Story ID: girl/gorilla

September 30, 2005 4:17 PM

Yet-another-story-ID: Girl's brain in a gorilla's body.

I remember reading this book when I was a kid that was about a girl who had either a fatal illness or injury and in a last-ditch effort to save her, they (doctors and family, I presume) transplanted her brain into the body of a simian (I seem to think it was a gorilla). I remember it being a fairly long book (for a kid, anyways) and I seem to think it had a short title - maybe one word, possibly the name of the girl.

I realise this is not a lot to go on, but it was the first book that seriously challenged my conception of self, and I would really like to find it again.

posted by arcticwoman to writing & language (12 comments total)

It's Eva by Peter Dickinson.
posted by tangerine at 4:25 PM on September 30, 2005

It wasn't a long kid's book, so isn't what you're looking for, but you might also enjoy Pat Murphy's Rachel in Love, with that premise.
posted by Zed_Lopez at 4:29 PM on September 30, 2005

Well that was quick! Thanks.
posted by arcticwoman at 4:39 PM on September 30, 2005

[It was a chimpanzee, by the way.]
posted by ubersturm at 5:07 PM on September 30, 2005

I loved that book.
posted by tweebiscuit at 5:08 PM on September 30, 2005

For the future: is there anywhere else I can ask ID questions so that I don't waste my AskMefi for the week?
posted by arcticwoman at 5:55 PM on September 30, 2005

I loved that book.

Me too. I like everything he's written, especially his subtle, thoughtful, retrospective adult mysteries.

He wrote an interesting letter in response to an article about Eva on his website. There's also an interesting note in the Bibliography/YA page of the site, which won't accept direct links for some reason.
posted by tangerine at 6:07 PM on September 30, 2005

rec.arts.sf.written covers the scifi/fantasy genres.

Prefix your subject with YASID and include as much detail as you can remember in the body of the message.
posted by nmiell at 6:10 PM on September 30, 2005

Weird, I was just telling someone about this book the other day... I must have read it 15 years ago but it has really stuck with me.
posted by amro at 6:12 PM on September 30, 2005

I can't believe nobody has ever told me about this book! Monkeys, brains... and the title is my name!
I don't particularly like Peter Dickinson, but this has to be awesome! I'm so getting this from the library right now.
posted by easternblot at 8:21 PM on September 30, 2005

Steve Martin's The Man With Two Brains.

"But... I can't fuck a gorilla."
posted by Aknaton at 10:19 PM on September 30, 2005

I believe she's just finished her first tour of the Middle East....
posted by rob511 at 4:56 AM on October 1, 2005