This one was a little weird. It was still good just not what I was expecting. I’m happy I read it but I don’t think I would read it again

Format: audiobook
Author: Francisco Goldman ~ Title: Monkey Boy ~ Narrator: Robert Fass
Story: 4 stars ~ Narration: 4.5 stars

Monkey boy is another one of those books, that some will like and some just won't. It's a literary fiction genre and written in a stream-of-consciousness style. At first, it seems a bit confusing, and slow. But don't give up right away. Main character, Francisco Goldberg is sharing his memories of childhood. He remembers his upbringing in a half-Guatemalan and half-Jewish family and shares his thoughts about his relationship with his mother and abusive father.

Although I love literary fiction, and I enjoy reading this particular genre in a book format, I think, in this case, the audiobook was better for me.

The narration was great, although at first, it may seem a bit monotonous. But it's not. It suits the type of narration in this book. The narrator distinguishes different voices of other people - women and that of his father. This audiobook will be appreciated especially by literary fiction fans.

Thanks to the publisher Tantor Audio for the opportunity to listen to this! All opinions are my own.

*received for free from netgalley for honest review* interesting but different read, not something id reread but something id still recommend

It took me a while to get into this audiobook. The narration was good but I couldn't quite connect with it. It is written well and pulled me in during some of the chapters but not enough to keep me engaged.

Thank you Netgalley and Grove Press UK for giving this opportunity to listen to this Audiobook.

While I found the writing to be well done, I had a very hard time connecting with this story. As this novel is at least semi-autobiographical, I thought that I would find it more accessible, but I unfortunately did not.

The writing style of this book made it impossible to enjoy and really difficult to follow the story and understand what the author is saying. The author jumps around in time and place so quickly I felt like I had mental whiplash. There really seemed to be little to no rhyme or reason why one story flowed into the next and this made it impossible for me to keep track of what the author was saying. I found this even more disappointing once I understood (almost a third into the book) that with proper structure and editing to cut out a lot of excess information, this story could have been very impactful. Unfortunately, the writing only made me frustrated instead.
If you are interested in reading this book I recommend the audiobook. The narrator did a good job and I dont think I would have gotten very far into the book if I hadn't listened to the audiobook.

I enjoyed Monkey Boy. I have a big love for non fiction and to learn stories of people from other cultures. As having half my family Columbian this got me thinking of asking them some questions. It's sad that Franky felt he couldn't come home and had to always chase a story but yet in this book he chased the story of his childhood. A full circle moment.
Audio on the was excellent.

While I applaud the humility with which the author’s alter ego describes his life, growing up with an angry Russian immigrant for a father and a Guatemalan mother, I could not connect with the story. I tried reading it and then listening to the audio book. The audiobook was well done, but the only thing I left with was an appreciation of his concern about other Central American refugees.