Francine Prose’s latest novel is a screwball comedy involving a musical play based on a best selling children’s book titled Mister Monkey. The play is terrible but kids love it. It’s the story of a larcenous pet chimpanzee and his antics in New York City. The play generates a lot of jobs and money. Prose shows how many of the principle characters involved in the play react to its continuing success. Ray, the author of the best selling children’s book, realizes the musical is bad but the allure of the money overwhelms him. Lakshmi, the musical’s costume designer, imagines herself as the star of the production. Margot, who plays the chimpanzee’s lawyer in the musical, struggles with her success in a dreadful production and begins to see her acting career goals slipping away. Wacky, surprising, and funny, Mister Monkey tells a tale of success and its costs. GRADE: B
Wow. This is a real departure for her. Curious to read it now.
Patti, you’re right. MISTER MONEY is a departure from the usual Francine Prose novels. Worth a read.
Very interesting. If I didn’t have a huge backlog of books I might consider it.
Jeff, the elements of the cast and the musical of MISTER MONKEY might appeal to you.
I have it on my tbr list. Should get to it around, oh, 2019 or so.
Deb, MISTER MONEY will be just as amusing in 2016!
Usually I don’t read Francine Prose. Even with your “B” rating, this could be good.
Beth, MISTER MONEY won’t appeal to everyone. You have to be in the mood for a screw-ball comedy.
I”ve not read Prose before this sounds good, but am so backlogged with books to review. sigh
Maggie, I read MISTER MONKEY because the Library told me I couldn’t renew it again. I renewed it five times and they thought that was enough!
I generally avoid books described as “screwball” and “wacky”. I’ll reluctantly admit, however, that the plot does sound interesting.
Rick, the plot of MISTER MONKEY is very different from Francine Prose’s previous work.
I really enjoyed her book THE LIVES OF THE MUSES, about the lives of nine women and the artists they inspired. It was pretty cruel, if relatively on-point, about John and Yoko, and the chapter about the Pre-Rafaelites was excellent.
Deb, I enjoyed LIVES OF THE MUSES, too. Francine Prose can be snarky.
I like the setting but..,.PASS!
It started well but fizzled pretty quickly.
Dan, that’s why I graded MISTER MONKEY a “B.” Nice start, weak finish.