Mister Monkey, by Francine Prose

Staff review by Chris Saliba

The lives of a disparate group of theatre people are explored in this warm and smart New York comedy.

Mister Monkey is a children's musical based on a popular children's novel of the same name. Written by a Vietnam veteran, the novel was supposed to be for adults, but author Ray Oritz was convinced to write it as a children's book. A group of jobbing actors – ambitious yet disgruntled at working with such cheesy, low rent material – are putting on the play, struggling with budget cuts, a difficult director, bad costumes, ill conceived theatre directions and a host of other woes.

The plot of the children's novel centres on the “super cute” baby chimpanzee Mister Monkey. When Mister Monkey's parents are shot by evil hunters in Africa, a letter arrives from New York. The Jimson family want to adopt him. Mister Monkey flies to New York and learns all sorts of party tricks, notably picking pockets, although he always gives the wallets back. Enter Janice, the evil girlfriend of Mr Jimson. She accuses Miser Monkey of stealing her wallet. And so the family hires lawyer Portia McBailey to defend Mister Monkey.

Forty-four-year old Margot plays lawyer Portia McBailey and the first chapter is devoted to her mid-life personal dramas. Each following chapter concentrates on other characters either working in the play or connected with it in some way. There is the grandfather and grandson who go to see the play; the grandson's teacher, Miss Sonya (the chapter devoted to her terrible dinner date with an environmental lawyer is priceless); Lakshmi the underpaid costumer designer; Mario the waiter who knows the children's book author and always gets free tickets to Mister Monkey productions; Roger the surly director; and a host of other characters. With consummate skill Francine Prose weaves all of these very disparate personal stories into a unifying narrative of human frailty, comedy and vulnerability. Her style is whip-smart and witty, without being gratuitous. The effect is a mix of Anne Tyler and Woody Allen (the story is rich in New York settings), with a bit of Carson McCullers' Ballad of the Sad Cafe thrown in. Prose is interested in the tensions between the inner life (our failings, loneliness and alienation) and the need to perform publicly, to front up for awful jobs, blind dates and other public humiliations. Mister Monkey is a novel that understands all your secret anxieties and hang ups, offering tea and sympathy for your sufferings.

Warm, energetic, witty, urbane – the joys of this very memorable and affecting novel are endless.

Mister Monkey, by Francine Prose. Published by HarperCollins. ISBN:9780062397843 RRP: $27.99

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