Monkey reviewed by Laurie Dawson

Laurie Dawson from the Writing & Publishing at the Banff Centre said this about Monkey:
(Thank you Laurie Dawson very much)

Monkey Rocks!
Monkey is a john cage song playing with three characters: the monkey, the snake and the tiger. Through the course of this wildly ambient and gently explorative narrative, the three characters transform each other; transform their respective environments and ultimately uncover the potential in their threesome to transform the world. In the endless beginnings of this engrossing debut novel, we follow the characters following each other, figuring out who they are each step backwards they take.

The book is a turntable of intelligentsia mixed with humanity and fun. So much fun. The main protagonist, the monkey, jumps in from your peripheral on the first page and doesn't stop tickling your ribs until a week after you've put the book down. The other two characters become central too. Each one wearing a few traits on their kung fu sleeves: cold, cool, controlling and calculated on the silk arm of the snake and the tiger wears a constant need to always be planning then worrying about what others may think of the plan or what sort of plan she will have to make to counteract their reaction to her plan, and, oh, she kicks ass as well.

Monkey is the best of being a kid, being an adult, everything in between and beyond. It subtly says hope, right now, not later but right this instant. If Jet Lee symbolizes grace, power and dignity and Theodore Seuss Geisel is the master of multiple-meaning(full) rhymes and Gertrude Stein structured a sentence like no other, well, micheal boyce has integrated all three and more; building his own place amongst the brilliant workings of those who can at once authenticate paradox and live in their own skin.