Monkey Reviewed by Ravi Rajakumar

(Thank you Ravi Rajakumar)

Different readers will get into Monkey in very different ways, but to me Monkey is first and foremost a Kung fu comic book about style and philosophy and how they are put into practice. The story is internal in the sense that the characters' practice is often either hypothetical or witheld altogether - there's a nice tension between the monkey, tiger and snake's tendency to make mental preparations and their desire to do some actual fighting. When the fighting does happen, it's like a powerful chemical reaction that finally has enough input energy to get rolling on its own.

Monkey is written in a poetic, flowing style, that subtly varies with changes in character and scene, following its own grammatical rules. It's smooth writing, but with frequent changes in tempo and pitch, to keep you on your toes.

Monkey is a great book for anyone into martial arts, philosophy, politics and social interactions as they relate to one another.