Nancy Mauro is one of those authors who also knows how to perform when at a reading. I had the opportunity to hear her read from New World Monkeys at the Center for Fiction a few months back and was sold on the book immediately. Here is an author who knows her characters so well that she can change voice to capture the nuance of their speech and thought while presenting to an audience.
The opening chapter of the book is surreal and causes the reader to question where on earth this story is headed because–did they just really run into a wild boar in upstate New York?
Mauro captured a hilarity in the horror of dealing with the situation and the underlying currents of the relationship between Lily and Duncan. From this heightened absurdity, we slip into the mundanity of a failing relationship–the over-analysis and shifted blame that comes with communication lapses over time.
There are moments of reading that are just so boring, and purposefully so. There is, after all, something so terribly boring about real life. It is these moments that make other situations presented in the story seem so outlandish; they provide a strong contrast to the concept of truth being stranger than fiction. And in many cases, truths they are–man is a vile depraved beast with no redeeming qualities, such as Lloyd’s disturbing behavior, and the acts he witnesses in others are all too common and only seem more so set among the stacks of a small town library or the fact that the town rallies behind a obvious lunatic.
Mauro captures something poignant in her title with a theme that does not smack the reader upside the head with a crow-bar. Rather, it runs quietly throughout the book–as life progresses, we all evolve and devolve as we try to make sense of it all.
Truth be told, I probably wouldn’t have picked New World Monkeys up had I just come across it on a table in some bookstore. The reading is what sold me on it–similar to having a friend passionately describe why they loved a book. When a reading is done in a dry monotone, I can’t get excited about the book because the author isn’t excited about the book. But when the author is fully behind the words they set to page, I can’t help but want to read it. And in this case was quite pleased that I had.
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{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
I just read and reviewed this book, but I did not work for me. Too bizarre and too many plot lines.
I’m glad u liked it though!
.-= diane´s last blog ..Tuesday Teaser =-.
Thanks for the review. My book club has selected this for next month – I wonder what I will think when I read it. I will check back in with a review when I am done!
.-= Colleen´s last blog ..Win a Kindle 2 in a Book Review Party =-.
Colleen – please do come back and let us know waht the club thinks! It is bizarre as Diane stated, but I found it too be a lot of fun and a little thought provoking.