Next in the gorillas series is the novel Planet of the Apes by Pierre Boulle written in 1963.
When I decided to include the Plant of the Ape series I really doubted I would enjoy reading a science fiction novel but I loved it! Who knew??
Basically it takes place in the future where 3 astronauts land on what seems to be a planet like Earth. It appears to be paradise but we all know, anything that seems too good, isn’t. What they discover is that on this planet humans are savage ignorant beasts who run around naked. Who rules? Apes of course and there is a hierarchy in this ape world: gorillas take care of manual labor, chimpanzees are highly intelligent, and the orangutans are high officials that ultimately rule the planet. Only 1 astronaut actually survives and he must make his way from his capture, kept naked in a cage, to unlock the secret of this terrifying civilization. Adventure, satire and suspense leads this book that comes to a very surprising end, different from the movie but the same basic outcome.
It took 2 years of space travel to arrive at this planet that very closely resembled Earth. They ventured out onto sand and saw a print that looked like a human footprint. Another planet and species similar to Earth? What could this be? Gorillas appeared, dressed in human clothes and the humans they saw were without clothes. The gorillas captured the astronaut in a net and put him in a cage with the others and soon realized they couldn’t speak. He later saw lady gorillas sitting in armchairs sipping drinks through straws!
Zira was the she-chimp and the Head of the Department. Once she realized that Ulysse’s could talk, she became interested in him and ended up helping him escape. She told him that “With only two hands, each with short clumsy fingers, man is probably handicapped at birth…”
Many situations take place that you will want to read but eventually Ulysse is let out by Zira to explore and figure things out and it gets very interesting. He finds a doll and skeletons of men. MAN HAD preceded these apes!
Read it to know it all!!
Book and Movie Therapy 