I can’t resist stories told from an animal's POV. In BEEP, we meet Beep, a young squirrel monkey sent out to find his mate. He gets a little turned around and, instead, meets a human girl, Inga, who is on vacation. From there, Beep goes on a wild adventure.

The first half of the book had a more friendly, humorous feel. You have to adjust to Beep’s “monkey talk,” but it was about Inga and Beep trying to bridge the gap between the species and work together. In the second half, while more was happening, suddenly, strange things occurred, and even great harm occurred.

I struggled with some aspects of this story. I would have enjoyed if the premise had stayed focused on Beep and Inga’s friendship and their work toward saving the animals and the planet. But the “uprising" or cleansing did not feel right to me.

Overall, BEEP is an inventive story with a likable, funny, and furry main character. If you want a strong commentary on saving the planet and don’t mind it veering off the path a little, you may enjoy this one.


Thank you @algonquinbooks for this gifted book.

I was excited for this one, and then I was disappointed. It felt gimmicky in most places, and the assumptions of an animal’s perceptions bothered me.

Beep is squirrel monkey, born and raised in the rain forest of Costa Rica. He’s not a baby anymore, and his old uncles have informed him that all the females are spoken for, and he must travel to a new area to mate and propagate. It’s tricky business, though, because human encroachment has separated the forests from one another, so Beep cannot get to the next forest without going through areas developed by humans. Beep’s odyssey takes him much farther than anyone imagined, and in the end, he finds fame and satisfaction.

My thanks go to NetGalley and Algonquin for the invitation to read and review. This book is for sale today.

Much of the book is devoted to the relationship that Beep develops with a human child named Inga. While traveling through neighborhoods, a bit lost and unsure where the next forest might be, he spots her eating some delicious fruits in her backyard, so he introduces himself in order to get lunch. Inga’s mother comes out and meets him also, and this passage provides an idea of the story’s character:

“’Squirrel monkey,” the mother said warmly, ‘Ooooh. They aren’t usually solo. Oooh, ooh. Keep your eyes peeled, there will be more.’
“Ugh, eyes peeled? ‘I’d like some fruit,’ I said clearly.
“’Oh, how charming,’ said the mother. ‘Hoo-hoo, monkey.’ She’d wiped most of yesterday’s blood from her lips, but at the edges of the enormous mouth some remained (probably she’d caught and eaten a bird). Also, part of her outer wrappings had come loose and her poor chest looked more distended than ever, wrapped in a bright banner of some kind. Somemonkey once said they look like us, but come on: they do not.”

But this is not Inga’s permanent home; she is on vacation. When her family returns to New York, which Beep calls Nyork, she smuggles him in with her carry-on items and it is in New York City that he meets fame after surviving several harrowing situations.

For the most part, I find this novel charming. There’s no need to concern ourselves about the credibility of the overall story line, because after all, we’ve begun with a monkey providing the narrative, so it’s clear that we just need to roll with it. It is funny in places, a bit dark in others, and then—as with the above quote—sometimes it’s darkly funny. Some of the reviews I’ve read take issue with the ending, but I’m good with it. My sole dissatisfaction, and unfortunately it’s one of my pet peeves, is Roorbach’s failure to develop Inga appropriately in keeping with her age. There’s a scene at the airport when she starts to cry because her stuffed animals are being taken away to be scanned by security, and another soon afterward where she is walking her doll buggy in Central Park, so I’m figuring she’s maybe six years old; but subsequent scenes make her seem much older, and finally we’re told that she’s eleven years old. It doesn’t take years of study to know that an eleven year old girl doesn’t wail about her stuffed animals or take her dolls for a walk in the park. Get real.

Happily, as the story unfolds from there, Inga settles into being a real eleven year old, and my irritability ebbs so that I can enjoy the rest of the book. This is a delightful read. Because of its dark characteristics, which I will not provide because they’d be spoilers, this is not a book to read to your little ones, but if you have a young Goth in your home who is able to read alternate spellings and dialects, then this book would likely be that kid’s happy place. The overall message is a worthy one, although Roorbach is probably not going to change hearts and minds about the environment, since those in favor of unchecked development in the face of environmental devastation and disaster aren’t going to buy this book. All told though, it’s a fine read for those that are ready for something a bit different and that can handle dark humor.

I really wanted to like this book. It fell a little short for me. I got a little fatigued from the words being spelled how a kid would say things. For example Love is "Wub".. It was a cute story, but just couldn't hold my attention for long periods of time.

Beep is the first book featuring an animal that talks that I have actually liked. Bill Roorbach writes a message that I can totally get behind as a tree hugger.

At first I was imagining reading this book to a kid while I was reading it. Then there are some parts that are very adult in nature and I thought, “Ummmm…(chuckle).” I learned about monkey behavior and that I never want to shake hands with a monkey unless I have hand sanitizer with me. Never stand under a monkey because you never know what may fall on your head. If you want to sweet talk a monkey, bring a cut pineapple with you.

Beep is an adventure tale. While exploring the world from Costa Rica to Brooklyn, New York, we get to experience the world from Beep’s point of view. From his life in the rainforest to the gradual and sometimes abrupt changes in locale and atmosphere. There are many lessons within the story. Some I knew and others I learned.

This tale is a lesson in climate change. I just had a thought: this book would actually be really good for a high school English or Science course. Or even if the teachers worked together to make a project. Beep is educational, funny, and an easy read. I had a good time traveling the world with Beep and friends.

Who doesn't want to read a book narrated by a curious spider monkey? Beep is a monkey on a mission. He is determined to leave his home to find a mate in order to hopefully help save his species. On his journey, he meets a young girl, and the journey that these two embark on is an emotional, heartfelt tale that readers will fall in love with.

Beep by Bill Rorbach is a book about a girl named Inga who takes home a squirrel monkey and the squirrel monkey narrates the story. I thought I would so absolutely love this book because it’s a talking animal… Right, I’m worthy human… Right? I love the line in the book that humans or just animals who forgot because to me that says so much and once again I am faced with a book that for the most part I really loved but the ending I think was a bit much. I feel bad for beep who just wanted to cross the great path but instead got taken with inga and her family back home. I thought the story would be that Beep would have a big adventure and eventually go home. Some of these things happened but there was so much more to the story not only is the story funny I love the way beep tried to communicate but it kept coming out is monkey. There’s a lot of LOL moments in the book with great writing and a pretty good story but in my opinion a not so great ending. I still gave it four stars because I was happy for him in the end. Please forgive any mistakes as I am blind and dictate my review.#NetGalley, #AlgonquinBooks,#Beep, #Bill Rohrbatch,

So many sharks, and this novel jumped them all.

[I received an ARC of this title in exchange for an honest review.]

This book is narrated by a lovable and curious spider monkey named Beep. With populations dwindling amongst his own tribe, Beep sets out on a quest to go beyond the mountains of his home in the Costa Rican rainforest and find a mate to bring back. Little does he know just how far his journey will take him when he stumbles upon Inga, a young girl who is vacationing with her family. The two develop a heartfelt connection that has Inga smuggling Beep home to New York. Inga is able to communicate with Beep on an emotional level as she is dubbed by Beep and the other animals they encounter, as a "sensitive" or someone who is in tune with nature and the environment. Once in New York the pair continue on various adventures including attending a speaking engagement by Greta Thunberg, visiting the Central Park Zoo, and their final destination, the Bronx Zoo, where Beep is destined to meet his soul mate. However, things take an unexpected turn as the zoo animals rally to free themselves.

I really enjoyed the first half of this book. It is a little difficult at first to understand "monkey English" but once I got in a rhythm, I really loved seeing Beep's interactions with the human world and his growing bond with Inga. Once we got to the events at the Bronx Zoo however, I got pretty lost and was not understanding the sequence of events or the logic behind them. I believe the end goal was to give an introspective look at where we are headed if we do not take climate change seriously, but I felt that this goal could have been achieved through furthering the relationship between Beep and Inga and having Inga's awareness and activism grow, without introducing the new plot of the animal "uprising" (for lack of a better word).

All that being said, I am not typically a lit fic reader, so this book may take on a vaster meaning and be better understood by someone who is accustomed to conceptualizing more speculative language than I am. In the hands of the right reader, this could be enjoyed to its fullest potential.

I found this book fascinating. Told from the perspective of a monkey, it sheds light on the destruction that humans are causing to the environment, wrapped in a monkey quest and ending in a gently apocalyptic love story. It was hard to put down.

Oh Bill Roorbach! A few years ago I stumbled across <I>The Cure for Love</I> and then my writing group dove into <I> Writing Life Stories </I>, but in characteristic fashion, I managed to forget how solid, generous, and supple a writer he is.

Enter <I>Beep</I>, a charming if difficult to characterize novel with a squirrel-monkey as a main character. Yes. Beep, a monkey with an imperfect grasp of English, but a thoroughly modern set of problems: he leaves his troupe in search of lost family, only to find himself scooped up by a well-heeled 11-year-old on vacation in Costa Rica and transported, willy-nilly amidst the girl's stuffed animals, to a Manhattan apartment.

I started to write, "that's when things get nutty," but that characterization is unfair. For a clever, self-aware squirrel monkey and the sensitive tween whom he grows to love, the story is never <i>not</> a bit nutty. Beep is on a quest, and we are just here to witness: Greta Thunberg plays a role, as does the liberation of most of the Bronx Zoo, a cross-dressing bus driver, and a pair of Buddhist monks.

I hesitate to quote from my pre-publication copy, but the writing! the writing! The beginning “I am Beep, monkey. I live in the world of monkeys near saltwater on the sunset side of the vast beyond.” Beep bonding with his human, Inga, “The old uncles say there are many kinds of wub and a new one befell me in that moment, suffused me: buddies.” (Me too, Beep, me too!), and this about the age-old communication that humans have mostly forgotten: “There arose a vibration, a thought moving through not only the trees but all things green, and all things. The forest always knows you’re coming, and that’s how the rocks know, and so the lichens, the mosses.”

If you loved <i>Watership Down, </i>or <i>Remarkably Bright Creatures,</i> or <i>Timothy, or, Notes of an Abject Reptile</i> you’ll love this tender and beautifully written novel. If you have any feeling for the ecological doom sweeping over our shared world, this story will be serve as both a gentle warning and a heartening call to action. If you are neither, I prescribe this book as cure.

Thanks to NetGalley and Algonquin Books for the eARC in exchange for my unfettered opinion.

While I was excited to read this based on the description, I DNFed around 20%. Told from the perspective of the monkey Beep, who is trying to cross Costa Rica and meets a girl who he becomes friends with (this is as far as I got). The writing, from the perspective of the monkey frequently used language such as (and here I paraphrase) The you-mens in their meddle goer (the humans in their metal car) and she tossed a pebber on the paddy-o (she tossed a pepper on the patio). It is intended to give you a feel for how the monkey is processing the world, but I did find it irritating enough to not continue. I hoped that this language would peter out as the book progressed, but around 20% where they were in an airport, it actually ramped up as the monkey described the travel process. I was really interested in the story, but the voice of the monkey narrator was not to my liking.