Customer Reviews

Monkeys

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

"Monkeys" isn't a novel in the usual sense of the word. It is more of a collection of vignettes encompassing about 13 years in the life of a modern family, snapshots of moments in which we come to know each family member, then see how they change as their story progresses.

The most astonishing thing about the book is how Minot ties each piece together. For the most part, the "big" events in the life of the family happen outside the narrative itself, in the space between the snapshots we are given. We may experience these moments as a part of their memories, but we come to understand what they were and what their effect has been in a fractured flow of story.

Minot's prose, as in all her books, is expressive but spare, an economy of words that leaves much up to the reader's interpretation. She tells us just enough to know the family, to understand their quiet successes and their obvious failures, to see both the shape of the mask and what lies underneath it. She gives us the same kind of knowledge that we might have if they lived in a house down the street, a neighborly knowledge, not an intimate one.

For the most part, this is a strong point in the book, but at a few points, Minot's style puts the reader at a distance when we might prefer a closer understanding of the feelings of each family member. In a way, it's the same frustration one experiences when we know something has happened to a neighbor, but we don't know how to ask without seeming nosy or pushy. Perhaps this was a deliberate choice on Minot's part, this enforced distance from her characters, but intentional or not, it was frustrating at times.

Still, despite the occasional frustration, "Monkeys" is a well-rendered series of portraits of a modern American family, the foibles and wrinkles and soft tragedies that make up so much of the family landscape, and shape the people in it. Minot's writing is a delightful and refreshing change from the self-indulgent, overwrought prose most modern novelists love to employ, and in these brief vignettes, and the implication of events occurring between one and the next, we are given the chance to observe the quiet act of disintegration that goes on around us every day.

This book was about the success and failure of a middle class New England family. The beginning was interesting enough, but towards the middle, it began to lose my interest. I admit, I shed a few tears at the end, but those tears wouldn't have been shed if I had not forced myself to read the entire book. Don't get me wrong, Susan Minot has incredible talent, but this book just let me down. The book centers on women, so I think all women should consider reading it, but in my opinion, it is not a book that should be read more than once.

This book describes one woman's painful childhood in an upper class New England family. The book deals with difficult subjects (alcoholic father, death of mother) with an acute deftness and touches of unexpected humor. The first chapter is written from the child's point of view and starts with a "typical" family Sunday of church, ice-cream, and the beach. It ends with the children and mother hiding in a linen closet to play a prank on the father. The ending of the chapter is unexpected, but rings oh-so-true. "Monkeys" is brush-stroke writing at its best.

It's been nearly a decade since I read this book but I'll never forget its profound impact on me--even as an only child! Minot's voice is so truly crafted that you will experience this family through each of the characters. You feel as though you are inside the heads of the mother and the siblings. You feel a sense of forboding with the father's presence. It's almost haunting that is exactly what makes this such a memorable read.

This is not a badly written 'novel', but I found that I didn't care a bit about any of these characters -- with the possible exception of the first couple of 'chapters' (and I put it that way because, to me, this really felt more like a collection of short stories -- and indeed, much of it has appeared in that form in various publications), when they were very young children.

Perhaps because of the way their parents lived and raised them, and the fact that they are so privileged financially, the children grow up to be spoiled and self-centered, with few redeeming qualities -- I know this may seem a bit judgemental, this being a work of fiction, but when I read a book, I try to identify or sympathize with at least one of the characters. Pretty much without exception, all of the children in this book turn out to be brats who never really grow up. There was a quote on the book's cover comparing Susan Minot's work to that of J. D. Salinger -- she's a talented writer, but this doesn't hold a candle to his work.

I much preferred THE TINY ONE, by Minot's sister Eliza -- her style was much warmer and gentler, and the characters she drew much more likable. I've read a lot of good comment's about Susan's writing, so I'm still curious to check out some of her other books -- but this one disappointed me.

A moving glimpse into the world of a New England family. With such an exuberant, energetic family, enviable social connections, and vacations boating in Maine, are the Vincents living the good life? Of course not. They are miserable. Minot skillfully sketches the framework of pain underpinning these lives.

I could not put this book down once I started reading it! I found it to have truly human characters that were funny, poignant, and easy to fall in love with. I highly recommend it. Because it was originally written as several short stories, it is easy to read one chapter at a time. You will love it!

Monkeys, by Susan Minot, is a colourful novel about life in a large family. It is about seven children, called `monkeys' by their mother. The book follows the seven Vincent children as they grow up, and learn to live on their own.
Rosie Vincent, the Vincent's mother, was the character who seemed the most real. She brought their household together, tried to hide their father's alcoholism, cooked and cleaned, and did most of the work in the family. While Rosie may seem well-developed, the other characters were not. Because the novel was so short and there were so many characters, I had no connection with any of them. While the point of the novel was that life is hard in a large family, Minot could have gone into further depth on this topic. There was not enough room in the story to describe the emotions of all her characters. Seven children are too many for what this book is trying to tell about.
Minot is talented at making the reader understand what is going on without directly saying it. However, I felt there was a lack of foreshadowing in this novel. If each chapter stood alone they would make nice short stories, but put together they lacked something. If there was a link between chapters, something to connect them, this book would have been more interesting. However, instead, I often found myself thinking, "How is this important or relevant to the rest of the book?"
The first and last chapters were interesting and moving. In `Hiding', Sophie is the narrator and I get a sense of who she is and what she thinks. This book would have been much more captivating had each chapter been told from each of the children, and the remaining two chapters told by the mother and father.

This book will do it for you if you come from a large upper-middle class family. You need to approach it from a sibling stance. If you don't have a background to relate, then you will most likely not appreciate the beauty and pain Susan Minot put into this work. If you can understand, then you will love this book forever.

I've been on a Susan Minot kick, and so I just re-read this book for the first time in years.I still enjoyed every page. Minot takes readers inside a large family and puts us right in the middle of the action, or inaction. Although more like linked vingnettes than a novel, Monkeys made me think of a contemporary Cheaper by the Dozen meets the Kennedys. Her writing is flawless and the stories are so simple, so absolutely every-family, I couldn't help be be mesmerized all over again.