The One and Only Ivan
Katherine Applegate (2012)
“Based on the true story of a gorilla who spent 27 years in a shopping mall, told in his own quiet, devastating voice.”
EraContemporary
Pages305
Difficulty★☆☆☆☆ Accessible
AP Appearances0
Character Analysis
A silverback gorilla who has spent twenty-seven years in a mall enclosure. Ivan's defining trait is not his captivity but his quiet dignity within it. He paints, he observes, he protects his friends. His voice — spare, concrete, unself-pitying — is the novel's primary achievement. Ivan is not a human in a gorilla suit; he is a gorilla with a gorilla's mind, rendered accessible through Applegate's precise restraint.
How They Speak
Short, concrete, unadorned. Avoids abstraction. Names emotions by their physical symptoms rather than their labels.