Review
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“Tender and artful, Prose’s 15th novel is a gently spiritual celebration of life.” (New York Times Book
Review, front cover review)
“Masterful. . . . a lovely tribute to the transformative value of imagination.” (Washington Post)
“An indelible cast of characters… In this strong, humane, and funny novel, Prose has treated us to an enthralling
entertainment both on and off stage.” (Boston Globe)
“Beautifully crafted, incisively written…Engaging and accessible…What elevates this novel is Prose’s ability to let us
see into the heart of each character, to render each so vulnerably human, so achingly real in just a few short
paragraphs.” (Minneapolis Star Tribune)
“In this novel, the imminent end of the world feels as inevitable as the end of a particular life. MISTER MONKEY itself,
though, is gripping and engaging all the way through, the characters’ miseries as moving as their fierce attachments to
hope and the possibility of unexpected mercies.” (San Francisco Chronicle)
“Remarkable. . . . [Prose] is the Meryl Streep of literary fiction, convincingly shifting between multiple voices and
points of view-not just from book to book, but within a single work.” (NPR)
“(a) madcap, razor-sharp comedy.” (People)
“A comedy of manners for the digital age… an astonishing tour de force.” (Brooklyn Eagle)
“Prose hilariously nails the down-at-the-heels milieu while also evoking the magic even low-rent theater can inspire in
the narratives of the show’s costume designer (an underpaid NYU grad student), the moonlighting emergency room nurse who
plays the villainess, and the director, whose closing monologue reveals someone much kinder than his prior of
Margot suggested. Wickedly funny and sharply observant, in the author’s vintage manner, with a warmth that softens the
satire just enough.” (Kirkus Reviews (starred review))
“This novel promises to be madcap and profound in equal measure.” (The Millions)
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From the Back Cover
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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; Lakshmi, the
musical’s costume designer, who imagines herself the heroine of her own production; 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 touches on everything from the evolutionary theories of Charles Darwin to the
absurdity of child-raising in contemporary Brooklyn, and eventually delves into some of humanity’s most profound
mysteries: art, ambition, childhood, aging, and love. Startling, captivating, Mister Monkey is a breathtaking novel from
a writer at the height of her craft.
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About the Author
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Francine Prose is the author of twenty-one works of fiction, including Mister Monkey; the New York Times bestseller
Lovers at the Chameleon Club, Paris 1932; A Changed Man, which won the Dayton Literary Peace Prize; and Blue Angel, a
finalist for the National Book Award. Her works of nonfiction include Anne Frank: The Book, The Life, The Afterlife, and
the New York Times bestseller Reading Like a Writer. The recipient of numerous grants and honors, including a
Guggenheim, a Fulbright, and a Director’s Fellow at the Center for Scholars and Writers at the New York Public Library,
she is a former president of PEN American Center and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters and the
American Academy of Arts and Sciences. She lives in New York City.
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