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book_concierge's review against another edition
3.0
From the book jacket: Fourteen-year-old Audrey Martin, with her Poindexter glasses and her head humming the ¾ meter of gospel music, knows she’ll never get out of Kentucky – but when her fingers touch the piano keys, the whole church trembles. Her best friend, Caroline Wallace, daydreams about Hollywood stardom, but both girls feel destined to languish in a slow-moving stopover town in Montgomery County.
My reactions:
I’m about a generation behind these girls, but I was interested in a story set in the late 1950s – an era when I was first becoming acutely aware of popular music and could hardly wait to grow up and join my cousins dancing to Elvis Presley, Chuck Berry and Fats Domino records. Audrey and Caroline are in a similar hurry to grow up, to be done with school, and to go out into the world. They desperately want something MORE out of their lives than small town Mt Sterling, KY can give them.
When the book opens Audrey is reeling from the death of her father, in the Korean War. She and her mother live with her Grandpap, who adored his son, and who encourages Audrey to play the piano like her Daddy used to do. Her mother, lost in grief, tries to find solace in a bottle of bourbon. Caroline’s family is still intact; her father, Sonnyboy, has a steady job “down to the ice plant,” while her mother, Mauris, does alterations in the back room of the local department store. But both girls are loners. Neither one deemed pretty or popular, they stick together until ….
Townsend has the two girls take turns narrating, so that several chapters are told from Audrey’s point of view, followed by several chapters from Caroline’s point of view, then back to Audrey, etc. In this way, the reader gets more of the story than either of the girls, who go long stretches without talking to one another, despite their very close friendship as children.
I remember the pain when my best childhood friend seemed suddenly to have “outgrown” me; when our interests diverged and we were no longer exclusively one another’s confidante. My heart broke for both Audrey and Caroline as I witnessed their growing pains.
Despite being able to connect with these characters, at least in theory, I found this a very slow read. It took me 12 days to read the book. I did NOT dislike it, but it just never really captured my attention. Still, Townsend is a talented writer, and some of the scenes she paints are very vivid. I’d definitely read another book by her.
My reactions:
I’m about a generation behind these girls, but I was interested in a story set in the late 1950s – an era when I was first becoming acutely aware of popular music and could hardly wait to grow up and join my cousins dancing to Elvis Presley, Chuck Berry and Fats Domino records. Audrey and Caroline are in a similar hurry to grow up, to be done with school, and to go out into the world. They desperately want something MORE out of their lives than small town Mt Sterling, KY can give them.
When the book opens Audrey is reeling from the death of her father, in the Korean War. She and her mother live with her Grandpap, who adored his son, and who encourages Audrey to play the piano like her Daddy used to do. Her mother, lost in grief, tries to find solace in a bottle of bourbon. Caroline’s family is still intact; her father, Sonnyboy, has a steady job “down to the ice plant,” while her mother, Mauris, does alterations in the back room of the local department store. But both girls are loners. Neither one deemed pretty or popular, they stick together until ….
Townsend has the two girls take turns narrating, so that several chapters are told from Audrey’s point of view, followed by several chapters from Caroline’s point of view, then back to Audrey, etc. In this way, the reader gets more of the story than either of the girls, who go long stretches without talking to one another, despite their very close friendship as children.
I remember the pain when my best childhood friend seemed suddenly to have “outgrown” me; when our interests diverged and we were no longer exclusively one another’s confidante. My heart broke for both Audrey and Caroline as I witnessed their growing pains.
Despite being able to connect with these characters, at least in theory, I found this a very slow read. It took me 12 days to read the book. I did NOT dislike it, but it just never really captured my attention. Still, Townsend is a talented writer, and some of the scenes she paints are very vivid. I’d definitely read another book by her.
mellabella's review against another edition
3.0
Saint Monkey, started out slow for me. But as I started reading more about Caroline and Audrey I couldn't put it down. Caroline and Audrey are two young Black girls growing up poor in Kentucky. They call themselves friends. But, their friendship is really based on loss. Audrey's father dies in the war. Caroline's mother is killed by her father. They are very different. Caroline is reckless. She has the responsibility of taking care of her young sister and her grandmother after her father murders her mother. Audrey is quiet, reads a lot. She learns to play the piano by ear. The book goes from Audrey to Caroline's voices. It takes us from Kentucky to Harlem. We hear names like Count Basie and Thelonius Monk. Audrey's talent takes her away from Kentucky right when she needs it to. The book was very colorfully written. I could imagine the Jim Crow era as it was. The characters came to life. My only complaint is when "bookish" characters like Audrey are painted like they have no backbone and no common sense. Other than that, Saint Monkey surprised me. It's a good historical read.
king_ink's review against another edition
5.0
I loved the characters. The story was at times dark, at times funny but always compelling. Both the writing and narration are beautifully crafted which had the effect of making me feel deeply connected to the characters. The author’s attention to detail and lyrical descriptions of people and places made the period come alive.
manaledi's review against another edition
4.0
"no one will ever look up and see us; it's not in most people's natures to look beyond what they think they should see." I tried to describe this book to a friend and struggled. I enjoyed it, and would definitely recommend it, but I'm not sure why even. None of the individual components are all that memorable, but the overall whole is compelling.
megatsunami's review against another edition
4.0
4 stars for writing quality, 3 for enjoyment. I struggled with the pacing (started off very slow, then sped up, then went a little too fast) but the beautiful, beautiful prose kept me reading. Then ending... I was just like... whaaaa?
pathouser's review against another edition
4.0
I loved this beautifully written debut novel. Looking forward to reading more from this author.
lilydawnharkins's review against another edition
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
maedo's review against another edition
4.0
I fell in love with Townsend's rendering of friendships between damaged girls, down on its luck Appalachia, and 1950's jazz age, Apollo Theater Harlem (and the impermanence of attraction that comes along with that scene).
However, this book has a "what in the hell, why would you ever do that" ending for one of its main characters that weakened the whole thing for me.
For the curious:
Caroline and Audrey get older and Audrey goes to play piano at the aforementioned Apollo Theater, leaving Caroline who also dreams of being a star but never makes it out of rural Kentucky. Audrey falls in love with and marries one of her bandmates, but all their compatibility is in music and after they lose their job at the theater and move back down South, eventually they aren't really compatible in anything. She ends up finding out he never loved her. So Audrey moves back home, completely broken, and ends up talking to Caroline's father who's out of jail about how he loved the wife he killed, and then AUDREY FALLS IN LOVE WITH HIM. The last chapter is very vague, but it implies that they live together and are married with a child.
First of all, your best friend's father.
Second of all, your best friend's father who straight up murdered his first wife.
I get that Audrey is damaged and has a perverted view of love and that her choice makes sense in that way, but Audrey is also smart, and I am not buying that a smart person would push both "he is my best friend's father" and "he killed my best friend's mother and chopped her into pieces and hid her around the house, including putting her head in the chimney so she could look down on her girls wtf wtf wtf" out of the brain pan that filters possible relationship choices and into the funnel to the heart. I mean, I can see her learning lessons from his life and feeling close to him for being her father's friend and her friend's father, but it's hard to get over murder.
But given that that's about three pages of this whole thing, and the other 345 pages are excellent, this is still a very good book. A back cover blurb-er saw echoes of Toni Morrison. I did too. No faint praise for a first book.
However, this book has a "what in the hell, why would you ever do that" ending for one of its main characters that weakened the whole thing for me.
For the curious:
Spoiler
Audrey and Caroline are best friends growing up, but they're also kind of nasty to each other and competitive. Audrey's dad got killed in the Korean War and her mother is an alcoholic; Caroline is an ugly girl born to beautiful parents and oh, one day her dad (who was Audrey's dad's best friend) kills her mother because her mother laughs with a friend who's leaving her husband and he's upset she sympathizes.Caroline and Audrey get older and Audrey goes to play piano at the aforementioned Apollo Theater, leaving Caroline who also dreams of being a star but never makes it out of rural Kentucky. Audrey falls in love with and marries one of her bandmates, but all their compatibility is in music and after they lose their job at the theater and move back down South, eventually they aren't really compatible in anything. She ends up finding out he never loved her. So Audrey moves back home, completely broken, and ends up talking to Caroline's father who's out of jail about how he loved the wife he killed, and then AUDREY FALLS IN LOVE WITH HIM. The last chapter is very vague, but it implies that they live together and are married with a child.
First of all, your best friend's father.
Second of all, your best friend's father who straight up murdered his first wife.
I get that Audrey is damaged and has a perverted view of love and that her choice makes sense in that way, but Audrey is also smart, and I am not buying that a smart person would push both "he is my best friend's father" and "he killed my best friend's mother and chopped her into pieces and hid her around the house, including putting her head in the chimney so she could look down on her girls wtf wtf wtf" out of the brain pan that filters possible relationship choices and into the funnel to the heart. I mean, I can see her learning lessons from his life and feeling close to him for being her father's friend and her friend's father, but it's hard to get over murder.
But given that that's about three pages of this whole thing, and the other 345 pages are excellent, this is still a very good book. A back cover blurb-er saw echoes of Toni Morrison. I did too. No faint praise for a first book.