Monkey Grip
Ratings5
Average rating2.7
The novel that launched the career of one of Australia’s greatest writers, following the doomed infatuations of a young, single mother, enthralled by the excesses of Melbourne's late-70s counterculture The name Helen Garner commands near-universal acclaim. A master novelist, short-story writer, and journalist, Garner is best known for her frank, unsparing, and intricate portraits of Australian life, often drawn from the pages of her own journals and diaries. Now, in a newly available US edition, comes the disruptive debut that established Garner's masterful and quietly radical literary voice. Set in Australia in the late 1970s, Monkey Grip follows single mother and writer Nora as she navigates the tumultuous cityscape of Melbourne’s bohemian underground, often with her young daughter Gracie in tow. When Nora falls in love with the flighty Javo, she becomes snared in the web of his addiction. And as their tenuous relationship disintegrates, Nora struggles to wean herself off a love that feels impossible to live without. When it first published in 1977, Monkey Grip was both a sensation and a lightning rod. While some critics praised the upstart Garner for her craft, many scorned her gritty depictions of the human body and all its muck, her frankness about sex and drugs and the mess of motherhood, and her unabashed use of her own life as inspiration. Today, such criticism feels old-fashioned and glaringly gendered, and Monkey Grip is considered a modern masterpiece. A seminal novel of Australia’s turbulent 1970s and all it entailed—communal households, music, friendships, children, love, drugs, and sex—Monkey Grip now makes its long-overdue American debut.
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This book didn't grab my attention from the beginning, and I had a hard time staying engaged due to its slow pace and disjointed storyline. I couldn't connect with the characters, making it difficult to care about their journey. While the writing was polished, the lack of a coherent plot left me feeling disconnected. Though it's not a book I'd personally recommend or enjoy, readers who appreciate this style might find merit in it.
“The best-selling classic of a generation” says the blurb on the front cover. I was of that generation, but I have to say that I found this all a rather dull plod. Highly repetitive and may well have been better served by being half the page count. Would I have found it any better in my teens back in the day when I was part of that generation? I suspect not. My bookish sci fi youth seemed more interesting, and a 33-year-old girl falling head over heels for a useless smack addict (he had these wonderful blue eyes we were repetitively told !) may never have made the grade. And repetitively throughout, chapter after chapter, they fucked, and they fucked again, and then she fucked with someone else, and he fucked with someone else, and it went on and fucking on, her having her mind fucked over by those smack riddled blue eyes.
One thing that really really did, I mean really got on my nerves while reading this (other than the repetition of the theme and the repetitive use of the fuck word some may ask?) was the use of “Good day” as a greeting. “Good day” is said - g'day – It is the way Australians and New Zealander say it. Do not be mistaken, do not be misled, they say bloody g'day and that’s bloody it. g'day g'day g'day g'day. Editors need to get it into their thick heads that it is g'day and if the novel wants Australian authenticity, then to change any manuscript to “Good day” makes it sound like some upper class toff doing the greeetings.
Anyway enough ranting already, I am sure many loved this book but not me.
