The Nature of Monsters [Paperback]

Ronald Damien Malfi (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 10, 2006

RobertCrofton,a socially ineptand naïve young farmboy,arrives in Baltimore to write his first novel and to reacquaint himself with an old home town friend: poet-turned-prizefighter Rory Van Holt. In an effort to resume their peculiar and mysterious friendship, Robert Crofton abruptly ensconces himself in Rory Van Holt's circle of friends-and soon finds himself sinking deeper and deeper into the quagmire that is their lifestyle.They are corrupt and privileged socialites, damaged by extraordinary wealth, gluttony, greed, arrogance, and power. Dreamlike, the characters floatin and out of Robert's life with inebriated casualness while Robert's innocence invites these characters to subtly abuse and ridicule him while also accepting him, for the purpose of their own relief against monotony, into their monstrous society. When Nigel Sweeny, Robert's eccentric and doomed cousin, falls in love with Donna Taylor, Rory's fiancée, they find themselves trapped in a bizarre and often contradictory love-quadrangle.The Nature of Monsters is both uniquely modern and delicately classic in its style and execution.The story is an exercise in human frailty and love,while exploring the struggle between personal gratification and the damning, acquisitive allure of monetary wealth.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

This is Ronald Damien Malfi's first literary venture into non-genre fiction. We are very proud to present such a pair of heavy-hitters as Malfi and this novel.

If you are studying American Literature in school, I heartily recommend you pick up this book now so you can enjoy it--before it becomes assigned reading.

-- James Cosby-Wolf, Publisher, 5 Story Walkup

Product Details

• Paperback: 336 pages
• Publisher: 5 Story Walkup (August 10, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0978676106
• ISBN-13: 978-0978676100
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,907,936 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful, Unsettling, Important ..., September 10, 2006

By 

Patricia J. Esposito (St. Charles, IL USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Nature of Monsters (Paperback)

Is this a modern retelling of Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises? That's what I keep asking myself after reading Malfi's beautiful, sad, and unnerving The Nature of Monsters. The similarities: Robert Crofton may not be physically impotent like Jake Barnes, but his emotions are kept in constant check, repressed and unexamined. Out of his element, a Kentuckian expatriated (like Jake?) to Maryland, he's thrown among socialites, wicked with their wit and their money and their scheming, and struggling through life in an alcohol haze. He has unsure feelings for Donna, a vibrant woman reminiscent of Lady Brett, who's engaged to be married and having affairs to ease her boredom; lunatic friends that offer us the telltales of life and love and passion only to fall apart; even perhaps boxing instead of bullfighting. And Malfi's style is all about efficiency and precision; there is more said in any one of his sentences than you'll find in pages and pages of the majority of novels out there.

But Malfi is no mere imitator. His eye is focused on our world now, and he pulls the rug out from all our expectations; this is not The Sun Also Rises. This is not a lost generation moving nowhere but a generation on the verge of combustion.

And the prose plays in careful understatement, in the silences between a quiet drum beat, a hesitant bass line, a careful structuring of repetition that hypnotizes, creating tension while it lulls us in to the narrator's unreliable vision. This is the kind of book where I mark passages for their beauty, for their wit, for those stark and horrible moments Malfi creates with such unselfconscious poignancy that I'm humbled.

In the end, I was uncomfortable, torn, betrayed, crushed, and yet grateful for Malfi's eye that is so carefully watching our world. Read it and then read it again.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Best New Fiction I Have Read in a While, October 25, 2006

By 

B McC "Cerebral Chevalier" (NY, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Nature of Monsters (Paperback)

One of the guidelines for writers to write well is for them to "write what they know". Clearly, Malfi knows people, and more than a little about boxing.

This is not an edge-of-your seat novel. This is not a novel that Oprah will be pushing anytime soon. This is a real, hard, brilliant chunk of writing. It is a novel I had a hard time putting down. "Monsters" immerses you in the perspective and relationships of the protagonist with consummate craft, and the strange circumstances which dominate his life for much of the book seem to be happening to you.

The characters are believable, and horrible in their believability. The title is truly apt.

I would readily recommend this book to anyone who enjoys Jonathan Lethem, Ernest Hemmingway, or Kendall Watson.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Genuine Good Read, October 11, 2006

By 

J. Barnes "earsphere" (Landover Hills, MD) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Nature of Monsters (Paperback)

I continue to be amazed by Malfi's dexterity as a writer. Regardless of the topic or style of a book, he breathes life into characters that cannot be ignored. I wasn't so sure I'd enjoy a book about boxing and misplaced affections but I'm always fascinated by people and why they do what they do. In The Nature of Monsters Malfi explores just how cruel people can be and, of course, they do the worst to themselves. It's poetically poignant yet utterly real and unsentimental. With a nod to the classics this novel has a timeless feel, a genuine good read without gimmicks.