The Fable of Bing by Tim Sandlin

I’ve been reading a lot of new (to me) authors lately and this week’s read was no exception. The Fable of Bing by Tim Sandlin is a hilarious novel about a young man, Bing, who was raised by bonobos in the San Diego Wildlife Park. This book falls into the Absurdist Fiction category along the lines of Tom Robbins and Christopher Moore. Talking cans and spoons anyone? A new look on the life of Jesus Christ from the perspective of his crass and crude childhood pal? You get the idea.

Bing, who is seemingly invisible inside the zoo and goes undetected for many years, has amazing healing powers that, once discovered, have people heralding him as the New Messiah. Absurd. But in a totally good way. Bing gets discovered by a young woman, Rosemary, who works for a New Age radio station. The head of the station, Turk, is an ego-maniacal fame-seeker who sees Bing as his ticket to glory, as according to him to only worthwhile endeavor in our current society is the pursuit of fame and fortune.

Turk sets Bing up for a massive public healing miracle involving Rosemary’s ill sister. When things don’t go as planned, everyone, including Rosemary, turns on him and he is cast out of favor (and into Tijuana!). Sandlin gets a lot of mileage out of Bing’s ignorance to the ways of our world, and what his reaction to our culture and norms are. There are many things that he cannot ‘fathom’, and by the end of the book you can’t blame him. Overall we are a pretty nasty society, and ultimately Bing chooses his ape family over (most) other humans.

The book is full of satire and comedy, and will leave you contemplating if whether we weren't better off before we descended from the trees and started walking upright.