The Love Song of Monkey

by Michael S.A. Graziano

Book Overview

"Neuroscientist and author Graziano has crafted a compelling fantasy based on a semi-plausible "what if." Imaginative, intelligent narrative...Twin ideas of forgiveness and mercy twist through this strange, moving, patiently wrought novel, making for a trippy but charming read."-Publishers Weekly

"An hilarious, dark, brittle take on post-modern medicine, love triangles, the dense emptiness of contemporary life, and the power...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0981514804
• ISBN13: 9780981514802
• Release Date: November 2008
• Publisher: Leapfrog Press
• Length: 152 Pages
• Weight: 0.44 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 5.2" x 7.3"

Customer Reviews

Love Song of Monkey sings to the soul!

Graziano has created yet another timeless tale. The Love Song of Monkey takes a wonderful journey through the human heart, soul, and psyche. We see the cold reality of humanity, and the warm embrace of redemption. Graziano uses imagery throughout that parallels the psychological battle within each of us to overcome our own prisons we create around ourselves. Within, lies the belief that love conquers all...even betrayal and death. We are encouraged to understand the wrong-doer and rejoice with the saved, always acknowledging that a glimpse of each lies within all decisions. From the depths of the ocean floor, to the peaks of the city skyline, The Love Song of Monkey speaks to the human soul. An epic quest within ourselves! Kyle Dickerson

A strange, surreal page turner

This is a fantastic novel, and I mean that in the old-fashioned sense that the events are fantastic. And surreal and deeply human. I read it in one fell swoop. It runs. Fast. It's a little crazy and you can feel Graziano making it up as he goes along--which is a great way to write a novel since you don't know how it's going to end. If you're clever and naturally creative--as Graziano is--some beautiful effects can be achieved. I once wrote a novel this way. You start out at one place: here Graziano, who is a professor of psychology at Princeton, starts with his protagonist dying of complications from AIDS. He is being taken to the hospital by his anorexic wife. He's in a lot of pain and scarcely cares whether he lives or dies. And then you end up in another: at the bottom of the ocean, in a museum, as a cat burglar called the Monkey man, and all the while you sing "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" by T.S. Eliot. I suspect that where Graziano thought he was going in the beginning is different from where he actually went. I also suspect that he had intended a realistic narrative but found himself constrained. And so he threw off the shackles and typed a tale incredible. Graziano's strength is first in the rapid paced narrative and then in the great freedom he gives his story. Neither conventional reality nor scientific plausibility deters him from his fancy. The narrative is lean like something from James M. Cain or Cormac McCarthy, but without the strict adherence to realism. Graziano's story doesn't unfold as in a familiar tale or in something contrived to seduce the human psyche. Instead the story evolves as something reacting to myth or to the dream time, or to whim or fancy. Taken in retrospect "The Love Song of Monkey" (really a long short story), seems to be about the human predicament, as all literature must be. A man has done something wrong and is paying the price. He suffers and he learns from his suffering. And then he triumphs over circumstance and becomes something more than just human--a kind of demigod perhaps. Once he was vulnerable, then he was almost untouchable. Almost. Love kept him tethered to the world no matter how far he roamed in the great depths of the sea of his mind. And then he returned by happenstance to the world of humans and sought out the object of his love--the object of all the years of meditation--and found her more beautiful than she had ever been. And his love for her was unsullied and undiluted by the mundane events of this world. A kind of eternal and ethereal love is what Graziano's muse longs for and is what he achieves in the end. People hurt one another and do bad things to one another, but in the end they forgive, and indeed find in their wisdom that there was really nothing to forgive ever, and in that state of mind they realize their love. And they live happily ever after, or they die in the state and in the grace of love--which amounts to the same thing. Thus this

Thought-provoking, beautifully written love story....

THE LOVE SONG OF MONKEY is a wonderful, thought-provoking read. It doesn't fall into my normal realm of books that I would read, but it leaves me with lasting thoughts and makes me think about relationships in my own life. I find myself continuing to reflect on the ideas presented days after finishing it. THE LOVE SONG OF MONKEY pulled me in and I just couldn't put it down. I kept wanting to know just how Michael Graziano would wrap it up and put it all together. I wondered how the title fit with the book, and voila! MG does just that in a surprising twist in the book. This book is magical with elements of science fiction but through it all, you will find yourself laughing at times, wanting to cry at times, and looking into yourself for how you relate to others and where things will go in your own life. I felt like I was right there, experiencing the events right along with the main character in the book... even to feeling claustrophobic during the kwark-king experience (wondering what that is? You'll need to read the book!) Michael Graziano is an amazing author and pulls off a great read. I hope he continues to write for years to come.

a beautiful, surreal love song

The Love Song of Monkey may be my favorite read this year. Michael S.A. Graziano does an amazing job of creating characters so real and vivid, they carry the surreal aspects of the story perfectly. While the book is short, I hesitate to call it a quick read. I plowed through it simply because I couldn't put it down, but then I went back and read it again. The Love Song of Monkey is rich with layers of meaning and stop-and-think moments. This is love as Ian McEwan might conjure it, something complex shared by deeply flawed people, and yet something ultimately beautiful. I'm glad to have discovered a new favorite writer.

A lovely read

Light and Charming, Love Song of Monkey takes you away and makes you want to sit quietly and think about the world. A blend of funny and dark, the story is wonderfully light, yet, at the same time deeply thought-provoking. Graziano writes with a simple eloquence that leaves the reader feeling as though every word was in exactly the right place. An effortless read that captures your imagination and leaves you calm, satisfied and feeling thoughtful.