Love in Infant Monkeys

One of the reasons that I frequently hate on contemporary fiction is that anything high-concept tends to turn me off. A clever and/or quirky conceit does not guarantee that a work of fiction will be well-written, and I frequently find the gimick being used to be a distraction if the writing is, in f......more

The most controversial five stars. I recognize its drawbacks; however, this book startled and shook me while being quite routinely realistic; it doesn’t happen very often. Also, the book works really well as a collection: all texts are arranged with precision and purpose, complimenting each other in......more

★★★☆☆ (3/5) The universe of Lydia Millet’s “Love in Infant Monkeys” is comprised of two kinds of people: those who associate themselves with animals and extend all the warmth and compassion they can muster towards them, and those who inflict unimaginable horrors on the animals in order to assert domi......more

Definitely 5 stars, but still need to think it through. So many ideas packed into a compact collection. Each story has a different theme, though they are united by the global idea of interaction between a human and an animal. I love almost every story, they are unusual, smart, sometimes weird, but ve......more

This book has some really interesting short stories, each of which pair an animal with a celebrity for surprising little snippets. They are funny and quirky and thought-provoking. I can see why this one was a Pulitzer runnerup!......more