This was an interesting book about animal communication, but it was too sentimental for my liking. While Sema, the eight-year-old gorilla, was a sweetie, her caretaker, Glee, was arrogant and self-centred, and quite unlikeable. I think the premise was fascinating, but the author could have done a better job with the writing. ( )

The book dragged on getting to a point of interest at one or two places but leaving me disappointed by lack of buildup in the story. Michael Crichton's "Congo" was by far the better book (I wonder, did Angela Hunt take the basic plot from him?). ( )

Hunt focuses on the ability of some apes to communicate in sign language in this novel about a researcher named Glee and her signing lowland gorilla named Sema. Glee has raised Sema since the gorilla’s birth, so she is devastated when the zoo that Sema belongs to wants to take her back. Glee hates putting her back in the zoo but soon falls in love with Sema's new gorilla companions and sees the advantages of having Sema in a social group. That is until Sema's life is threatened in an accident and Sema starts signing stuff about a "shiny man" and "God". Is Sema suffering from brain damage or hallucinations? Or are her animal senses capable of seeing things beyond the physical realm, things of a spiritual nature? Hunt has created a memorable character in Sema, one that causes the reader to think about God’s relationship with animals and how He may use and even communicate through them. Like all of these books, it celebrates the gift that animals can be in people’s lives. ( )