Sara Gruen Goes to the Apes at the Central Library

Literary darling Sara Gruen will likely bask in the glow of praise in perpetuity for her 2006 novel Water for Elephants—a story so saturated with rich characters both human and animal that readers grew quite besotted with Gruen’s fanciful imagination. It’s a theme she runs with in her newest book, Ape House—and while it’s received mixed reviews since its Sept. 7 release, the book is already a New York Times best seller. This go around, Gruen introduces us to the fictional world of the Great Ape Language Lab, where reporter John Thigpen is writing about the work of one Dr. Isabel Duncan, who is researching communication with bonobos (a relative of the chimpanzee) before the lab is bombed and the bonobos are, well, bonobo-napped, and forced to star in a sleazy reality show. Zaniness—and an increasingly hard-to-keep-track-of cast of characters—ensues. Perhaps Gruen will be able to help us keep things straight when she stops by the Seattle Public Library’s Central Library this evening for a reading, previously shortlisted on today's Can't Miss It.

7 p.m. // Seattle Public Library Central Library // FREE