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Monkey Chef: A Love Story
In 2010, Mike Freiheit was at the end of his rope. Recently dumped and working a dead-end job in New York City, he knew he needed a change. He found it in South Africa, working at a primate sanctuary as a cook for the monkeys and the volunteers.
Monkey Chef: A Love Story is a fish out of water tale about a well-meaning American guy at odds with the British women he works with, the romantic tangles that come with long-distance dating, navigating a strange new world, and learning how to be a better man from the complicated monkeys under his care.
Monkey Chef: A Love Story is a fish out of water tale about a well-meaning American guy at odds with the British women he works with, the romantic tangles that come with long-distance dating, navigating a strange new world, and learning how to be a better man from the complicated monkeys under his care.
- GenresComicsNonfictionTravel
Paperback
Published July 1, 2018
1 person is currently reading
25 people want to read
About the author
Mike Freiheit
8 books5 followersMike Freiheit (FRY-Hite) is a cartoonist, teaching artist and illustrator living in Chicago, IL. He studied illustration at School of Visual Arts in NYC, and for nine months lived in South Africa at a primate sanctuary, where he cooked food for the monkeys and human volunteers. His first graphic novel is a memoir based on this experience called Monkey Chef: A Love Story.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
July 6, 2018
I've been following Freiheit's work since being randomly seated near him at a small press comics show (SPX? MoCCA?) back in 2009 or 10. His storytelling and art have slowly evolved, but I feel like "Monkey Chef: A Love Story" is an enormous leap forward.
He explored his time as a chef at a primate sanctuary in Africa previously in two mini-comics (Monkey Chef #1 and #2, which I should note are stand-alone stories not included in this book), but those were more like interesting anecdotes as opposed to this fully developed story. Freiheit really delves into relationships (both professional & romantic), toxic masculinity, self-loathing and other topics beyond an interesting job.
Although I am fairly obsessed with primates (I've read a fair amount of books on the subject and visit monkeys/apes whenever possible), I think Freiheit made a very wise decision in setting the relationships between various primates in his care against that of his own budding romance. This will undoubtedly appeal to a wider audience beyond primate enthusiasts. I was lucky enough to read some early drafts of the book, and the final version really expanded on some interesting themes touched on in the earlier incarnations.
The artwork is very expressive with a stripped down color palette of CMYK, possibly inspired by risograph printing. Confident but not overly-fussy linework.
My wife pointed out that the protagonist balds significantly between the time depicted before p. 127 and after (there is a "3 months later" caption box). Maybe the stress of work & his relationships caused premature balding to accelerate. In any case, I highly recommend this comic!
He explored his time as a chef at a primate sanctuary in Africa previously in two mini-comics (Monkey Chef #1 and #2, which I should note are stand-alone stories not included in this book), but those were more like interesting anecdotes as opposed to this fully developed story. Freiheit really delves into relationships (both professional & romantic), toxic masculinity, self-loathing and other topics beyond an interesting job.
Although I am fairly obsessed with primates (I've read a fair amount of books on the subject and visit monkeys/apes whenever possible), I think Freiheit made a very wise decision in setting the relationships between various primates in his care against that of his own budding romance. This will undoubtedly appeal to a wider audience beyond primate enthusiasts. I was lucky enough to read some early drafts of the book, and the final version really expanded on some interesting themes touched on in the earlier incarnations.
The artwork is very expressive with a stripped down color palette of CMYK, possibly inspired by risograph printing. Confident but not overly-fussy linework.
My wife pointed out that the protagonist balds significantly between the time depicted before p. 127 and after (there is a "3 months later" caption box). Maybe the stress of work & his relationships caused premature balding to accelerate. In any case, I highly recommend this comic!
May 17, 2020
Cartoonists have been mining the unlucky-in-love autobio seam for so long, you’d think there’d be nothing left to excavate, right? How many ways can you really retell “boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy gets girl back” before it gets stale? Except the thing is, with a unique voice, a singular style, and a distinctive setting, it’s possible to make the old tropes feel fresh again. Case in point: “Monkey Chef: A Love Story” by Mike Freiheit, his quirky and warm graphic memoir about working as a cook in a South African primate sanctuary. Betcha you’ve never read something like that before, huh?
Aimless in New York City and in the throes of a quarter-life-crisis, Freiheit turned his passing interest in monkeys into an adventure when he discovered an online ad for the aforementioned monkey chef position. With nothing keeping him tethered to his normal life - except for an ill-timed and passionate new relationship - he took the leap and found himself practically on the other side of the Earth, making meals for marmosets and tamarins while trying (and failing) to navigate a long-distance courtship and his own insecurities. Look, Freiheit doesn’t always make the right decisions, and at times you’ll want to throttle him and tell him to snap out of it, but there isn’t a single reader out there who can’t relate to his ennui and uncertainty. In beautifully muted, pastel panels, he explores his heart as well as a foreign land with equal amounts of curiosity and compassion. It’s a tender, bittersweet piece of work.
“Monkey Chef” is the kind of graphic memoir that, when you’re done reading it, you’re left with the sense that you really know the creator. Like, if you met them in a bar or something, you could grab a beer together and just start talking like old friends. Isn’t that what makes for great comics, even if their basic stories have been touched on before? What’s better than traveling a well-worn path with a good friend?
Aimless in New York City and in the throes of a quarter-life-crisis, Freiheit turned his passing interest in monkeys into an adventure when he discovered an online ad for the aforementioned monkey chef position. With nothing keeping him tethered to his normal life - except for an ill-timed and passionate new relationship - he took the leap and found himself practically on the other side of the Earth, making meals for marmosets and tamarins while trying (and failing) to navigate a long-distance courtship and his own insecurities. Look, Freiheit doesn’t always make the right decisions, and at times you’ll want to throttle him and tell him to snap out of it, but there isn’t a single reader out there who can’t relate to his ennui and uncertainty. In beautifully muted, pastel panels, he explores his heart as well as a foreign land with equal amounts of curiosity and compassion. It’s a tender, bittersweet piece of work.
“Monkey Chef” is the kind of graphic memoir that, when you’re done reading it, you’re left with the sense that you really know the creator. Like, if you met them in a bar or something, you could grab a beer together and just start talking like old friends. Isn’t that what makes for great comics, even if their basic stories have been touched on before? What’s better than traveling a well-worn path with a good friend?
January 3, 2023
I enjoyed this, but I kept thinking that the book needed a strong editor to really help shape the story. It was pretty good, but flabby. I think a good, strong editor could have really shaped this into something stronger and fleshed this out into something great. Still, really enjoyed it and looking forward to more of Mike's work!
February 10, 2022
Totally relatable story
August 26, 2018
Super lush art and novel setting, but ehh mixed feelings.I think ultimately I just didn't want to read another story of a geeky cartoonist struggling with romantic angst. To get me interested in these kind of tales the characters have to be super unique or finely honed by the author, and instead we get characters bonding over watching Law and Order SVU, and super obvious parallels between human and monkey behavior.
July 25, 2018
This is definitely more than an illustrated travel journal. Mike's experiences are wonderfully human and he masterfully relates his internal struggles to those of his monkey friends. The painterly art-style lends to the raw feeling of the graphic novel. You can see his love of Africa by the way he beautifully illustrates the animals and setting.
January 14, 2022
Really difficult to get through this story, the protagonist was kind of unbearable.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews