Rosemary Cooke begins her college years by narrating her family's collapse, a disintegration sparked by the disappearance of her sister Fern and her brother Lowell. Raised in a household where she was encouraged to be talkative, Rosemary now lives in silence to hide a psychological secret. Her father, a behaviorist researcher, raised Rosemary and Fern together as part of an experimental study on cross-species sibling dynamics and primate intelligence. The story tracks how the sudden removal of Fern, a chimpanzee, traumatized the human children and led to decades of familial estrangement and repressed memory.
This novel serves readers interested in the ethics of scientific experimentation and the complex boundaries between humans and other animals. Those who study family systems or the history of psychological field studies will find a detailed look at how academic ambition affects personal identity. Readers walk away with an understanding of how early childhood socialization shapes adult communication and a clear perspective on the long-term consequences of treating family members as test subjects in the name of behavioral science.
Inward-looking and thought-provoking; a moderate read.
Best for readers like The Empathetic Explorer. Which reader are you?
- Published
- 2013
- Language
- EN
