MONKEY WARS

A real-life conflict between rival monkey species in Kolkata becomes a dark, violent fable of totalitarianism and resistance.

Mico is a very young monkey when humans entice his langur troop into chasing the disruptive rhesus out of the city; even so, he knows that this victory is more gruesome than glorious. When the young rhesus Papina sneaks back to discover her father's fate, the two forge an instantaneous bond. Soon, clever, imaginative Mico ascends the langur hierarchy while secretly feeding information to Papina and the other rhesus refugees. As Tyrell, the new langur dictator, grows ever more ambitious, bloodthirsty and paranoid, Mico finds it increasingly difficult to juggle his loyalty to his tribe and his duty to his conscience. With its pomp, pageantry and brutally effective terror tactics, its ghettos and genocide, the langur tyranny deliberately evokes the Nazi regime. As a Hitler analog, Tyrell’s frothing villainy overshadows his charisma, but the allure of power—even for the most conscientious—is portrayed with frightening effectiveness. The straightforward prose has a disconcerting tendency to switch viewpoint midscene, yet it also ratchets up the suspense and dread with unrelenting urgency, compelling readers to keep the pages turning. Graphic and implacably grim, the tale does not shy away from the toll oppression exacts from victims, perpetrators, collaborators and bystanders alike.

Powerful and disturbing.