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Title: Shelf Monkey

Author: Corey Redekop

Narrator: Fajer Al-Kaisi

Format: Unabridged

Length: 9 hrs and 29 mins

Language: English

Release date: 08-11-17

Publisher: Audible Studios

Genres: Fiction, Contemporary

Publisher's Summary:

Thomas Friesen has three goals in life: get a job, make friends, and find a good book to curl up with. After landing a job at READ, the newest hypermegabookstore, he feels he may have accomplished all three. All is not peaceable within the stacks, however, as discontent steadily rises, aimed squarely at talk show host Munroe Purvis, whose wildly popular book club is progressively lowering the IQ of North America. But the bookworms have a plan - plots are being hatched and the destruction of Munroe is all but assured. As Thomas finds himself swept along in the maelstrom of insanity, he wonders if reading a book is all it's cracked up to be.

Members Reviews:

Makes you think

Shelf Monkey is one of the more unusual books I've ever read, and I'd have to describe it as weirdly entertaining. At times I found it hilarious, at others, uncomfortable. The story unfolds in a series of emails, following the narrative of Thomas Friesen, who has apparently done something very, very bad, and is currently on the run. He is unveiled as a former lawyer who suffers from anxiety, found himself on anti-depressants and was working in a bookshop. He and his bookshop colleagues were well-read, well-educated extreme book enthusiasts who were subjected on a daily basis to the horrors of customers eschewing good literature in favour of horribly written, lightweight, book club recommendations made by one, Munroe Purvis, talk show host and destroyer of minds. After months of wondering what grand secret his co-workers are excluding him from, Thomas was finally inducted into the ranks of the Shelf Monkeys, who are ridding the world of horrible literature, one hideous book at a time. What he did not realise is how far they were willing to go when Purvis came to town, and how deeply it would affect his life.

What I especially enjoyed: The writing style in this book was flamboyant and fluid. The story was unexpected and unconventional. The actions of the characters made me pause and think about my own prejudices and how I react to things I absolutely can't stand in others' behaviour, which is what made me uncomfortable: this story's reach is deep.

A critical point: I thought Thomas could have gone farther down the path he ultimately, although ambivalently chose, and it would have made the ending more (hilariously) horrifying.

Overall: An excellent, well written book: the work of a master craftsman. Definitely recommended.

I love books about people who love books

This is a quirky story about an exlawyer who gets a job at a megabook store and hooks up with others who hate all the trash that people are reading. Their mission to rid the world of crappy books becomes focused on a sleazy talk show host whose book club promotes the worst of the worst books--and then things get a bit out of hand.

If there were half points, I would have given this a 4.5--points off only because I got pretty grossed out at the end. Otherwise, the writing is great, the humor is clever, and the story is completely engrossing. Can't to see what Redekop comes out with next.

A witty and firey satire

Shelf Monkey is an entertaining and iconoclastic look at the world of books.

It's a little like Catch-22, but instead of bombers and Italian prostitutes there are big box book stores and people eating pizza.