Call number
FICTION Prose
Publication
Harper Collins, 2016.
Description
"The acclaimed New York Times bestselling author weaves an ingenious, darkly humorous, and brilliantly observant story that follows the exploits and intrigue of a constellation of characters affiliated with an off-off-off-off Broadway children's musical. Mister Monkey--a screwball children's musical about a playfully larcenous pet chimpanzee--is the kind of family favorite that survives far past its prime. Margot, who plays the chimp's lawyer, knows the production is dreadful and bemoans the failure of her acting career. She's settled into the drudgery of playing a humiliating part--until the day she receives a mysterious letter from an anonymous admirer. and later, in the middle of a performance, has a shocking encounter with Adam, the twelve-year-old who plays the title role. Francine Prose's effervescent comedy is told from the viewpoints of wildly unreliable, seemingly disparate characters whose lives become deeply connected as the madcap narrative unfolds. There is Adam, whose looming adolescence informs his interpretation of his role; Edward, a young audience member who is candidly unimpressed with the play; Ray, the author of the novel on which the musical is based, who witnesses one of the most awkward first dates in literature; and even the eponymous Mister Monkey, the Monkey God himself. With her trademark wit and verve, Prose delves into humanity's most profound mysteries: art, ambition, childhood, aging, and love. Startling and captivating, Mister Monkey is a breathtaking novel from a writer at the height of her craft"-- "From New York Times bestselling author and house treasure Francine Prose comes this ingenious, darkly humorous novel that follows the exploits and intrigue of a constellation of characters affiliated with an off-off-off-off Broadway children's theater production"--… (more)
User reviews
LibraryThing member hardlyhardy
Francine Prose's “Mister Monkey” reads like a game of tag, one character carrying one chapter, then tapping another character on the shoulder to take over the story until tagging the next. One might be tempted to call this a collection of related short stories except that there really is one
I know this sounds like a major league bore, yet somehow Prose pulls it off. Each of the 11 chapters proves absorbing, as does the novel as a whole.
A popular, if overrated, children's book called “Mister Monkey” has been adapted for a stage musical, now being presented off -Broadway. Tickets sell well, mostly on the reputation of the book, but a little boy in the audience in the opening chapter seems to speak for everyone, cast included, when he says loud enough for everyone in the theater to hear: "Grandpa, are you interested in this?"
Rather than turn this into comedy, which would have been too easy, Prose turns it into serious literature, making numerous references throughout her novel to the likes of Anton Chekhov, J.D. Salinger and Leo Tolstoy. The passages she mentions speak of failure, sacrifice, devotion and grace, themes that echo through her own story. The author of the children's book had meant it to atone for his experiences as a soldier in Vietnam, yet somehow through changes made by his publisher and then the theater adaptation, all that has been lost. Actors see their careers going nowhere. A grandfather's love for his grandson now seems the only thing giving his life purpose. A waiter who gets free tickets as tips actually loves seeing the play. The director secretly loves an actress, as does the boy playing the monkey and that waiter. A nurse who moonlights on stage plays the villain in the play but off-stage plays the hero.
Most of us can remember how much fun we once had playing tag. Francine Prose shows us how much fun tag can be even while sitting in our easy chair with a book in our hands.
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story here, even though, as with most novels, there are a number of subplots. In this case, the subplots are sequential. Add them up and you get the plot.I know this sounds like a major league bore, yet somehow Prose pulls it off. Each of the 11 chapters proves absorbing, as does the novel as a whole.
A popular, if overrated, children's book called “Mister Monkey” has been adapted for a stage musical, now being presented off -Broadway. Tickets sell well, mostly on the reputation of the book, but a little boy in the audience in the opening chapter seems to speak for everyone, cast included, when he says loud enough for everyone in the theater to hear: "Grandpa, are you interested in this?"
Rather than turn this into comedy, which would have been too easy, Prose turns it into serious literature, making numerous references throughout her novel to the likes of Anton Chekhov, J.D. Salinger and Leo Tolstoy. The passages she mentions speak of failure, sacrifice, devotion and grace, themes that echo through her own story. The author of the children's book had meant it to atone for his experiences as a soldier in Vietnam, yet somehow through changes made by his publisher and then the theater adaptation, all that has been lost. Actors see their careers going nowhere. A grandfather's love for his grandson now seems the only thing giving his life purpose. A waiter who gets free tickets as tips actually loves seeing the play. The director secretly loves an actress, as does the boy playing the monkey and that waiter. A nurse who moonlights on stage plays the villain in the play but off-stage plays the hero.
Most of us can remember how much fun we once had playing tag. Francine Prose shows us how much fun tag can be even while sitting in our easy chair with a book in our hands.
Show Less
LibraryThing member Carlie
This novel is almost a set of short stories. The main character, the element that brings all of the characters together, is not a human – it is a children’s theater musical named Mister Monkey. Not just any production of Mister Monkey, though. This particular production which is kind of sad and
There is an aging actress, an adolescent, hormone-addled actor, an obsolete feeling old man and his precocious grandson, the author of the book that the play is based on who hates the play with a passion, a lonely waiter, a costume designer with kinky habits, a caring ER nurse, and a crazy director.
Most of the chapters end pretty ambiguously, but the end of the novel wraps up nicely and sweetly.
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wacky and disjointed. And the novel kind of reads like that as well.There is an aging actress, an adolescent, hormone-addled actor, an obsolete feeling old man and his precocious grandson, the author of the book that the play is based on who hates the play with a passion, a lonely waiter, a costume designer with kinky habits, a caring ER nurse, and a crazy director.
Most of the chapters end pretty ambiguously, but the end of the novel wraps up nicely and sweetly.
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LibraryThing member Laura400
Well-written, wistful, funny and kind, Mister Monkey is one of those "light but good" books that are enjoyable to read and easy to recommend.
LibraryThing member BrandieC
Had this book been written by someone else, I would have abandoned it before the halfway mark. Francine Prose's Blue Angel is one of my favorite books, however (and I'm a fan of A Changed Man, as well), so I forced myself to push on, hoping for some kind of payoff. There was none; in fact, I found
This review was based on a free ARC provided by the publisher.
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the final chapter, focused on Roger, to be the most irritating and pointless of all. On a sentence-by-sentence basis, the writing was good (hence the 2 stars), but the novel as a whole fell as flat as the performances of Mister Monkey it describes.This review was based on a free ARC provided by the publisher.
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LibraryThing member seeword
We get to go not only backstage, but all the way home with a theater troupe (and audience members) trapped in a really awful production of a really terrible musical for children. It takes a monkey to make us realize that we are all human (in not humane).
LibraryThing member Kristelh
Mister Monkey is the story of a group of actors in a off, off, off, way off broadway play of a children's play called Mister Monkey written by a Vietnam Vet. Filled with various people like Margot the the middle aged actress in a career going no where, Adam the adolescent actor/monkey who is
"Failures and disappointments make time go by so fast that you fail to notice your real life, and the past when I was so free seems to belong to someone else, not myself." from letter to Maxim Gorkey, by Chekhov. This really sums up the book which is consists of interconnected stories about how individual lives in their isolation, mediocrity, age, failure and alienation touch each other without awareness giving them a chance at a real life.
I really liked this book and glad that it made it through the first round of Tournament of Books.
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abandoned by his father and terrified by his fears of the end of the world, Edward's grandfather who misses his deceased wife and loves his grandson and is alone in his old age, Edward the child who is mature for his age and just wants to go to school and feels bad for his teacher Sonya, Ray who wrote the play, Mario the waiter who goes to the theater every chance he gets, Lakshmi the Indian orphan costume designer wanna be playwright, Eleanor the full time register nurse and part time actress, and Roger the director. All great characters but I really loved the grandfather and Eleanor the nurse. "Failures and disappointments make time go by so fast that you fail to notice your real life, and the past when I was so free seems to belong to someone else, not myself." from letter to Maxim Gorkey, by Chekhov. This really sums up the book which is consists of interconnected stories about how individual lives in their isolation, mediocrity, age, failure and alienation touch each other without awareness giving them a chance at a real life.
I really liked this book and glad that it made it through the first round of Tournament of Books.
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LibraryThing member Big_Bang_Gorilla
This book begins with two cast members and two audience members narrating a rather fraught performance of the children's musical Mister Monkey, and I thought we were headed for a rollicking mashup of Roshomon and Noises Off. However, when the second audience member handed the story off to his
The book's flaws can be enumerated simply: some of her more abstruse references could use more elucidation (e.g., what the deuce is this Fat Lady deal she keeps bringing in?), for abstruse references are great when you get them, irksome when you don't, and the book's ending would probably be much more satisfying to a theist than it was to me. But if you read a better book than this one this year, you're a fortunate individual indeed.
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grandson's kindergarten teacher, the novel swerved toward Six Degrees of Separation territory (it's probably no accident that Six Degrees author John Guare blurbs the book), and the cast of narrators expanded to include voices who wanted to discourse on, inter alia, Charles Darwin, Anton Chekhov, and the Hindu-Moslem violence attendant on India's independence. The various voices and chance interactions between these characters as they come together are fascinating, as are their funny and wise musings on the human condition, especially as seen through the prism of the art of theater. The book's flaws can be enumerated simply: some of her more abstruse references could use more elucidation (e.g., what the deuce is this Fat Lady deal she keeps bringing in?), for abstruse references are great when you get them, irksome when you don't, and the book's ending would probably be much more satisfying to a theist than it was to me. But if you read a better book than this one this year, you're a fortunate individual indeed.
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LibraryThing member Skybalon
Not as funny as U had hoped but well written and has an interesting structure. Worth the read
LibraryThing member JulieStielstra
"Madcap"? "Screwball"? "Effervescent comedy"? Umm, no. I wasn't sure I would take to this, as I have mixed feelings about Prose, but the glowing review by Cathleen Schine (whom I admire) in the NY Times made me give it a shot, and I'm glad I did. Humorous, yes, and comedic in the richest sense of
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laughing while you are saying "Oh nooooo!" in sympathy with the hapless character. Revolving through people involved, both centrally and peripherally, with a terrible, stupid, cheap musical production loathed even (or especially) by the writer of the book on which it was based, the chapters plunge us into their loves, losses, anxieties, hopes and miseries. They are by turns foolish, clever, depressed, angry, generous, wholehearted, defeated and victorious in ways large and small, and I rooted for every one of them. How do humans (and simians) deal with the monstrous theatrical production we are all caught up in? The cast of Mister Monkey gives us a shrewd look at the options. I just think Prose should have given the publishing house marketer in the book a far sharper kick in the butt, given what her real-life counterpart has done with this sharp, tough, poignant novel. Show Less
LibraryThing member write-review
Artfully Connected Lives
In Francine Prose’s newest, a very fine dive into aspirant lives going mostly unfulfilled, Mr. Monkey is at once an unfulfilled children’s book turned into a perennially performed silly play and a nexus around which the various lives revealed spin and interlace, a
Mr. Monkey is nearing the close of its run in an off-off Broadway venue. Adam, a ‘tween turning into an adolescent who has gone from kid to kid in the opening stages of sexual awaking, plays Mr. Monkey. This results in a number of behavioral changes, none of which prove good for the already threadbare play. It’s one of these changes that triggers the story, allowing Prose and readers to swing into the lives of one character after another.
The novel’s characters include the actors, audience members, acquaintances of the audience members, and later, the author of the novel. Even among the players there are quite distinctive differences. Margo is the professional actress, the Yale graduate, who never quite made it. Adam is the boy actor whose mother wants him to have a career in theater. Lakshmi is the young intern with dreams of bigger things that involve production of her own play. The widowed grandfather, who once had a successful career in the art world but who know feels lonely, even with his daughter’s family. Edward is the little boy in that family with his own set of problems revolving around school and popularity. Sonya is his teacher, new at the job and unsure of herself, in and out of school. Ray is the author of Mr. Monkey, the book that originally was supposed to express his feelings about what he saw in the Vietnam War, feelings that never saw the light of day. Mario, out on the perimeter of Mr. Monkey, the play, is a waiter who is something of an expert on the play’s performance history, starving for personal closeness. Eleanor, an ER nurse by day and actress by night and the most sympathetic character in the novel, finds fulfillment in both worlds for different reasons. And, finally, Roger, the director, the final installment in the novel, and at the end of his career, is something of a bookend to Margo.
Be assured that each of these named has a human and interesting story to tell, with some revelations for readers. Prose also uses Charles Darwin to good effect at various junctures. Chekhov hits the boards for a bow, too. Salinger gets a nod, but to much less effect. And while billed as a comedy, discard the thoughts of the madcap and focus on the human comedy, Balzac style.
In Francine Prose’s newest, a very fine dive into aspirant lives going mostly unfulfilled, Mr. Monkey is at once an unfulfilled children’s book turned into a perennially performed silly play and a nexus around which the various lives revealed spin and interlace, a
Show More
literary device that works very well in her skilled hands. It shows both how lives touch each other, often unbeknownst to people, and serves as the propulsive agent of the novel. (For a terrific novel that also illustrates the interconnectedness of lives, see Simon Van Booy’s The Illusion of Separateness.)Mr. Monkey is nearing the close of its run in an off-off Broadway venue. Adam, a ‘tween turning into an adolescent who has gone from kid to kid in the opening stages of sexual awaking, plays Mr. Monkey. This results in a number of behavioral changes, none of which prove good for the already threadbare play. It’s one of these changes that triggers the story, allowing Prose and readers to swing into the lives of one character after another.
The novel’s characters include the actors, audience members, acquaintances of the audience members, and later, the author of the novel. Even among the players there are quite distinctive differences. Margo is the professional actress, the Yale graduate, who never quite made it. Adam is the boy actor whose mother wants him to have a career in theater. Lakshmi is the young intern with dreams of bigger things that involve production of her own play. The widowed grandfather, who once had a successful career in the art world but who know feels lonely, even with his daughter’s family. Edward is the little boy in that family with his own set of problems revolving around school and popularity. Sonya is his teacher, new at the job and unsure of herself, in and out of school. Ray is the author of Mr. Monkey, the book that originally was supposed to express his feelings about what he saw in the Vietnam War, feelings that never saw the light of day. Mario, out on the perimeter of Mr. Monkey, the play, is a waiter who is something of an expert on the play’s performance history, starving for personal closeness. Eleanor, an ER nurse by day and actress by night and the most sympathetic character in the novel, finds fulfillment in both worlds for different reasons. And, finally, Roger, the director, the final installment in the novel, and at the end of his career, is something of a bookend to Margo.
Be assured that each of these named has a human and interesting story to tell, with some revelations for readers. Prose also uses Charles Darwin to good effect at various junctures. Chekhov hits the boards for a bow, too. Salinger gets a nod, but to much less effect. And while billed as a comedy, discard the thoughts of the madcap and focus on the human comedy, Balzac style.
Show Less
LibraryThing member write-review
Artfully Connected Lives
In Francine Prose’s newest, a very fine dive into aspirant lives going mostly unfulfilled, Mr. Monkey is at once an unfulfilled children’s book turned into a perennially performed silly play and a nexus around which the various lives revealed spin and interlace, a
Mr. Monkey is nearing the close of its run in an off-off Broadway venue. Adam, a ‘tween turning into an adolescent who has gone from kid to kid in the opening stages of sexual awaking, plays Mr. Monkey. This results in a number of behavioral changes, none of which prove good for the already threadbare play. It’s one of these changes that triggers the story, allowing Prose and readers to swing into the lives of one character after another.
The novel’s characters include the actors, audience members, acquaintances of the audience members, and later, the author of the novel. Even among the players there are quite distinctive differences. Margo is the professional actress, the Yale graduate, who never quite made it. Adam is the boy actor whose mother wants him to have a career in theater. Lakshmi is the young intern with dreams of bigger things that involve production of her own play. The widowed grandfather, who once had a successful career in the art world but who know feels lonely, even with his daughter’s family. Edward is the little boy in that family with his own set of problems revolving around school and popularity. Sonya is his teacher, new at the job and unsure of herself, in and out of school. Ray is the author of Mr. Monkey, the book that originally was supposed to express his feelings about what he saw in the Vietnam War, feelings that never saw the light of day. Mario, out on the perimeter of Mr. Monkey, the play, is a waiter who is something of an expert on the play’s performance history, starving for personal closeness. Eleanor, an ER nurse by day and actress by night and the most sympathetic character in the novel, finds fulfillment in both worlds for different reasons. And, finally, Roger, the director, the final installment in the novel, and at the end of his career, is something of a bookend to Margo.
Be assured that each of these named has a human and interesting story to tell, with some revelations for readers. Prose also uses Charles Darwin to good effect at various junctures. Chekhov hits the boards for a bow, too. Salinger gets a nod, but to much less effect. And while billed as a comedy, discard the thoughts of the madcap and focus on the human comedy, Balzac style.
In Francine Prose’s newest, a very fine dive into aspirant lives going mostly unfulfilled, Mr. Monkey is at once an unfulfilled children’s book turned into a perennially performed silly play and a nexus around which the various lives revealed spin and interlace, a
Show More
literary device that works very well in her skilled hands. It shows both how lives touch each other, often unbeknownst to people, and serves as the propulsive agent of the novel. (For a terrific novel that also illustrates the interconnectedness of lives, see Simon Van Booy’s The Illusion of Separateness.)Mr. Monkey is nearing the close of its run in an off-off Broadway venue. Adam, a ‘tween turning into an adolescent who has gone from kid to kid in the opening stages of sexual awaking, plays Mr. Monkey. This results in a number of behavioral changes, none of which prove good for the already threadbare play. It’s one of these changes that triggers the story, allowing Prose and readers to swing into the lives of one character after another.
The novel’s characters include the actors, audience members, acquaintances of the audience members, and later, the author of the novel. Even among the players there are quite distinctive differences. Margo is the professional actress, the Yale graduate, who never quite made it. Adam is the boy actor whose mother wants him to have a career in theater. Lakshmi is the young intern with dreams of bigger things that involve production of her own play. The widowed grandfather, who once had a successful career in the art world but who know feels lonely, even with his daughter’s family. Edward is the little boy in that family with his own set of problems revolving around school and popularity. Sonya is his teacher, new at the job and unsure of herself, in and out of school. Ray is the author of Mr. Monkey, the book that originally was supposed to express his feelings about what he saw in the Vietnam War, feelings that never saw the light of day. Mario, out on the perimeter of Mr. Monkey, the play, is a waiter who is something of an expert on the play’s performance history, starving for personal closeness. Eleanor, an ER nurse by day and actress by night and the most sympathetic character in the novel, finds fulfillment in both worlds for different reasons. And, finally, Roger, the director, the final installment in the novel, and at the end of his career, is something of a bookend to Margo.
Be assured that each of these named has a human and interesting story to tell, with some revelations for readers. Prose also uses Charles Darwin to good effect at various junctures. Chekhov hits the boards for a bow, too. Salinger gets a nod, but to much less effect. And while billed as a comedy, discard the thoughts of the madcap and focus on the human comedy, Balzac style.
Show Less
LibraryThing member markm2315
A lot of people like this. Maybe it's funny. Maybe it's poignant. Perhaps I am an idiot.
LibraryThing member banjo123
This book follows a collection of characters involved with the production of a children's musical, "Mister Monkey." It's over-all an engaging and funny book, though I would say a little disjointed and slapstick.
Awards
The Morning News Tournament of Books (Quarterfinalist — 2017)
Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence in Fiction and Nonfiction (Longlist — Fiction — 2017)
Booklist Editor's Choice: Adult Books (Fiction — 2016)
The New York Times Notable Books of the Year (Fiction & Poetry — 2016)
San Francisco Chronicle Best Book of the Year (Fiction — 2016)
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Status
Available
Call number
ISBN
9780062397836