BEEP

A monkey goes on a journey to save the planet.

The novel is narrated by Beep, a squirrel monkey living in what we eventually learn is Costa Rica. We know from the beginning, however, that his troupe is aware of a world beyond its rainforest that contains other monkeys, and that a prophecy promises “a monkey one day will come along whose accidental courage will reunite us, even save the world.” That monkey turns out to be Beep in this good-natured fantasy, which launches when he leaves his troupe to find a mate. Shortly after, he meets up with Inga, an 11-year-old girl who befriends Beep when he tries to grab some pineapple from a table outside her family’s vacation home in Costa Rica. Soon he’s unwittingly in Inga’s “noopsook” on a “roarbird” bound for New York. Beep’s rendering of various “you-men” words is initially distracting, especially since his narration implausibly uses others like “tween” and “inanimate” with no problem. The language becomes less jarring and the pace picks up in NYC when Beep and Inga take a trip to the “Bronzoo.” An extended scene in which they evade the “Greenies” (aka guards) and start opening cages is well paced and exciting, with the tension ratcheted up as the police arrive and tranquilizer guns are deployed against the growing horde of freed animals. Roorbach depicts animals communicating across species, and a minority of humans led by Inga who can understand them, as a means to lead his plot toward a feel-good denouement. Not every reader will be charmed by Beep’s mannered voice or persuaded even fictionally by his odyssey, but Roorbach’s vision of a world despoiled by human waste and carelessness is grimly plausible, and his hope for a better future is no doubt shared by all.

Pleasant enough, for those who buy the concept of delving into an animal’s thought process.