Monkey Grip (novel)

Monkey Grip
First edition
AuthorHelen Garner
LanguageEnglish
PublisherMcPhee Gribble
Publication date
16 September 1977
Publication placeAustralia
Media typePrint
Pages245
ISBN0-14-004953-3
OCLC11950836
823 19
LC ClassPR9619.3.G3 M6 1984
Followed byHonour & Other People's Children 

Monkey Grip is a 1977 novel by Australian writer Helen Garner, her first published book. Set in Melbourne, the novel follows single-mother Nora as she narrates her increasingly tumultuous relationship with a heroin addict, juxtaposed with her raising a daughter while living in bohemian share houses.

The novel initially received a mixed critical reception, achieving some degree of notoriety for its astute, uncompromising depiction of heroin addiction, sexuality, relationships and love. Garner later admitted that there was an autobiographical element to the novel, with much of its plot being diaristic and based on her own experiences.[1][2] Despite dividing early critics, the book sold well and helped establish Garner as one of the best-known writers in Australia.[3][4] In the 1990s, when critics identified the Australian literary genre of grunge lit, Monkey Grip was retrospectively categorised as a seminal example. It is now widely considered a classic of modern Australian literature and one of Australia's "first contemporary novels", and has been called the "voice of a generation".[5]

A film based on the novel, also titled Monkey Grip, was released in 1982. In 2018, Monkey Grip was ranked 47th by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) in its list of the "100 stories that shaped the world"—the only Australian novel on the list.[6]

  1. ^ Bennett, Tegan (3 November 2012). "A phone call to Helen Garner". The Australian. Retrieved 26 December 2017.
  2. ^ Rooney, Brigid (2009). Literary Activists: Writer-intellectuals and Australian public life. University of Queensland Press. p. 154. ISBN 9-78070224-143-7.
  3. ^ "Helen Garner on murderer Robert Farquharson". The Australian. 25 March 2017. Retrieved 3 September 2017.
  4. ^ "Helen Garner's Monkey Grip makes me examine myself". The Guardian. 25 October 2018. Retrieved 31 October 2018.
  5. ^ "Helen Garner's Monkey Grip". ABC. 1 October 2014. Retrieved 3 September 2017.
  6. ^ "The 100 stories which shaped the world". BBC. 22 May 2018. Retrieved 23 July 2018.