Theory of Mind by Sanjida O'Connell
| Theory of Mind by Sanjida O'Connell | |
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| Category: General Fiction | |
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Reviewer: Luke Marlowe
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| Summary: Part love story, part thriller, and part psychology study, "Theory of Mind" takes in apes, romance, autism and robots, but binds them together with an interesting plot and strong characters. | |
| Buy? Maybe | Borrow? Yes |
| Pages: 304 | Date: September 2016 |
| Publisher: Romaunce Books | |
| External links: Author's website | |
| ISBN: 978-1861515483 | |
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Sandra works in a zoo, studying the minds of chimpanzees, mankind's nearest living relatives. Her involvment with the animals starts to affect her own relationships, in particular that with her new boyfriend Corin. His energy stimulates her, his passion excites her and his work as a TV producer fascinates her, but are his feelings real, or does he want to control her? As her feelings preoccupy her, Sandra continues her research into the emotions of chimps and whether or not they are capable of empathy. During a visit to the zoo, Sandra meets a strange and isolated child, Paul, son of one of the keepers, and she also meets Kim, a scientist who has built a killer instinct into the robots she makes. As Sandra worries about her friends and her relationship, things race to a thrilling climax - putting much more than Sandra's emotions at risk.
Author Sanjida O'Connell studied Zoology at Bristol University, and works as a science writer and TV producer, also contribuitng to The Guardian. Theory of Mind is her debut novel, and was initially published in 1996, winning the Betty Trask Award for Best First Novel.
Theory of Mind tackles intriguing issues and questions, wrapping them into a compelling story that prevents the reader from ever being bored by the glimpses of academia that are scattered throughout - and providing compelling characters to follow. Main character Sandra is the sort who could, in another situation be somewhat annoying - hugely clever, good at her job and blessed with a handsome boyfriend, but as one learns more about Sandra it becomes clear that there's a lot more to her, and the reader learns to like her as various issues make her life increasingly difficult. In fact, it's the emotional actions and feelings that Sandra has that form a lot of the main crux of this book - laid in contrast to the actions of the gorillas that Sandra studies, leading to her investigations into the their emotional state, and the 'Theory of Mind' of the title. The way the contrast between human and gorilla is explored is fascinating, and it leads to scenes which are vivid, compelling, and disturbing in equal measure - the scientific nature of Sandra's work somehow making the more explicit scenes containing the gorillas easier to read. Some of the themes do feel a little tacked on at times, but that's not at all surprising given how much O'Connell decides to tackle, and the themes come together well to provide a genuinely thrilling and surprising climax. Intelligent, well plotted and full of intriguing insights into the lives of both gorillas and humans, Theory of Mind is a solid read and a hugely impressive debut. Many thanks to the publishers for the copy.
For further reading I would recommend Savage Girl by Jean Zimmerman. A vivid novel set in 1870's America, it's both an intriguing character study and a fun thriller - a close relative to "Theory of Mind".
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