Monkeys

Monkeys by Susan Minot is a slim, melancholic novel about the Vincent family - the parents (Augustus and Rosie), and their seven children, Caitlyn, Sophie, Delilah, Gus, Sherman, Chicky, and Miranda. Each chapter is a snapshot of their day-to-day lives. These snapshots are mostly quotidian and revolve around the seven siblings and their extended family. I was reminded of other novels such as The Cherry Robbers, What's Eating Gilbert Grape, and even Franny and Zooey, and how families interact with one another and seem to cultivate a familial/emotional argot that seems to develop in larger families. Their lives are insular and each character knows their place. The writing is quiet but descriptive. A good book to read on a rainy day.

Monkeys was the term of endearment Rosie called her seven children. Cheerful and silly Rosie was the glue that held this large family together. When she is tragically killed the children are left to deal with their grief and an alcoholic father who can't focus on his responsibilities. As a stand alone novel of vignettes Monkeys seems disjointed and fuzzy; not very well thought out, but when you consider Monkeys as a transparent autobiography, it makes way more sense. Minot herself has six siblings. Her mother was killed at a train crossing, just like Rosie. The first story (told in first person) very well could be Minot herself, reliving her childhood memories. The rest of the stories are in third person and could be true events about show more her siblings.
As an aside, it would be interesting to read Monkeys along with with the works of her sister (The Tiny One) and brother (The Blue Bowl) for comparison. show less

‘Monkeys’ a novella by Susan Minot (released in 1986) was an, at times, sad and bustling look into the old-money, New England lives of a group of siblings and their quiet father and spirited mother. Told in vignettes at Thanksgiving, and after an accident, among other things, we watch the children grow and catch the subtleties between the parents as captured through the children’s perceptions.

This was such great writing. Deceptively simple and with an insight they I really enjoyed. This is my first Susan Minot and her debut, I believe. What a treat. So glad I picked this one up on a whim. I could definitely see myself loving her work!

There are writers who make mistakes. If their words were a house, some measurements might be askew, some paint could be found on the carpet, perhaps a door doesn't open just right. It's bound to happen, and readers should be forgiving of those writers who blunder occasionally.

There are also writers who make mistakes. Big ones. They pour the foundation for their house without noticing their own feet are right in the middle of it. They bury themselves in their stupidity, and one can't help but scream, "How could you not see that?"

Clearly, I'm setting up Monkeys as the later example. Overall, the stories are okay; they're not that intriguing, but they fit together nicely. The characters are numerous and there are a couple with potential, show more but they're not properly developed. The whole thing is mildly touching, yet leaves more to be desired. Truthfully, Monkeys didn't have to be a bad book--oh, but there's the author, burying herself in the very first story.

The opening story, "Hiding," is told from the first person perspective of Sophie ("Caitlin is the oldest and she's eleven. I'm next, then Delilah, then the boys.") Okay, so we have a book from the perspective of one of the children. Fine. The next story, "Thanksgiving Day" is outside of Sophie ("For Sophie, the best thing was..."). So now we're in third. Still fine. There's no reason an author cannot switch perspective, especially in a collection of stories. So after reading two stories, the precedent has been set--each story will have a unique, or at least rotating, point-of-view.

But the next story and the next and the next are all in third. Every story from that second one on is set in third. This sort of thing could be acceptable if it made sense, artistically speaking, but it doesn't here. What seems likely to have happened was that the author at some point changed her point-of-view, but failed to make the change in the first story. And how did no one catch this? Honestly, I don't know. It seems like it would have caught someone's eye. I mean, how exactly does one not notice the architect cemented to the basement floor of their house? Perhaps they noticed, but just didn't care to exert themselves for a design which wasn't that interesting in the first place. show less

Uh oh. I started this before I saw the Goodreads description that includes the dread word "luminous."

Well it didn't live up to that (I'm not sure what would.) Vignettes of a large family over the years through various ups and downs. I feel a little bad that I didn't get more out of it but it was mostly bland. Maybe I'd enjoy it more if I had siblings, but most of the stories seemed to have moments of meaning that ended up not going anywhere.

Next up is In a Lonely Place. I'm in the mood for noir.

good collection short stories

The seven Vincent children follow their Catholic mother to Mass and spend Thanksgiving with their father's aging parents who come from a world of New England privilege. As they grow older, they meet with the perplexing lives of adults. Susan Minot writes with delicacy and a tremendous gift for the details that decorate domestic life, and when tragedy strikes she beautifully mines the children's tenderness for each other, and their aching guardianship of what they have.

This short novel is a series of vignettes set over the course of a decade about children growing up with an alcoholic father. Of course they’re a large Catholic family from Massachusetts. Minot does a lot of writing class tricks such as changing point of view and allowing subtext to seep through banal moments. Overall it’s a beautifully written but not too affecting of a book.