REVIEW | ‘MISTER MONKEY’

I have read each of Francine Prose's last six novels - just under a third of the fiction she has produced over her long career - and until this week, I would have told you that my favorite was 'Blue Angel.” That novel, released in 2000 and a nominee for the National Book Award, is a satirical exploration of sexual harassment on college campuses, by turns humorous and horrifying.

'Blue Angel” is an exceptional book, but I may like Prose's newest novel, 'Mister Monkey,” even better. Prose, who has served as a visiting faculty member in the Iowa Writers' Workshop, has crafted a novel of tenuous, fleeting connections made strong by the narrative gravity of her story.

Each chapter of 'Mister Monkey” focuses on a single character. A character introduced in a secondary - or even tertiary - role in one chapter may well be the star of the next. The starting and ending point is a production of 'Mister Monkey: The Musical,” a dismal production limping toward its final performances. Chance meetings in unexpected contexts drive the story, upending traditional approaches to plot while still maintaining a through line.

Prose nods to her unusual structure late in the novel as Eleanor, an ER nurse who is also in the cast of 'Mister Monkey,” reflects on her encounter with Leonard, a man who has taken his grandson to see the play:

'Of all the children's musicals and all the emergency rooms in this enormous city! What are the chances? Maybe Eleanor doesn't believe in God, but she pictures a cosmic playwright with a weird sense of humor setting up scenes like this one: unlikely coincidences, improbable events, good and bad surprises. What are the odds of her patient's taking his grandson to see Mister Monkey and not The Lion King?”

Prose has one particular surprise - a calculated narrative risk - in store for readers. It can't be revealed here, but the author carries it off with aplomb, delivering one of the book's strongest chapters at just the right moment.

I heartily recommend 'Mister Monkey.” And you should check out 'Blue Angel,” too.