The Monkey King's Used Primate Emporium and Book Reviews

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Tom Robbins, "Half Asleep in Frog Pajamas"

Started June 3 � Finished June 8, 2002; 387 pages. Posted 08 June 2002

Okay, first of all, there is no way you can go wrong with having a monkey in your story. And don�t start mentioning things like �Dunston Checks In� or �Most Vertical Primate,� �cause those ain�t monkeys, sucka.

I�m convinced nearly every book that got a bad review would have been better if they had a monkey in it. Films too. Sheesh, I just saw Bridget Jones�s Diary and thought it was an absolute piece of crap. But if they had put a monkey running around, screeching and swinging and flinging its filth, it would have been up there with �The Godfather.�

Even the word �Monkey� is cool. Say it. SAY IT!

Monkey.

Monkey, monkey monkey monkey! (Monkey!)

When I started this book, I liked it, but I was starting to get a little disappointed. There were two reasons for this. First off, he was using a lot of the same elements that he�s used before; a uptight but fairly well-off woman as the heroine (Used in Jitterbug Perfume, Even Cowgirls Get the Blues, and Still Life with Woodpecker); a weird guy comes into her life and spouts bubblegum philosophy (Used in all three again.); add a kooky oriental (Cowgirls), etc., etc.

Second, I was reading this at the same time as Chomsky, reading 20 pages of each book at a time. I would force myself to stay awake with Chomsky, and when I switched, thinking I could now relax with Robbins, I would almost always drift into sleep. It wasn�t fair to Robbins, and I finally gave up after 120 pages of each.

But then the monkey started to play a bigger part in the story.

Monkey. Monkey! Whoo! Monkeys!

Suddenly this was great. So great, in fact, that it probably figures into one the great monkey stories of all time (though for the life of me I can�t think of any other monkey stories � proof that there just aren�t enough monkeys in literature).


Rating: More fun than a barrel of... well, you know... MONKEYS!

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