From Library Journal
Minot chronicles the family life of Gus and Rosie Vincent and their seven children, dubbed "monkeys" by their mother. Rosie, or "Mum," is the most vibrant character, creating a secure home for her children as she tries to mask her husband's alcholism and counter his withdrawal from the family. Minot has a fine eye for detail and a talent for creating tension through half-revealed clues in dialogue. However, because the book is very short, involves many characters, and spans roughly 13 years, the development of other characters is not satisfying. The chapters are rather disparate, the first, in fact, having a different narrator than the others. The final chapter, "Thorofare," was included in The Best American Short Stories of 1984 and is perhaps the strongest section, providing a moving ending to an otherwise uneven novel. Lucinda Ann Peck, Learning Design Associates, Gahanna, OhioCopyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Review
"Minot's prose possesses a thrilling eloquence, a heartbreaking clarity."--Newsday
"Not since J. D. Salinger has an American writer so feelingly evoked the special affections and loyalties that may develop among children in a large family."--The New York Times Book Review
"Striking and original.... Minot chronicles the mundane and miraculous moments that characterize family life, in prose that is exactingly realistic, yet delicately lyrical.... Few novels have so powerfully displayed the collective unity--and joy--of family life."--Chicago Tribune
"Susan Minot's funny, wry and profoundly moving novel of a large and gawky family in Massachusetts is full of quiet surprises.... Minot is masterful at showing us the chaos of a young family forming and reforming itself. But it is the absolute simplicity of her observation--always selective, often eccentric--that astounds us for its clarity time after time."--San Francisco Chronicle
Review
"Minot's prose possesses a thrilling eloquence, a heartbreaking clarity."--Newsday
"Not since J. D. Salinger has an American writer so feelingly evoked the special affections and loyalties that may develop among children in a large family."--The New York Times Book Review
"Striking and original.... Minot chronicles the mundane and miraculous moments that characterize family life, in prose that is exactingly realistic, yet delicately lyrical.... Few novels have so powerfully displayed the collective unity--and joy--of family life."--Chicago Tribune
"Susan Minot's funny, wry and profoundly moving novel of a large and gawky family in Massachusetts is full of quiet surprises.... Minot is masterful at showing us the chaos of a young family forming and reforming itself. But it is the absolute simplicity of her observation--always selective, often eccentric--that astounds us for its clarity time after time."--San Francisco Chronicle
Book Description
NATIONAL BESTSELLER
In this luminous story of family life--the first novel by Susan Minot, author of the highly acclaimed Evening--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 priviledge. 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.
From the Inside Flap
NATIONAL BESTSELLER
In this luminous story of family life--the first novel by Susan Minot, author of the highly acclaimed Evening--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 priviledge. 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.
From the Back Cover
"Minot's prose possesses a thrilling eloquence, a heartbreaking clarity."--Newsday
"Not since J. D. Salinger has an American writer so feelingly evoked the special affections and loyalties that may develop among children in a large family."--The New York Times Book Review
"Striking and original.... Minot chronicles the mundane and miraculous moments that characterize family life, in prose that is exactingly realistic, yet delicately lyrical.... Few novels have so powerfully displayed the collective unity--and joy--of family life."--Chicago Tribune
"Susan Minot's funny, wry and profoundly moving novel of a large and gawky family in Massachusetts is full of quiet surprises.... Minot is masterful at showing us the chaos of a young family forming and reforming itself. But it is the absolute simplicity of her observation--always selective, often eccentric--that astounds us for its clarity time after time."--San Francisco Chronicle
About the Author
Susan Minot lives in New York City.
Monkeys FROM THE PUBLISHER
NATIONAL BESTSELLER
In this luminous story of family life—the first novel by Susan Minot, author of the highly acclaimed Evening—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 priviledge. 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.
FROM THE CRITICS
Library Journal
Minot's 1989 Lust offers a dozen stories involving relationships among young New Yorkers. Monkeys, a 1986 novel, portrays the children of a large New England family who try to cope when their mother--their anchor--dies. Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.
Library Journal
Minot chronicles the family life of Gus and Rosie Vincent and their seven children, dubbed ``monkeys'' by their mother. Rosie, or ``Mum,'' is the most vibrant character, creating a secure home for her children as she tries to mask her husband's alcholism and counter his withdrawal from the family. Minot has a fine eye for detail and a talent for creating tension through half-revealed clues in dialogue. However, because the book is very short, involves many characters, and spans roughly 13 years, the development of other characters is not satisfying. The chapters are rather disparate, the first, in fact, having a different narrator than the others. The final chapter, ``Thorofare,'' was included in The Best American Short Stories of 1984 and is perhaps the strongest section, providing a moving ending to an otherwise uneven novel. Lucinda Ann Peck, Learning Design Associates, Gahanna, Ohio
WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING
I loved reading Monkeys. Susan Minot writes with such delicacy -- sketches in confident, sure brushstrokes, a lovely book. — Alice Adams
Monkeys is a book of unusual purity and truthfulness. It hardens the line of a world once barely familiar and makes it ours. Susan Minot touches us by her accurate humanity. — Thomas McGuane
Susan Minot's quietly luminous children are voyagers in a past marked by seaside privilege, ritual Catholicism, and the mysterious lonliness of adults. Her oblique prose establishes a country of childhood in which grief exists like a premonition and children are the saviors of children. — Jayne Anne Phillips
Art & Photography
Book Info
