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Jennie is a novel by Douglas Preston first published in 1994. It follows the life of an extraordinary chimpanzee named Jennie and her experience being raised by humans in the 1960s and 1970s. Despite the format of interviews and excerpts from memoirs, the story is entirely fictional and is mostly based on the life of a chimp in the 1930s who was the inspiration for Curious George.

Not to be confused with the 1950 novel by Paul Gallico.


This novel provides examples of:

  • Artistic License – History: Jennie meets several celebrities, including Bobby Kennedy and Jackson Pollock at a Boston Museum of Fine Arts dinner held in 1969. Kennedy was killed in 1968 and Pollock died in 1956.
  • Author Tract: In the author's note at the end, Preston notes that while the novel was fiction it was all based on real research on chimpanzees. He notes what remarkable creatures they and the other great apes are and encourages the reader to learn more about conservation of our closest genetic relatives.
  • Break the Scientist: The people who know and study Jennie are constantly annoyed by other people referring to her as a monkey. Sandy nearly gets into a fight with some other children over the wrong terminology. He parrots his father's phrase that "monkeys are inferior."
  • Death by Despair: Hugo never recovered from Jennie's death and eventually died when he had a routine gallstone operation and did not wake up from anesthetia. Dr. Epstein and Sandy both say that Hugo died because deep down he wanted to.
  • Driven to Suicide: Jennie's death is officially ruled as an accident. Sandy, however believes that it was actually suicide: when she realized that she is permanently in the chimp colony and no one from home is ever going to rescue her, she ran full force at the bars of her cage and fractured her skull. He adds: "With all those ex­per­iments, they were al­most able to erase the dis­tinc­tion be­tween man and an­imal. The one thing they didn't look at was Jennie's abil­ity to under­stand death. The knowl­edge of good and evil. Now isn't it iron­ic that with her fi­nal act, her suicide, she obliterated this last dis­tinc­tion?"
  • Elephant in the Room: During Palliser's first visit, everyone is trying to pretend he's not there about Jennie. They try to make small talk as she tears through the kitchen making a huge ruckus.
  • Fingore: The final straw for Jennie being sent to the chimp colony is Sandy losing a finger.
  • Henpecked Husband: Reverend Palliser.
    "I could see the Reverend was having trouble concentrating on the conversation. Clearly his wife had put him up to this visit, just as she made him weed the dandelions out of our yard when she believed we were not home. I felt quite sorry for Palliser, with such a wife."
  • Interspecies Friendship: Jennie and her human companions, especially Sandy, who refers to Jennie as his sister and is closer to her than to his real sister.
  • Never Speak Ill of the Dead: Averted. Dr. Epstein remarks that this is disrespectful and quotes Voltaire on the subject: "'To the living we owe respect, but to the dead only truth.' I honor Hugo's memory by telling the truth about him."
  • Parental Favoritism: A version. The Hamiltons basically considered Jennie to be their adopted daughter. Their actual daughter, Sarah tells the author (in the only conversation they have) that she hated Jennie, because her father loved Jennie more than her.
  • Scrapbook Story: The book consists of transcripts of interviews with the characters, and excerpts from an autobiography, a diary, and newspaper articles.
  • Screw Politeness, I'm a Senior!: Dr. Epstein.
    "I am being facetious, of course. Don't print that. I'm eighty-five years old, and I have gotten into the habit of saying whatever I damn well please."
  • Very Loosely Based on a True Story: The story is inspired by Meshie, a chimp reportedly raised as a human in the 1930s.

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