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The Love Song of Monkey: A Novel
In a surreal exile on the floor of the Atlantic, a young man faces his own death and his wife's infidelity. With a deepening understanding of himself and his place in the world, Monkey travels a path through the most important landscape of all - the inner landscape of the soul. Monkey is a meditation on the simple, inexplicable, and lasting power of love, cast in the metaphor of a journey to the depths of the ocean floor. Precise and beautifully crafted, this modern fable is rich with humor and deep thought.
124 pages, Paperback
First published November 1, 2008
About the author
Michael S.A. Graziano
17 books200 followersMichael S. A. Graziano, PhD, is a professor of neuroscience and psychology at Princeton University. He is also a composer and occasional ventriloquist. Love is his latest work of fiction published by Leapfrog. Others include The Love Song of Monkey, The Divine Farce, and Death My Own Way. He has also published popular science books: God Soul Mind Brain (Leapfrog Press, 2010), Consciousness and the Social Brain (Oxford University Press, 2013), Rethinking Consciousness (W. W. Norton, 2021), which was a finalist for the Penn-Faulkner award, and most recently, Charlie's Lab (Press 53, 2023). He has written for the Atlantic, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and other media outlets. He lives in Princeton, New Jersey with his wife and a backyard fox family.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 61 reviews
March 2, 2014
An experimental treatment cures a young man of AIDS and leaves him immortal, which is fortunate because his wife and doctor, both convinced that he is dead, dump his body in the Atlantic and go off to resume their affair. As it turns out, an eternity at the bottom of the ocean with nothing but a weighted statue of Venus to talk to isn't such a bad fate. Gives a man time to think.
I found Gaziano's novel The Divine Farce at the bookstore on a day I didn't feel like buying anything (the horror!), but my library didn't have it and I had to try this one instead. No regrets. Nice little story, and (I hope) one of many good works from Leapfrog Press. Feels like it should be a Dalkey Archive title, but that might just be because it reminded me of Jim Krusoe's novel Iceland. Don't let that discourage you. I believe I enjoyed this one slightly more. You missed out, Dalkey folks!
I found Gaziano's novel The Divine Farce at the bookstore on a day I didn't feel like buying anything (the horror!), but my library didn't have it and I had to try this one instead. No regrets. Nice little story, and (I hope) one of many good works from Leapfrog Press. Feels like it should be a Dalkey Archive title, but that might just be because it reminded me of Jim Krusoe's novel Iceland. Don't let that discourage you. I believe I enjoyed this one slightly more. You missed out, Dalkey folks!
October 17, 2008
The Love Song of Monkey may be my favorite read this year. Michael S.A. Graziano does an amazing job of creating characters so real and vivid, they carry the surreal aspects of the story perfectly. While the book is short, I hesitate to call it a quick read. I plowed through it simply because I couldn't put it down, but then I went back and read it again. The Love Song of Monkey is rich with layers of meaning and stop-and-think moments. This is love as Ian McEwan might conjure it, something complex shared by deeply flawed people, and yet something ultimately beautiful. I'm glad to have discovered a new favorite writer.
June 29, 2016
This is a quirky book about forgiveness and enduring love. Short and sweet, unusual adjectives for science fiction, written by a respected Psycholigist in academic circles.
Jonathan is dying from AIDS and his wife has found an experimental treatment for a cure. Dr. Kack, name appropriate , is delighted to proceed. Pushing myself through this book because it came highly recommended by a friend , I was rewarded after about 1/3 of the book. It is not a book I will soon or ever forget.
Jonathan is dying from AIDS and his wife has found an experimental treatment for a cure. Dr. Kack, name appropriate , is delighted to proceed. Pushing myself through this book because it came highly recommended by a friend , I was rewarded after about 1/3 of the book. It is not a book I will soon or ever forget.
December 7, 2025
This sat on my TBR shelf for 3 years so I figured I'd pick it up and read a chapter. Wow!!! I finished the whole book in about an hour with no breaks. This absolutely captivated me! I found it interesting how him and his wife came to similar conclusions by the end, despite their drastically different decisions and paths their lives took. This short story is capable of sparking great dialogue.
September 10, 2024
SILLLLYYYYY
February 15, 2026
so stupid and so silly. I LOVE IT
December 10, 2025
Que libro tan bizarro y original, me gustó mucho el concepto y fue muy agradable de leer.
November 6, 2008
The other night at dinner, I got one of those great kid questions from my almost fourteen-year-old Hart: Why do people get old?
Hmmm.
We muse.
All animals die, I think, I say. And insects. Maybe not viruses... but that's nitpicking, so how about plants? Well, some, but not all. Aren't there some that live to be a thousand years old? Why not two thousand? Okay, so plants and animals have the same basic cell structure, but plants use magnesium (hence the green color) and animals use iron (hence the red). Is there something less corrosive about magnesium? We pull out the greatest lay chemistry book on the planet, Nature's Building Blocks: An A-Z Guide to the Elements by John Emsley, and discover that magnesium is "benign," meaning it doesn't react with other elements. That might be the answer. Fortunately, however, the entire discussion is hijacked by the total wonder of the relationship between plants and animals (see the Oxygen chapter). Simply, the plants make the oxygen that we use, we make the carbon dioxode that they use. There couldn't be one without the other. (And plants came before the egg.)
Anyway, all of this is a rather long way of getting around to how I was reminded of a great new book. Scanning through Building Blocks, we read about iron, and how great portions of the ocean are without it and therefore completely barren. Where had I just read about that with such amazing clarity that I feel like I know those underwater deserts, I wondered? Oh yes, this little book called The Love Song of a Monkey.
If this book had a different title, it would be perfect. Just after he was stuffed into a suitcase by his wife and her lover (who was also his mad doctor) but before he was thrown off a motorboat into the Atlantic, chained to a statue of Venus taken from his own living room, that title was nagging at me. Monkey Man?
Here’s a guy, dying of AIDs and he’s offered the possibility of a complete cure, a better-than-new-cure, but only if he can endure indescribable pain for an hour. Okay, he does describe it:
Some piece of equipment turned on with a harsh buzzing sound. Then the laser beam hit the bottom of my feet…. If I hadn’t been held down on the table I would have convulsed like a fish and crashed onto the floor. No person could have withstood that pain for any hope or goal. It vaporized my strength of will. I didn’t know anything except my feet. The pain lay in a precise plane, like a deli slicer, the rotating blade taking microscopically thin slices one by one, starting from the bottom of my feet and working its way upward. It seemed that every virus particle was a twist of metal, a splinter that needed to be wriggled and wrenched out, torturing the flesh around it. Every bacterium had to be exploded and the shrapnel scraped out with a blunt spatula. Every blemish, every bit of scar tissue, cut with a microscopic scalpel and excised. This was not the torture of a thousand knives. It was six hundred billion knives and drills and lit matches concentrated into one layer of flesh.
Graziano is a psychology professor at Princeton and author of several other books, as well as articles published in the New York Times, Science Magazine, and Glamour blending fiction, music, and science. The Love Song of a Monkey is fabulously imagined and seriously considered and very funny. A kind of fairytale antithesis on the meaning of existence.
Now, if it weren’t for that title. It’s a little thorn. It announces itself boldly in the title, nags where it’s remembered during almost the whole book, then sneaks in at the end and squats there, black-caped, hook-handed.
Look, it’s only 152 pages long. It’s fantastic. It has a wonderful ending. Read it and tell me what you think.
Hmmm.
We muse.
All animals die, I think, I say. And insects. Maybe not viruses... but that's nitpicking, so how about plants? Well, some, but not all. Aren't there some that live to be a thousand years old? Why not two thousand? Okay, so plants and animals have the same basic cell structure, but plants use magnesium (hence the green color) and animals use iron (hence the red). Is there something less corrosive about magnesium? We pull out the greatest lay chemistry book on the planet, Nature's Building Blocks: An A-Z Guide to the Elements by John Emsley, and discover that magnesium is "benign," meaning it doesn't react with other elements. That might be the answer. Fortunately, however, the entire discussion is hijacked by the total wonder of the relationship between plants and animals (see the Oxygen chapter). Simply, the plants make the oxygen that we use, we make the carbon dioxode that they use. There couldn't be one without the other. (And plants came before the egg.)
Anyway, all of this is a rather long way of getting around to how I was reminded of a great new book. Scanning through Building Blocks, we read about iron, and how great portions of the ocean are without it and therefore completely barren. Where had I just read about that with such amazing clarity that I feel like I know those underwater deserts, I wondered? Oh yes, this little book called The Love Song of a Monkey.
If this book had a different title, it would be perfect. Just after he was stuffed into a suitcase by his wife and her lover (who was also his mad doctor) but before he was thrown off a motorboat into the Atlantic, chained to a statue of Venus taken from his own living room, that title was nagging at me. Monkey Man?
Here’s a guy, dying of AIDs and he’s offered the possibility of a complete cure, a better-than-new-cure, but only if he can endure indescribable pain for an hour. Okay, he does describe it:
Some piece of equipment turned on with a harsh buzzing sound. Then the laser beam hit the bottom of my feet…. If I hadn’t been held down on the table I would have convulsed like a fish and crashed onto the floor. No person could have withstood that pain for any hope or goal. It vaporized my strength of will. I didn’t know anything except my feet. The pain lay in a precise plane, like a deli slicer, the rotating blade taking microscopically thin slices one by one, starting from the bottom of my feet and working its way upward. It seemed that every virus particle was a twist of metal, a splinter that needed to be wriggled and wrenched out, torturing the flesh around it. Every bacterium had to be exploded and the shrapnel scraped out with a blunt spatula. Every blemish, every bit of scar tissue, cut with a microscopic scalpel and excised. This was not the torture of a thousand knives. It was six hundred billion knives and drills and lit matches concentrated into one layer of flesh.
Graziano is a psychology professor at Princeton and author of several other books, as well as articles published in the New York Times, Science Magazine, and Glamour blending fiction, music, and science. The Love Song of a Monkey is fabulously imagined and seriously considered and very funny. A kind of fairytale antithesis on the meaning of existence.
Now, if it weren’t for that title. It’s a little thorn. It announces itself boldly in the title, nags where it’s remembered during almost the whole book, then sneaks in at the end and squats there, black-caped, hook-handed.
Look, it’s only 152 pages long. It’s fantastic. It has a wonderful ending. Read it and tell me what you think.
November 29, 2025
Weird and delightful. Glad I read this!
September 22, 2026
Wow! This man is really good, and I liked this better than his "The Divine Farce", which I read after craving something similar to "A Short Stay in Hell", and this one is also close, I would say. This guy really knows what he is doing with words and his thought experiments. Such a hidden gem, though I wish he were better known, as he definitely deserves it! So thought-provoking and contemplative, and it could even be scary for some to just imagine this whole scenario!
May 18, 2026
This was a random and strange read but I did enjoy its oddity and it has served me well as a good refresh book
February 25, 2025
A very strange, but thought provoking book. This author has a masterful way of describing complicated scenes and the human experience in relationship to their environment. It was beautifully written in the Devine Farce, and it continued all throughout this book, so I am very happy I chose to read more from this author.
August 1, 2019
A strange, surreal page turner
This is a fantastic novel, and I mean that in the old-fashioned sense that the events are fantastic. And surreal and deeply human. I read it in one fell swoop. It runs. Fast. It's a little crazy and you can feel Graziano making it up as he goes along--which is a great way to write a novel since you don't know how it's going to end. If you're clever and naturally creative--as Graziano is--some beautiful effects can be achieved. I once wrote a novel this way. You start out at one place: here Graziano, who is a professor of psychology at Princeton, starts with his protagonist dying of complications from AIDS. He is being taken to the hospital by his anorexic wife. He's in a lot of pain and scarcely cares whether he lives or dies. And then you end up in another: at the bottom of the ocean, in a museum, as a cat burglar called the Monkey man, and all the while you sing "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" by T.S. Eliot.
I suspect that where Graziano thought he was going in the beginning is different from where he actually went. I also suspect that he had intended a realistic narrative but found himself constrained. And so he threw off the shackles and typed a tale incredible.
Graziano's strength is first in the rapid paced narrative and then in the great freedom he gives his story. Neither conventional reality nor scientific plausibility deters him from his fancy. The narrative is lean like something from James M. Cain or Cormac McCarthy, but without the strict adherence to realism. Graziano's story doesn't unfold as in a familiar tale or in something contrived to seduce the human psyche. Instead the story evolves as something reacting to myth or to the dream time, or to whim or fancy. Taken in retrospect "The Love Song of Monkey" (really a long short story), seems to be about the human predicament, as all literature must be. A man has done something wrong and is paying the price. He suffers and he learns from his suffering. And then he triumphs over circumstance and becomes something more than just human--a kind of demigod perhaps. Once he was vulnerable, then he was almost untouchable. Almost. Love kept him tethered to the world no matter how far he roamed in the great depths of the sea of his mind. And then he returned by happenstance to the world of humans and sought out the object of his love--the object of all the years of meditation--and found her more beautiful than she had ever been. And his love for her was unsullied and undiluted by the mundane events of this world. A kind of eternal and ethereal love is what Graziano's muse longs for and is what he achieves in the end.
People hurt one another and do bad things to one another, but in the end they forgive, and indeed find in their wisdom that there was really nothing to forgive ever, and in that state of mind they realize their love. And they live happily ever after, or they die in the state and in the grace of love--which amounts to the same thing.
Thus this is a love story, a bit creepy like a Halloween flick or something from a tale about the undead. As I intimated above, I read it in less than an hour. It is, all told, a strange page-turner, and one that resonates.
--Dennis Littrell, author of the mystery novel, “Teddy and Teri”
This is a fantastic novel, and I mean that in the old-fashioned sense that the events are fantastic. And surreal and deeply human. I read it in one fell swoop. It runs. Fast. It's a little crazy and you can feel Graziano making it up as he goes along--which is a great way to write a novel since you don't know how it's going to end. If you're clever and naturally creative--as Graziano is--some beautiful effects can be achieved. I once wrote a novel this way. You start out at one place: here Graziano, who is a professor of psychology at Princeton, starts with his protagonist dying of complications from AIDS. He is being taken to the hospital by his anorexic wife. He's in a lot of pain and scarcely cares whether he lives or dies. And then you end up in another: at the bottom of the ocean, in a museum, as a cat burglar called the Monkey man, and all the while you sing "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" by T.S. Eliot.
I suspect that where Graziano thought he was going in the beginning is different from where he actually went. I also suspect that he had intended a realistic narrative but found himself constrained. And so he threw off the shackles and typed a tale incredible.
Graziano's strength is first in the rapid paced narrative and then in the great freedom he gives his story. Neither conventional reality nor scientific plausibility deters him from his fancy. The narrative is lean like something from James M. Cain or Cormac McCarthy, but without the strict adherence to realism. Graziano's story doesn't unfold as in a familiar tale or in something contrived to seduce the human psyche. Instead the story evolves as something reacting to myth or to the dream time, or to whim or fancy. Taken in retrospect "The Love Song of Monkey" (really a long short story), seems to be about the human predicament, as all literature must be. A man has done something wrong and is paying the price. He suffers and he learns from his suffering. And then he triumphs over circumstance and becomes something more than just human--a kind of demigod perhaps. Once he was vulnerable, then he was almost untouchable. Almost. Love kept him tethered to the world no matter how far he roamed in the great depths of the sea of his mind. And then he returned by happenstance to the world of humans and sought out the object of his love--the object of all the years of meditation--and found her more beautiful than she had ever been. And his love for her was unsullied and undiluted by the mundane events of this world. A kind of eternal and ethereal love is what Graziano's muse longs for and is what he achieves in the end.
People hurt one another and do bad things to one another, but in the end they forgive, and indeed find in their wisdom that there was really nothing to forgive ever, and in that state of mind they realize their love. And they live happily ever after, or they die in the state and in the grace of love--which amounts to the same thing.
Thus this is a love story, a bit creepy like a Halloween flick or something from a tale about the undead. As I intimated above, I read it in less than an hour. It is, all told, a strange page-turner, and one that resonates.
--Dennis Littrell, author of the mystery novel, “Teddy and Teri”
September 19, 2026
Sebuah novela aneh tapi keren. Isinya tuh refleksi yang deep tapi rada dark soal dunia yang dihadapin Jonathan, percintaanya, sama cara gimana Jonathan nemuin kedamaian. Gaya reflektif ini hampir sama dengan karya penulis sebelumnya. Kek keliatan banget gitu penulis sering nyendiri mikirin makna idup. dia tuh pinter nyampur observasi yg dalem sama komenan kocak yang agak nyindir. Bahasanya juga cukup ngalir. Kita bakal ngikutin sudut pandang Jonathan dan perjalanannya dalam menerima nasibnya.
Setelah dianggap gagal dan meninggal dalam sebuah eksperimen untuk menyembuhkan penyakit AIDS-nya, Jonathan dibuang ke laut dalam oleh si dokter dan Kitty. Posisinya dirantai ke sebuah patung venus de milo dan dibuang gitu aja. Namun, mereka tuh gak tahu justru eksperimen itu membuat Jonathan menjadi immortal dan hidup terombang ambing di dasar samudra (yap ia bisa bernafas dalam air dan kebal).
Aku gak bisa cerita banyak. Intinya ini sebuah perjalanan Jonathan mencari kedamaian dengan refleksi diri dan meditasi sambil berkelana di dasar lautan hingga kembali menyentuh daratan. Alurnya cepat dan cerita dibagi menjadi 3 part. Part yang paling aku suka tuh part 2 pas Jonathan menggambarkan pemandangan laut dalam yang redup dan menenangkan. Aku seperti ikut masuk ke dalam cerita dan merasakan segala visual penjabarannya. Dari bagaimana lembab dan dinginnya pasir yang seperti oatmeal, hingga aroma karat besi bercampur dan kayu tua dari bangkai sebuah kapal.
Sayangnya, aku kurang suka part 3 dan hal hal janggal lainnya yang terjadi disini. Walau buku ini pun sebenarnya udah janggal dari awal. Endingnya pun bisa dibilang open ending yang tidak ku pahami.
Tapi yha overall aku menikmatinya. Mungkin bukan buku untuk semua orang.
Setelah dianggap gagal dan meninggal dalam sebuah eksperimen untuk menyembuhkan penyakit AIDS-nya, Jonathan dibuang ke laut dalam oleh si dokter dan Kitty. Posisinya dirantai ke sebuah patung venus de milo dan dibuang gitu aja. Namun, mereka tuh gak tahu justru eksperimen itu membuat Jonathan menjadi immortal dan hidup terombang ambing di dasar samudra (yap ia bisa bernafas dalam air dan kebal).
Aku gak bisa cerita banyak. Intinya ini sebuah perjalanan Jonathan mencari kedamaian dengan refleksi diri dan meditasi sambil berkelana di dasar lautan hingga kembali menyentuh daratan. Alurnya cepat dan cerita dibagi menjadi 3 part. Part yang paling aku suka tuh part 2 pas Jonathan menggambarkan pemandangan laut dalam yang redup dan menenangkan. Aku seperti ikut masuk ke dalam cerita dan merasakan segala visual penjabarannya. Dari bagaimana lembab dan dinginnya pasir yang seperti oatmeal, hingga aroma karat besi bercampur dan kayu tua dari bangkai sebuah kapal.
Sayangnya, aku kurang suka part 3 dan hal hal janggal lainnya yang terjadi disini. Walau buku ini pun sebenarnya udah janggal dari awal. Endingnya pun bisa dibilang open ending yang tidak ku pahami.
Tapi yha overall aku menikmatinya. Mungkin bukan buku untuk semua orang.
June 15, 2026
”But you have to consider the essential jaggedness of the human soul. It has its ups and downs. And that jaggedness is exactly what makes it beautiful.”
Such a weird yet wonderful story. I am appalled to see that it’s not actually well-known considering platforms suggest only around 2,000 people have read it. I want to urge everyone to read this alluring and curious story of a dying man who had been given immortality—a man with regrets, memories, and decisions he was left pondering at the bottom of the ocean.
The novel is not merely about loneliness but about devotion and endurance. Jonathan does not resist his isolation so much as learn to inhabit it. In the depths of the ocean, he turns inward—into meditation, reflection, and a strange kind of calm—choosing stillness over struggle.
What struck me most was not loneliness, but the extraordinary persistence of love across time and separation. Even in centuries of solitude, Jonathan’s devotion to Kitty does not dissolve into bitterness. Instead, it transforms into forgiveness, acceptance, and a quieter, more enduring form of love that survives without expectation of return.
The novel becomes less about being alone and more about what remains when everything else is stripped away—regret, memory, identity, and love itself. Jonathan is not simply enduring immortality; he is reshaping what it means to live within it.
Bizarre, philosophical, and quietly heartbreaking, it feels less like conventional science fiction and more like a fable about love that outlives circumstance, and a man who learns to exist in peace with what cannot be changed.
Such a weird yet wonderful story. I am appalled to see that it’s not actually well-known considering platforms suggest only around 2,000 people have read it. I want to urge everyone to read this alluring and curious story of a dying man who had been given immortality—a man with regrets, memories, and decisions he was left pondering at the bottom of the ocean.
The novel is not merely about loneliness but about devotion and endurance. Jonathan does not resist his isolation so much as learn to inhabit it. In the depths of the ocean, he turns inward—into meditation, reflection, and a strange kind of calm—choosing stillness over struggle.
What struck me most was not loneliness, but the extraordinary persistence of love across time and separation. Even in centuries of solitude, Jonathan’s devotion to Kitty does not dissolve into bitterness. Instead, it transforms into forgiveness, acceptance, and a quieter, more enduring form of love that survives without expectation of return.
The novel becomes less about being alone and more about what remains when everything else is stripped away—regret, memory, identity, and love itself. Jonathan is not simply enduring immortality; he is reshaping what it means to live within it.
Bizarre, philosophical, and quietly heartbreaking, it feels less like conventional science fiction and more like a fable about love that outlives circumstance, and a man who learns to exist in peace with what cannot be changed.
August 16, 2026
A very strong novella, comparable to The Divine Farce for its poignant meditation on hypothetical immortality. The scenario here is completely different, unique as far as I know. Through a medical mishap, our narrator is left in a nearly inanimate state.
Time is all he has left. A love, at first sustainable, healthy, becomes slowly all-consuming.
The pacing is appropriate to the novella length, to the genre of speculative fiction, in this liminal zone of pseudo-Bizarro storytelling. The plot is surprising and the characterization is focused. The imagery is essential, immediately vivid. I cannot help but turn pages.
I am a fan of this author's cinematic approach. I wish he would publish more of these little books of weird fiction. I plan to pick up the next one in his oeuvre regardless. Keep publishing them and I will keep buying or renting them. I won't even read the descriptions anymore. Surprise me.
Though it is wish fulfilment in a sense, the main character's reactions to his situation, that is, becoming enlightened, his profound detachment, rather than a dull languishing, made this reader's journey worthwhile. It is a far less depressing episode than the one we witness in the previously mentioned novella.
The novella as a form is underrated. Why is everyone so obsessed with publishing novels. Novellas are so much easier to stomach these days. People, support the production of shorter works. Publishers stop demanding more from the bloated market of hefty novels.
Time is all he has left. A love, at first sustainable, healthy, becomes slowly all-consuming.
The pacing is appropriate to the novella length, to the genre of speculative fiction, in this liminal zone of pseudo-Bizarro storytelling. The plot is surprising and the characterization is focused. The imagery is essential, immediately vivid. I cannot help but turn pages.
I am a fan of this author's cinematic approach. I wish he would publish more of these little books of weird fiction. I plan to pick up the next one in his oeuvre regardless. Keep publishing them and I will keep buying or renting them. I won't even read the descriptions anymore. Surprise me.
Though it is wish fulfilment in a sense, the main character's reactions to his situation, that is, becoming enlightened, his profound detachment, rather than a dull languishing, made this reader's journey worthwhile. It is a far less depressing episode than the one we witness in the previously mentioned novella.
The novella as a form is underrated. Why is everyone so obsessed with publishing novels. Novellas are so much easier to stomach these days. People, support the production of shorter works. Publishers stop demanding more from the bloated market of hefty novels.
July 6, 2026
4.75/5
This was just as good as The Divine Farce, though the tone and subject matter was very different. It reminded me a little of Piranesi. It was lovely, I even teared up a little at the end.
The author is a pretty impressive guy - he teaches neuroscience and psychology at Princeton, is a composer and a ventriloquist. He's someone I would love to have lunch with just to pick his brain. From that resume you would expect his fiction to be dense and opaque, but his stories are written with simple prose and big ideas presented with subtlety. If you peer beneath, you can see his knowledge of psychology and how the mind works woven through his narratives.
This novella can be read in one sitting. It's both delightful and makes you think. Highly recommended and I'm looking forward to reading more of his work (both fiction and non).
This was just as good as The Divine Farce, though the tone and subject matter was very different. It reminded me a little of Piranesi. It was lovely, I even teared up a little at the end.
The author is a pretty impressive guy - he teaches neuroscience and psychology at Princeton, is a composer and a ventriloquist. He's someone I would love to have lunch with just to pick his brain. From that resume you would expect his fiction to be dense and opaque, but his stories are written with simple prose and big ideas presented with subtlety. If you peer beneath, you can see his knowledge of psychology and how the mind works woven through his narratives.
This novella can be read in one sitting. It's both delightful and makes you think. Highly recommended and I'm looking forward to reading more of his work (both fiction and non).
June 16, 2025
4.5 stars
The way Graziano's writing just flows from scenario to scenario in a completely believable way even though the things he writes about border on the absurd is so refreshing. He makes reading about literal hell on earth so easy, and I consistently get stuck caring for a character I know essentially nothing about. He writes like Graziano himself is going through these crazy experiences with the calmest, most laid back attitude and I genuinely admire all of his characters for their handling of the things they go through. Wish I could be like you Jonathan <3
The way Graziano's writing just flows from scenario to scenario in a completely believable way even though the things he writes about border on the absurd is so refreshing. He makes reading about literal hell on earth so easy, and I consistently get stuck caring for a character I know essentially nothing about. He writes like Graziano himself is going through these crazy experiences with the calmest, most laid back attitude and I genuinely admire all of his characters for their handling of the things they go through. Wish I could be like you Jonathan <3
September 7, 2026
Graziano has a beautiful way of writing, in that he only needs a short few sentences to set a scene, or to describe someone's movement or reaction. In such little words, I can recall this entire (albeit, short) book. I would like to read Graziano's longer works, just to see how his language changes on a larger scale (I know mine does- I become less interested in the microscale level of writing when I have a larger story at hand, and I think Stephen King is like that as well).
After the first climax of the book with the human experiment (very easy to see why I'd love this book), the story went to odd places. I read this with my mom, exchanging the book every day to write notes in it as we went along reading it. It's divided into three parts: the human experiment, the underwater meditation, and the NYC superhero exploration. The underwater meditation was probably my least favorite part, since I think it should have delved into why the protagonist was so obsessed with his wife (who had just betrayed him). I think it's easy to chalk it up as 'love', but I also think that it would have been nice as to understand more of the 'why' as to who he is and why he loves her. The delayed decoding of the beginning of this book where the progression of events leading up to the human experiment elucidates more and more of what is actually going on was super well done. However, I think I just wanted to know more about the protagonist's psychology more, as his external journey of transformation was perfect in its absurd beauty, but I never was able to really get who 'HE' was.
Besides that, I think it's a perfect book. I would love to keep reading more of Graziano, who I would say is one of my new favorite authors.
After the first climax of the book with the human experiment (very easy to see why I'd love this book), the story went to odd places. I read this with my mom, exchanging the book every day to write notes in it as we went along reading it. It's divided into three parts: the human experiment, the underwater meditation, and the NYC superhero exploration. The underwater meditation was probably my least favorite part, since I think it should have delved into why the protagonist was so obsessed with his wife (who had just betrayed him). I think it's easy to chalk it up as 'love', but I also think that it would have been nice as to understand more of the 'why' as to who he is and why he loves her. The delayed decoding of the beginning of this book where the progression of events leading up to the human experiment elucidates more and more of what is actually going on was super well done. However, I think I just wanted to know more about the protagonist's psychology more, as his external journey of transformation was perfect in its absurd beauty, but I never was able to really get who 'HE' was.
Besides that, I think it's a perfect book. I would love to keep reading more of Graziano, who I would say is one of my new favorite authors.
January 28, 2026
After reading this and The Divine Farce I feel like the author really believes in the power of sensory deprivation tanks.
I enjoyed a lot of the book, but felt like the protagonist’s main motivation was a little unearned. And the last quarter of the book started to lose me a bit as I wish the main character’s thought process was more fleshed out like it was in the earlier parts.
Overall it’s a quick and easy read, and I really enjoyed myself for the duration.
I enjoyed a lot of the book, but felt like the protagonist’s main motivation was a little unearned. And the last quarter of the book started to lose me a bit as I wish the main character’s thought process was more fleshed out like it was in the earlier parts.
Overall it’s a quick and easy read, and I really enjoyed myself for the duration.
August 17, 2026
This was simultaneously the weirdest and most beautiful thing I've ever read. At no point did I expect where the story was headed and not once was I the slightest bit disappointed in the direction.
I'm so glad I found out about you, Michael Graziano, even though I do wish you had published dozens and dozens of stories that I could devour.
I have a feeling this will be my favorite book for a long time. One I'll reread countless times.
I'm so glad I found out about you, Michael Graziano, even though I do wish you had published dozens and dozens of stories that I could devour.
I have a feeling this will be my favorite book for a long time. One I'll reread countless times.
April 17, 2026
Fantasy
Not sure what mde me read this but it is causes you to self reflect on life. Some of the imagery caused a bit of unease. Parts of the story was more like a psychological thriller.
Not sure what mde me read this but it is causes you to self reflect on life. Some of the imagery caused a bit of unease. Parts of the story was more like a psychological thriller.
March 18, 2017
You can read my review of “The Love Song of Monkey” on my web site.
December 18, 2021
A weird little book that was somehow both hideous and fascinating at the same time.
August 4, 2022
I'm a great fan of Graziano's research. It's cool that he writes fiction as well, however this was a bit lightweight and I did not find too many interesting ideas or captivating storyline.
December 8, 2023
Such a bizarre story. Fun quick little read.
March 1, 2025
I really enjoyed this book
June 17, 2025
I was searching for something though provoking and I got something silly. Very enjoyable!
June 23, 2025
8.5/10
June 24, 2025
I started this late at night and finished it in about two hours. I was sleepy, but I read it all the way through. It's just that good.
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