The One and Only Ivan
Series: One and Only Ivan, Book 1
By: Katherine Applegate, Patricia Castelao / Narrated By: Adam Grupper
Length: 3 hrs and 46 mins
READ THIS BOOK… Uhm… LISTEN TO THIS BOOK!
Okay, lemme just get it outta the way: Y’all know I trot myself over AFTER listening to a book to read the reviews that disagree with the opinion I have of whatever I’ve just listened to. I think it’s only fair cuz I sooooometimes get soooo wrapped up in what I think that I’ve come to believe it might be good to get a differing viewpoint that makes me maybe kinda sorta consider what someone else’s entire experience may’ve been like.
Okay (again!)—the Number One review of The One and Only Ivan, the most popular, gave it 1-star…! As in 1! One! O-N-E!!!
I mean whatthehell?!?
Poor idiot got all grouchy about being told about Evolution, and then s/he said it was too violent with its depictions of just what dipwad humans do to gorillas.
It’s the Truth, dipwad! (And after, or during… Election Chaos, truly, I wonder what-all sorta country I’m living in!!!). This absolutely gorgeously heartbreaking book is actually based on a true story, a real Ivan who spent almost 30-years behind glass at a shopping center. Yes, we dipwad humans do that kinda stuff. When I was a kid, the pet shop had a PRECIOUS huge parrot behind glass we couldn’t talk to—there simply for ornamental purposes, for yeeeeeears.
Okay, I’m getting all twitchy and angsty, so I’ll take a deep breath and go onto what the story is, and just how awesome it is!
Ivan is a silverback gorilla who’s spent 27-years in a glass enclosure with a TV, a stray dog named Bob, Stella the elephant, and paper and paints to keep him company. There is no kindness, there are no good times, there are only the simple, simple pleasures such as Bob sleeping on him at night, such as Stella’s good nature. But Stella can’t bear her life there, where the claw-rake with steel prongs are used to slice her back when she doesn’t do things or doesn’t do them well enough (These are true implements; I’ve seen them used!). Life has become unbearable for her, especially when the shop owner brings in a baby elephant named Ruby to sorta drive up business, bring in more visitors. Ruby was from the wild, but all her family was killed… by dipwad humans, and now she’s to perform just as Stella’s always performed, several times a day, each day of the week, claw-rake invading her dreams which turn to nightmares. Stella sickens; Stella dies—but not before she asks Ivan, please please PLEASE help Ruby: Do NOT let this be Ruby’s Life.
And so Ivan cogitates, and he comes up with a plan. Soon he’s using his talents to draw attention, and with the help of humans who are NOT dipwads, things reach a peak.
This is a beautiful book, simply gorgeous, and if you want your kids to grow up to be jolly decent and loving non-dipwads, it’s a Must Read. They can learn so much about the world that’s revolving around them, and through author Katherine Applegate’s delicately nuanced, yet enTIREly realistic writing, they can gather life lessons along the way also. There’s how to take comfort and delight in the small things. There’s how to be a good friend, to love who’s around you. There’s how to problem-solve.
And there’s most especially: How to have Hope, treacherous, delicate, WONdrous! Hope. During this time of political unrest, this time of global illness and upended social norms, what could be better than learning how to look toward a new day, of learning how to see what you have and appreciate it for the blessing it is even as you encourage a stalwart belief that Things Get Better, if only you’ll do your part and meet Life where it comes at ya.
Did I say this is a Must Read? P’raps I shoulda said it’s a Must Listen cuz Adam Grupper does an AWEsome job giving each of the characters their precious personalities, their emotions, their thoughts. Conversations flow back and forth smoothly especially between Ivan and Bob, and Grupper’s depiction of Ruby comes across as a bitty-bit of childlike wonder and pain. I was kinda iffy on him at first, but through his delivery of such great writing, he charmed me over.
Do NOT, I beg of you, be a dipwad human, and do give this audiobook a try. The world is a better place when we’re not burying our heads in the sand, when we’re not sheltering our children but are teaching them that it’s horrible out there, but they have the power to make a difference with their own voices, even as young as they are. Out of the mouths of babes can come some really wonderful things that can guide those who know better but are fearful.
What a wonderful story, and yeh yeh yeh you might shed a few tears, but trust me—Tears are AWEsome, especially when you know that Based On A True Story has a true Happily Ever After. Yesssss, Life can turn out pretty well when we all chip in!
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