birds, the sky]; Nature is horrible [digger wasps - look them up]. What does each say about the character - and possibility - of a Creator?

Some thoughts and observations...

1 - Morrow makes good use of Gericault's master oil, "Raft of the Medusa". Displaying her chutzpa early on in a play based on the ill-fated wreck, Chloe, as one of several survivors, warned against a descent into cannibalism. "He who would eat his fellow man must answer to his God!" Then she adds, "And he who would eat his God must answer to his fellow man!" Only later did her fondness for spontaneous re-writes land her in the occupation of zookeeper.

2 - On hearing from Chloe her plans for bringing Galapagos back to England, Darwin, too, invokes the spirit of the "Raft". "Get thee to South America, Miss Bathurst. Find your inverse Eden. Who am I to judge your overweening ambition? We're a damned desperate species, the lot of us, adrift on a wretched raft, scanning the horizon with bloodshot eyes and hollow expectations. Go with my blessing."

3 - A few Morrowisms worth remembering...

From a news story about the two expeditions "...whichever ship brings back the better evidence [animal variation vs the Ark] will be giving us to know whether we descended from the loving hands of Providence or the hairy loins of primates."

From Darwin, himself "Furthermore, though personally prepared to forsake theism, I question whether anyone has the right to deprive his fellow human beings of its comforts."

"Was God's non-existence an adequate reason to call his authority into question?"

"Nothing good has ever followed the sentence, "Last night, our prophet appeared to me as in a dream."

4 - In a surreal moment near the story's close, Darwin receives word of his vindication [coronation?] in time to toast Teilhard and raise a glass to Franklin before beginning his stint in Eternity. The intoned "Good night, sweet prince." is richly deserved.

So, how do Chloe and Malcolm resolve their considerable differences? Do the Anglican Creationists bring back the Ark? Does Chloe win the prize and free her father? Do the South American Jewish aborigines find their messiah? And how big a mess does the volcano make?? This book is bursting with memorable people and plot lines. All it needs is your eyes.