Tarzan of the Apes: A Tarzan Novel

By Edgar Rice Burroughs, James Taliaferro and Gore Vidal

When Tarzan is orphaned as a baby deep in the African jungle, the apes adopt him and raise him as their own. By the time the boy is ten, he can swing through the trees and talk to the animals.  By the time he is eighteen, he has the strength of a lion and rules the apes as their king. But Tarzan knows he's different. Will he ever discover his true identity?  

• Language: English
• Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
• Release date: Dec 18, 2007
• ISBN: 9780307431905

Edgar Rice Burroughs

Edgar Rice Burroughs (1875-1950) had various jobs before getting his first fiction published at the age of 37. He established himself with wildly imaginative, swashbuckling romances about Tarzan of the Apes, John Carter of Mars and other heroes, all at large in exotic environments of perpetual adventure. Tarzan was particularly successful, appearing in silent film as early as 1918 and making the author famous. Burroughs wrote science fiction, westerns and historical adventure, all charged with his propulsive prose and often startling inventiveness. Although he claimed he sought only to provide entertainment, his work has been credited as inspirational by many authors and scientists.

Reviews for Tarzan of the Apes

[nx74defiant · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Was surprised how little I remembered this bookI agree with Gore Vidal in the introduction Burroughs writes great action.

[kale.dyer · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A very enjoyable adventure story though the colonial and class attitudes overwhelm the story at times.

[ecataldi-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A surprisingly quick read! I found myself enjoying it more than I thought I would, and I feel that this would have been even more sensationally astounding at the beginning of the twentieth century. Tarzan is born on the coast of Africa to two loving English parents who have been dropped off ship by a mutinous crew. His parents die during his infancy and he is raised by Kala, a loving ape who just lost her own child. He is reared in ape fashion and lives as they do become "king of the jungle," when he stumbles upon his parents cabin he begins to teach himself to write in English from the books they left behind. When a ship arrives with a beautiful young girl he is enamoured and tries to woo her with actions and words since he cannot speak. Compelling, and exciting, this adventure story has something for everyone, even though the ending is a little lacking (this is the first in the series).

[bodagirl · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This was surprisingly entertaining, despite the less than politically correct portions. I might even read the next in the series because the cliff hanger was too good. Also, as a Disney-raised child, the difference between the current pop culture image of Tarzan and the original text shouldn't have been surprising, but I wasn't quite prepared for how Disney-ified our perception truly is.BookRiot Read Harder Challenge Task 18: Read a book that was adapted into a movie, then watch the movie. Debate which is better. (Basically I wanted an excuse to see Alexander Skarsgård as Tarzan).

[tjsjohanna_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The best part of the Tarzan books is Tarzan. Who wouldn't love a man who could do anything? He's like a super hero. Disappointingly, Tarzan doesn't get the girl in this first novel. But I have hopes for the next!

[sweetzombieducky · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Really enjoyed this. Full of action and romance. Particularly enjoyable was Tarzan's childhood.

[douggoodman · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

What I love about Tarzan of the Apes is how so very different the book is from all the adaptations that came after it. Because of that, this book is full of wonderful unexpected surprises in plot and character.

[dbsovereign · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A self-made noble beast, Tarzan's plight is every man's. Burroughs created a living myth and one that hints at how we might all be better off swinging from those vines.

[npjacobsen · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I first read this book some 40 odd years ago, and it became one of my favorites. Reading it again changed little, except maybe a deeper love of the story.John and Alice Clayton, Lord and Lady Greystoke, are put ashore on the west coast of Africa after the crew of their vessel mutinees and kills the officers. Shortly thereafter, Alice gives birth to a bouncing baby boy. Over the course of a year, John builds a very sturdy cabin for their habitation and safety, but Alice could not cope and finally succumbed. So distraught was John that he neglected to latch the door to the cabin, allowing Kerchack, king of the great apes, easy access and spelled the end for John.Luckily for the baby, Kala had dropped her newborn, killing it. She rapidly traded her dead baby for the crying young Lord Greystoke and raised the human as her own and named him Tarzan. So begins the life and times of Tarzan of the apes, who used his superior intellect to become king of his tribe and the most feared Hunter in all of Africa.

[scribblingsprite · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Most people hate cliffhangers. I absolutely love them. I love the anticipation(and even slight frustration) they can make you feel.

But that was a devious, DEVIOUS ending. I guess I'm off to download book two...

Full review to come.

[pmcnamee67 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Very strong first half - like a Jack London survival tale, but the second act gives way to social farce & plodding romance with a very rushed, sloppy ending.

[baswood · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

" Jane her lithe, young form flattened against the trunk of a great tree, her hands tight pressed against her rising and falling bosom, and her eyes wide with mingles horror, fascination, fear, and admiration - watched the primordial ape battle with the primeval man for possession of a woman - for her. As the great muscles of the man's back and shoulders knotted beneath the tension of his efforts, and the huge biceps and forearm held at bay those mighty tusks, the veil of centuries of civilization and culture was swept from the blurred vision of the Baltimore girl."Edgar Rice Burroughs knew how to tell a good story; his prose carries the reader along effortlessly page after page. Pulp fiction it may be, but it is so well written and at times so convincing that he makes his fantastical stories seam real. I used to gobble these books up as a teenager, and re-reading Tarzan today I was soon under it's spell and could hardly put the book down. Burroughs was in love with his male characters especially his hero Tarzan and if his descriptions of that perfect body are going to put you off then perhaps it's not for you:She watched him from beneath half-closed lids, Tarzan crossed the little circular clearing toward the trees upon the further side. She noted the graceful majesty of his carriage, the perfect symmetry of his magnificent figure and the poise of his well-shaped head upon his broad shoulders. What a perfect creature! There could be naught of cruelty or baseness beneath that godlike exterior. Never, she thought had such a man strode the earth since God created the first man in his own image." Burroughs Tarzan is a savage creature, but he is also a noble savage and this is the hook that makes him so attractive. Episodes of the Tarzan story first appeared in 1912 and it was published in book form in 1914 and while the story is very much of it's time as regards attitudes to women and black people, I did not find it overtly racist or sexist; a black maid is singled out as a figure of fun, but then so are two English academics. The black natives are savage and cruel, but Burroughs points out that this is the result of even crueller barbarities practiced on them by white officers of Leopold II's of Belgium regime. Tarzan is still a rip roaring adventure yarn with a super hero who one could almost believe in and one you might want to believe in. If ever I am in a reading slump I shall just pick up one of these stories, hell I might pick one up if I am not in a slump especially as the Tarzan and Jane story in this first of the series ends in a cliff hanger. Great fun and a four star read.

[chrisconway_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

OK, so it's racist, and terribly old fashioned... but it's also terribly interesting, with its celebration of physicality and fascinating account of how Tarzan learns about language. I read it as a kid and loved it. Now much of the interest is intellectual and historical. Tarzan is such an iconic character... it's great to return to the source to see what was there before all the movies and t.v. shows.

[schmerguls · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This is a boys' book and reminded me of the Rover Boys books I read as a child. It is said to be Burroughs' best book out ot the some 70 he wrote. It is mighty fantastic, but it is neat to see Tarzan triumphing over all the bad guys, without too much effort. It has also been named as the fifth best book of the 1910s, which is hard to believe. It is easy to read, but pretty fantastic.

[jasonpettus · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

(Reprinted from the Chicago Center for Literature and Photography [cclapcenter.com]. I am the original author of this essay, as well as the owner of CCLaP; it is not being reprinted here illegally.)The CCLaP 100: In which I read for the first time a hundred so-called "classic" books, then write essays on whether or not they still deserve the labelBook #25: Tarzan of the Apes, by Edgar Rice Burroughs (1914)The story in a nutshell:Set in the last great days of the British Empire (i.e. the first decades of the 20th Century), Tarzan of the Apes is the story of one John Clayton, Viscount of Greystoke, actually born in the jungle on the western coast of Africa after his parents were marooned there by a mutinous ship crew, while they were passengers and bystanders on a long sea voyage. Ah, but it turns out that his parents both die while he's still a newborn, prompting a hasty "adoption" by a local ape named Kala and a childhood raised not as a human, but rather as the palest, weakest, least hairy ape of the entire region. The first half of this book, then, is an examination of tribal life itself, as "Tarzan" (his ape name) navigates the tricky politics and graphic violence of the animal society he finds himself in, even while slowly coming to realize during his puberty just how different he actually is. (See, he ends up stumbling across his parents' old jungle homestead while a teen, a surprisingly domestic setup because of the mutineers letting the Claytons unload all their worldly possessions before being abandoned; and thus does Tarzan end up just naturally learning how to read and write on his own, how to use a weapon and more, eventually using these things to bloodily conquer all his foes and become the famed "King of the Apes" we know today.)The plot's pace picks up again in the second half, though, after yet another wreck by a ship full of lily-white Europeans; and who should this party include but none other than the evil William Clayton, Tarzan's cousin, who's been using the usurped Greystoke fortune to bully into marriage our adventurous heroine Jane Porter, a Victorian with a wild streak who ends up enjoying their impromptu African adventure much more than the nerdy French scientists also along for the ride. Needless to say, Tarzan ends up saving their lives numerous times; has a chick-lit-esque wordless romantic night of vine-swinging with the clearly "Jungle Fever" infected Jane; and of course somehow manages to be the catalyst behind not only William's fall from grace but a surprise financial windfall for the Porter family, thus erasing the debt that was forcing Jane into a marriage of convenience with William to begin with. And thus does our "origin tale" end in the rural farmlands of Wisconsin (the rural farmlands of Wisconsin?), with the baddies punished and the goodies rewarded and with a now-civilized Tarzan ready for the two dozen official sequels that would soon follow.The argument for it being a classic:Even this book's fans admit that it's not the quality of the prose itself that makes this a classic, but rather its place in artistic history; for as most people know by now, Tarzan turned out to be an insanely loved character by the public at large, prompting one of the first-ever "character franchises" in the history of the entertainment industry. (In fact, Burroughs himself started one of the first artist-owned production companies in history as well, the still-existing "Edgar Rice Burroughs Inc.," which has overseen each and every one of the thousands of Tarzan books, movies, TV episodes, comics and more that has ever been made.) And besides, its fans say, even the writing itself isn't as bad as some make it out to be; sure, some of the later sequels get awfully cheesy and formulaic, but this first novel is surprisingly sophisticated for its time, deliberately avoiding many of the lazy racial stereotypes that defined this age and even offering up a refreshingly independent female lead too. Add up all of these things, its fans argue, along with the fantastic snapshot of its times that it provides (a look at an overextended British Empire first seriously questioning the ethics of colonization), and you have yourself a book that still easily deserves to be revisited by a whole new generation of readers.The argument against:Oh, and did I mention the CRAPPY, CRAPPY WRITING on display in Tarzan? Because that's certainly the first thing this book's critics will bring up, many of whom openly laugh at the entire concept of this being considered a "literary classic." That's like giving a Best Picture Oscar to a Will Smith movie, they argue, merely for it being the biggest moneymaker that year; just because Tarzan himself has become entwined into our entire popular culture, they say, doesn't make any of the actual projects better in quality than they were when they first came out, i.e. not very good at all. In fact, it could be argued that today's title perfectly illustrates the challenges inherent in defining what exactly the word "classic" even means, the issue that inspired this "CCLaP 100" essay series to begin with; that although this title is certainly historically important, it might be better at this point to actually study the "Tarzan Phenomenon" and its impact on culture than to read the literal books themselves. It's something that can be said these days of more and more popular old genre novels from the Victorian and Edwardian ages, and Tarzan they'd say is no exception.My verdict:So first, let's quickly admit that this book's critics are right about its quality, and that Burroughs' own attitude about his ouevre while alive profoundly supports this: turns out that the Chicago-born author never cared much about being a "good" writer at all, and only stumbled into the profession in the first place after a failed career in the US Cavalry (weak heart) and a decade of demeaning odd jobs in the Manifest-Destiny-era western territories. It was while mired in such circumstances that he was first introduced through a friend to the adventure serials of the pulp industry, at which point the non-writing Burroughs famously declared that if this was the kind of crap that sold pulps, he could do such stuff in his sleep and never have to be a day-laborer again; and that's exactly what he did, forging a 75-book "literary career" that for him was much more about simply paying the bills than about any artistic considerations. So is its overwhelming commercial success enough, then, to declare the book a "classic?" Certainly, for example, it almost single-handedly set the tone for the way Hollywood still works even to this day, not just from a "franchise-building" aspect but even in the way this genre-actioner's plotline is set up: there is the main "A" story of the title (Tarzan's struggles both in the wild and among "civilized society"); then a "B" romantic story featuring two good-looking airheads (in this case, Jane and the suave French sailor Paul D'Arnot -- note that the infamous "Me Tarzan, you Jane" love affair isn't explored in the original books until much later in the series); and then a humorous "C" story featuring a pair of bumbling nerds, existing for almost no other reason than to provide comic relief. This has been the basic framework of nearly every Hollywood action movie since, so much so that most of us take these tropes for granted by now; and we have the original Tarzan to thank for this, because of it just happening to be a runaway bestseller at the same exact moment in history that the nascent Hollywood was first starting to write the formulas and rules of its industry, the story conventions that thousands of lazy hacks have leaned on ever since.So what I'm arguing today, then (and it's rare that I argue this, so enjoy it), is that maybe this is enough to label Tarzan of the Apes a classic, and to encourage people to keep reading it to this day; not for the quality of the writing itself, but rather the overwhelmingly important role it played in the history of both the film industry and popular culture in general. The "summer blockbuster" wouldn't be nearly the thing it currently is if not for Tarzan; and given how important in our modern times the summer blockbuster is to the overall history of the American arts, this alone I feel makes the original slim novel still worth reading. And besides, what its fans say about the book's quality is true too, that ultimately it's not much worse than most of the other serialized genre-actioners that were churned out at the end of the Victorian Era (yes, Jules Verne, I'm looking at you), and in some ways is actually much better than typical; just to cite one excellent example, as mentioned Burroughs goes out of his way to avoid metaphorical comparisons between black people and the ape society on display here (a major point of many of the other eugenics-obsessed genre-actioners of the period), instead deliberately showing through the characters' actions that the shipwrecked white people and local black villagers possess exactly the same amount of intelligence, in both cases way above what even the smartest ape is capable of.Certainly no one is going to mistake this book for the Early Modernist masterpieces that were coming out at the same time; but maybe a book doesn't always have to be such a thing to be considered a classic, or to argue that people should still continue to read it to this day. Maybe sometimes it's simple competence combined with extraordinary historical significance that justifies such a label; like I said, it's not an argument I make often, but in the case of Tarzan of the Apes is one where I will. Although caution is advised, it's ultimately a title I recommend everyone checking out.Is it a classic? Yes

[reneh-2 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The first and best book about Tarzan. The credibility of this kind of stories is questionable, but it reads well, and you do not see the flaws immediately. Simply a good and entertaining read.

[piyushc_34 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Tarzan has never been my favourite character, be it the comics or the cartoons - now Mowgli was an entirely different story! And the irony strikes. In the last year or so, I have read both the Jungle Books, which were barely readable, the characters nowhere as snappy as I remembered them from my childhood cartoons.And so, it was with great skepticism that I started with Tarzan of the Apes, and was I surprised! The writing was very simple, the story captivating and the characters endearing, even if stereotypical - be it the pretty, pretty Jane, the absent minded Professor or the mighty Tarzan. The never ending victories of Tarzan were not dull, nor were the highly noticeable and distinct villains bothersome. The repetitive fainting of poor Esmeralda did get on my nerves a few time, but well, she had a character to play as well, did I mention stereotypical?The ending of the book didn't lack in flourish either and I am left wondering, whether to dare the sequel and risk getting my impression shattered or go the way of Dune and Ender's Game and leave the series on a high with fond memories and none of the regrets.4/5

[aliceanna-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Really just a very entertaining book. He really wrote it as a cliffhanger so you'd have to read "The Return" quickly. A lot of humor, a good story, reasonably good characters (Jane is a bit insipid) ... just suspend disbelief and go with it!

[wisewoman_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Tarzan of the Apes, first published in serial form in 1912, brought its author instant fame. Edgar Rice Burroughs went on to write twenty-four sequels featuring the adventures of his iconic Ape-Man, and today the character is part of our cultural background as the subject of many adaptations in film and comic strips. Interestingly, the famous line "I Tarzan. You Jane" doesn't even appear in the book. And yet it's become one of the most recognizable features of the character. The plot is well known; after his parents die in the jungle of Africa, young Tarzan is raised by a clan of apes, far from the rest of humanity. Though he eventually realizes he is not an ape, Tarzan lives by the jungle code and slowly vanquishes all the dangers of the jungle through his superior human reasoning and intelligence. When a treasure-hunting expedition lands on his secluded shore, Tarzan is drawn to the people of his own race, especially the young woman Jane Porter. But how can a king of the apes ever hope to win the love of a cultured English girl?I admit, I was very drawn into the story and I can see why it has been perennially popular. Burroughs' attempts to make animal life realistic yet intelligible to his readers are generally successful, and we want to see how Tarzan will meet the challenges of his life. At the same time, we are intensely interested in how Tarzan will cope with other humans. A couple criticisms, though: Burroughs is extremely ethnocentric, constantly pointing out Tarzan's mental, moral, intellectual, and physical superiority derived from his having descended from a line of English nobility. The natives don't fare well in this tale, as one might expect given that Burroughs writes from an evolutionary perspective. It's a product of its time, sure, but racism is still wrong. I was able to enjoy the story despite these elements, but they certainly caused me to roll my eyes more than once. I was also disappointed with the story itself. Everything was going well until Tarzan comes to Europe, learns polished manners, comes into money, etc. (all of which is very artificially constructed). Jane Porter's threatened marriage with the moneylender Robert Canler seems tacked on, and it's a little too convenient that she would be caught in a forest fire from which only Tarzan the Muscular can save her. And then her decision at the end! And Tarzan's pathetic acquiescence to it! I shut the book and felt profoundly cheated, even while trying to understand why Burroughs would do this. And yet at the same time I wanted to find the next sequel, Return of Tarzan, and find out what happens next. No wonder Burroughs was able to sell twenty-four more of Tarzan's adventures. There really is something addicting about this character. I enjoyed this story—it certainly kept me reading at a fast pace—and if I ever see any of Burroughs' Tarzan sequels, you can be sure I'll snap them up. But I'm not sure I'll ever revisit this book. It has a great character and initial setting that are sadly compromised by later plot contortions and Tarzan's annoyingly, unnecessarily "heroic" choice at the end.Edit: Never mind. I just read the plot summary of Return of Tarzan on Wikipedia and I think I have had enough of his pulp fiction adventures to last a lifetime. Oy vey.

[jimmaclachlan · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Definitely a dated classic, but wonderful for all that. I re-read it for The Pulp magazine group I'm in & am glad I did. You really want to read the next book, "The Return of Tarzan" immediately after since we're left with a cliff hanger.Burroughs hasn't aged as well as some authors, mostly because of his handling of PC subjects such as racism & sexism. It is too easy to see the outward signs of both in his books, but careful reading shows that while he may have catered to the views of the day, he didn't seem to really believe in the racism, in this book.For instance, the majority of blacks in this book are degenerate brutes. They're a tribe of barbaric cannibals who killed the 'mother' of our hero, though. They have the misfortune to have a society that Burroughs denigrates at every opportunity. Esmeralda, Jane's servant/confidant/nanny, is also an object of humor, but then so is her father & his secretary/companion. All are caricatures, as is Tarzan himself. When it comes right down to it, Burroughs makes a point that fingerprints from an ape might be simpler, but there was no difference between those of a black & a white. This admission of equality of physical evolution wasn't common in his day. He treats the white pirates the same way as the black tribesman - they're bad guys & so contemptible. The story hinges on coincidence & stupid, heroic restraint consistently & that doesn't do it any favors nor did the cliff hanger ending. Still, it was a fun read & I'd highly recommend it to anyone. Tarzan has been so warped by movies, TV & add-ons that it's nice to see the original.

[davidburrows · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Given all the tarzan films that span out of the books - it makes sense to read the original. Very entertaining

[nodosaurus · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is a great story, but everyone knows how it goes. There are a few details not portrayed in the movies, more info on Tarzan's parents and how he came to be adopted by the apes, and his early life among the apes.

[gregorio_roth · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

A good read from an antiquated age.

[santhony_35 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

For Christmas, I ordered an mp3 player (Library of Classics) that was pre-loaded with 100 works of classic literature in an audio format. Each work is in the public domain and is read by amateurs, so the quality of the presentation is hit or miss. Tarzan of the Apes is a cultural classic. I grew up during a time when Saturday morning was filled with Tarzan cartoons and movies. “Me Tarzan, you Jane” is almost a cultural tagline. However, this is the first time I was exposed to the original novel, written by Edgar Rice Burroughs. The story is well known. The child of English nobility is raised from birth by a band of apes, with very little exposure to human influence. Upon reaching maturity, he is finally faced with members of his own species.I found this to be a relatively decent story, right up to the point that the party of English travelers was deposited upon Tarzan’s shores. Now, I had a problem with Tarzan teaching himself how to read, strictly by virtue of his discovery of a set of books left behind by his dead parents. That is pretty absurd on its face, however, when the English travelers actually included Tarzan’s first cousin, the very person that succeeded to the lordship upon the death of his father, the author lost me. Coincidence? Africa is a mighty large continent for two such closely related people to accidentally run into each other.There follows several highly implausible occurrences, such as Tarzan’s mastery of the French and English languages and operation of near seamless transition into upper class society. In any event, a tolerably entertaining story deteriorated rapidly at about the midway point, in my opinion.

[kristelh_15 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Well, this is a simple childhood story, I don't really need to review it as we all are probably familiar with it. My generation grew up watching TV movies about the ape man. I liked them a lot back then. My granddaughters have sat in front of the TV watching Disney DVDs. Tarzan is the orphan child of Lord and Lady Graystoke who were put ashore after a mutiny on a ship they were sailing. Lady Greystoke dies when Tarzan is a baby and Lord Greystoke is killed by an ape leaving the infant boy in the crib. The female ape who's baby is dead exchanges it for Tarzan and thus Tarzan is raised as an ape. He teaches himself to read English. The story is one of survival, adventure, combat with nature and romance. It is surprising that the book has lasted because it also can be described as racist and sexist. On another level, the book idealizes man's relationship with nature verses civilization. You have the contrast of Tarzan and Clayton. Tarzan who ate by the laws of nature and Clayton who ate with the manners of society.

[cebellol · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

The trials and tribulations of Tarzan and his friends are, without doubt, interesting. It's actually surprising the story is as short as it is. I'm debating on reading the others, but then again most books in a series pale in comparison to the first book, so I'm still at a bit of a loss there. The cast of characters is quite wonderful, and diverse, in a way. I love how the author made Tarzan play on the superstitions of the native tribes. I feel as though it added a sort of authenticity to him somehow, though I truly can't explain why I feel this way.

This was a lovely change from your traditional classic novel; it was short, sweet, & to the point. It was, however, mildly disappointing. I suppose that's because I have this lovely Disney image of the story in my head, but I was really hoping, after all the work he went through, that Tarzan would get the girl.

[jvioland_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A classic. Burroughs knows how to write action. I had thought it would be trite and unbelievable. I was very wrong. I thoroughly enjoyed the book and lost the sense that I was reading. I strongly recommend Tarzan of the Apes even though it appears archaic.

[benedict8-2 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I was surprised at how interesting and well written this book still is.

[ursula_2 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Here's a case of a book being pretty much overwhelmed by its own success in popular culture. From Johnny Weissmuller to "Me Tarzan, you Jane" to being Disney-fied, everyone knows the story of Tarzan. Or at least, some version of it. The thing about reading the book is that you might find out the version you know didn't come from the book. I'll admit I'm not too familiar with the various adaptations of the story, but I didn't quite expect what I got.Lord Greystoke and his young, pregnant wife are marooned on the coast of Africa after a mutiny on board the ship on which they were traveling. They make a reasonably comfortable life for themselves on the isolated beach, just outside the beginning of a deep jungle. The baby is born, and when by the time he's just over a year old, both his parents are dead and he's been stolen by an ape who is grieving for her own lost baby. The rest of the book has to do with Tarzan's place as an outsider with the tribe of apes, and his experiences with native tribes and eventually, the first white people he sees. Burroughs' writing is serviceable, and the plot will keep you going even in the midst of completely unbelievable coincidences and other developments - that stretch of beach is apparently the happening place for maroonings, for example, and Tarzan is a super-genius who can teach himself to read without ever having been introduced to the concept of a written language. The racism, sexism, classism and support for imperialism that reflect his time are a little hard to swallow for the modern reader. Jane, as a woman, "was created to be protected." Tarzan isn't disturbed by the natives' cannibalism until their potential victim is a white man. Tarzan instinctively reacts to Jane's courtesies in kind as "the hall-mark of his aristocratic birth, the natural outcropping of many generations of fine breeding." Jane's black servant is a malaprop-spouting, eye-rolling, fainting-at-the-drop-of-a-hat stereotype. Even with those caveats, it's worth reading just to know where the story really began.Recommended for: fans of swashbucklers and adventure, anyone who can hear the Tarzan yell in their head (which must be everyone), people who don't mind occasionally shaking a fist at the attitudes in the book.Quote: "Jane Porter -- her lithe, young form flattened against the trunk of a great tree, her hands tight pressed against her rising and falling bosom, and her eyes wide with mingled horror, fascination, fear and admiration -- watched the primordial ape battle with the primeval man for possession of a woman -- for her."

[venqat65 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

So wonderful to finally read the book which spawned all of the cartoons and children's versions of the story. This version is much more mature in wording and in subject matter and the story is one which well deserves it's classification of a literary classic.The story begins with the tale of Tarzan's parents, who board a ship but never arrive at their intended destination. After their demise, only Tarzan lives and he is taken in by a female ape who has just suffered through the death of her own baby. Tarzan's story is a remarkable one, as he not only adapts to the life of the apes but also manages to find his own ties back to humanity, all on his own.I was thrilled that the "Me Tarzan, You Jane" bit was not a part of this, the real story.The ending, though, was sad. I wish that it had ended in a happier way....I won't give it away though.....Yet....in the final paragraphs of the book, Tarzan shows that he is more of a civilized, mature man than any other person in the entire tale.