Monkey Boy, Francisco Goldman
Monkey Boy, Francisco Goldman
List: $24.99 | Sale: $17.50
Club: $12.49

Monkey Boy
A Novel

Author: Francisco Goldman

Narrator: Robert Fass

Unabridged: 12 hr 12 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 05/04/2021


Synopsis

Our narrator, Francisco Goldberg, has been living and working in Mexico City as a journalist for over a decade, but has recently returned to New York City in hopes of "going home again." It's been five years since the end of his last relationship and he is falling in love again. Soon he is beckoned back to Boston by the high school girlfriend who was witness to his greatest youthful humiliations, and his mother, Yolanda, around whom his story orbits like a dark star. Backdropping this five day trip to his childhood home is the specter of Frank's recently deceased father, Bert, an immigrant from Ukraine, volcanically tempered, pathologically abusive, yet also at times infuriatingly endearing; as well as the high school bullies who gave him the moniker "monkey boy" and his estranged, larger-than-life sister, Lexi.

Told in an open, irresistibly funny and passionate voice, this extraordinary portrait of growing up outside the dominant culture unearths the hidden cruelties in a predominantly white, working-class Boston suburb where Francisco—a.k.a. Paco, aka Frankie Gee—came of age. A crowning achievement from one of the most important American voices in the last forty years.

About Francisco Goldman

Francisco Goldman has published five novels and two books of nonfiction. His books have been published in sixteen languages. Goldman has been a Guggenheim Fellow, a Cullman Center Fellow at the New York Public Library, and a Berlin Fellow at the American Academy. He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He also received a 2017 Barnes & Noble Writers for Writers Prize, and PENMexico's 2017 Award for Journalistic and Literary Excellence. He has written for the New Yorker, the New York Times Magazine, Harper's, the Believer, and many other publications. He directs the Aura Estrada Prize (auraestradaprize.org.). He lives in Mexico City.


Reviews

4.50 Stars (Rnd ⬆️) — Thanks to Netgalley for allowing me to read this one free of charge in exchange for a fair review. Something about this cover is extremely striking and alluring to me. One of those “read me please” covers that had I seen on-shelf I’d undoubtedly have to reach and pull down for......more

Goodreads review by Mandy

This is the story of Francisco Goldberg, the alter ego of the author Francisco Goldman, who, now approaching 50, returns to the US after working as a journalist in Mexico City and where it has now become too dangerous for him. Half Guatemalan, half American, half Jewish, half Catholic, his is a comp......more

Goodreads review by Alison

This author is in my opinion a wonderful writer. I love details in a story and his are full of them. I know this is a novel, but I think it probably has a lot of his own life written throughout. I read his first book “The Long Night of White Chickens” years ago and like it very much. The main character......more

Goodreads review by jam

do i think that if i were a) a man and b) the youngest sibling that this book would have been more appealing? yes. unfortunately, i am neither. goldman tackles some really important themes regarding identity, immigration, belonging, etc., but unfortunately i despise his tone and his writing style --......more