First published in Australia in 1977; published by Pantheon on February 20, 2024

Monkey Grip is regarded as a classic of Australian literature, the first novel of one of the nation’s most celebrated writers. I wouldn't say it has aged well.

The novel is narrated by Nora, a woman in her early thirties living in Melbourne in 1975. Nora has a daughter named Gracie, the product of her failed marriage, although Gracie plays a relatively small role in the novel (and seemingly in Nora’s life).

Nora is in love with a junky named Javo. Nora spends half the novel telling the reader how much she loves Javo. She spends the other half telling the reader how miserable Javo makes her. Love and misery often share the same paragraph.

Nora is a mess. She regularly does coke and acid. While she manages to hold a job and raise a daughter (activities that seem to happen in the background of her life), she’s hardly in a position to complain that Javo spends his dole money on heroin. She sleeps with other men but is jealous when other women show an interest in Javo. She breaks up with Javo and then pines for him. She takes him back and returns to a state of misery. Repeat and repeat and repeat.

One might think that heroin is the problem since Javo is by all accounts a likeable dude, but when Javo gets cleaned up for a period of time, Nora is even more upset with him because he doesn’t seem to need her as much as he does when he’s high. In fact, he starts sleeping with a different woman when he’s straight, which is definitely a bad sign for his relationship with Nora. Nora nevertheless seems to be his favorite partner, perhaps because she keeps her eyes open when they screw.

Javo shags an impressive number of women for an addict who steals from his friends when his money runs out. Nora seems willing to sleep with anyone who asks but she has fewer partners than Javo. Sometimes Gerald joins Nora in bed but, for ambiguous reasons, he won’t always shag her. This is not great for Nora’s self-esteem since he seems to have a sexual interest in other women.

Nora’s life is made messier by the domestic drama that surrounds it. A reader might need a spread sheet to keep track of who is shagging whom in this domestic drama. Nora’s friend Rita seems interested in messing around with Javo, and then with the boyfriend of Nora’s friend Angela. This gives Nora and Angela an excuse to be catty about Rita’s overall sluttiness. Rita’s regular boyfriend is Nick but he’s another junky. At some point I stopped trying to keep track of the characters, most of whom exist only to give main characters something to gossip about.

The men in the novel are all losers but what does that say about the women who desire them? That might be the question that animates Monkey Grip. Nora becomes “dried out with loneliness” if a guy isn’t making her wet. Nora clearly uses men for sex (which isn’t a problem since they are happy to be used), but she’s a bit of a hypocrite when she accuses Javo of using her for sex. She only seems to be happy when he’s shagging her, so what’s the problem?

Nora at least has some self-awareness. She understands her insecurities even if she does little to conquer them. She wonders “why I always need a man to be concerned with, whether well or ill.” She wonders why she is afraid to be alone. She wonders why she comforts herself by picking out the least attractive characteristics of women who share an interest in the men in her life. She wonders why she can’t screw the same person in a committed relationship for more than a couple of years before losing interest in the sex. She realizes that she is not a kind person and that her personality makes her unhappy. “So change yourself,” a reader might think, but Nora — like most people — is better at identifying faults than addressing them.

Perhaps my reaction to Monkey Grip is too judgmental. After all, Nora is living in a different age and culture than twenty-first century America. She rarely tells men what she’s really feeling because she’s been conditioned to obey “some unwritten law, blood-deep” that prevents women from being honest when they feel emotional pain. Nora has embraced the sexual revolution but notions of gender equality that are central to modern feminism have not empowered her. That’s probably not her fault as she likely hasn’t been exposed to those ideas.

So maybe I’m being too harsh, but I was more annoyed by Nora than sympathetic to her plight. Perhaps I should have been enlightened by Nora’s reaction to the emotional burden of loving a man who makes her life so difficult, but I just wanted her to come to her senses. Monkey Grip has interesting moments, but I might have enjoyed it for its shock value in 1977. Today, it feels dated.

RECOMMENDED WITH RESERVATIONS

I really enjoyed The Children's Bach by Helen Garner, so I was excited to read another book by her. This was originally published in Australia in 1977 and is now being published in the US. Once again, Garner's writing is gorgeous. Unfortunately the storyline is difficult, about a woman who is in love with a man who is addicted to drugs. I realize it was a different era, but I still felt frustrated with the characters, who repeated the same destructive patterns over and over again. I'm sure it's a very accurate portrayal of living with addiction, and it's a testament to Garner's writing that I felt so uncomfortable with it. But the writing is so good, it kept me reading. I'm amazed we haven't been treated to Helen Garner before this in the US! I look forward to other books by her.

I think I wouldn’t have had patience with this book if hadn’t been for Helen Garner’s writing and the Forward. It was good to be reminded the book’s first publication was in 1977, and it reflects the time.
This is a novel about addiction, loving someone who has addiction issues, the loving, the waiting, the wanting. The title refers to the strength of a monkey’s grip, a metaphor for addiction. It’s not a happy book and the writing lifts the story up. It’s a book about bearing witness, about co-dependence, and surviving. It’s a quiet book, certainly not as loud as This House of Grief. I didn’t expect it to be a happy one given the theme of House.
I do highly recommend this book for readers of literary fiction, women literary figures, Australian writers. It might be a revelation, or it might be a well-worn path. There’s always the lost of a generation, and the author turned her journalistic eye onto Nora’s.

I greatly admired Helen Garner’s excellent novel “The Children’s Bach” and non-fiction “This House of Grief” in their recent North American editions. I had similarly high expectations for her debut novel, “Monkey Grip,” first published in 1977, and just re-issued. It was not for me.

This novel belongs to a genre of precocious works of the post-Kerouac period, exemplified by counter-culture literary figures such as Richard Brautigan and dozens of lesser hippie scribblers. It has not worn well, and makes for tough slogging. The situations are dull, the dialogue and narration are not exactly sparkling, and the characters are all irredeemable twits. The core of this tale is a single mother named Nora who maintains an irrational attraction to a junkie named Javo, while being drawn to other troubled males, grazing on recreational drugs to a soundtrack of Steely Dan music, and paying scant attention to her children.

Perhaps this was all intended to be scandalous or provocative 47 years ago. In a 2024 context it just seems pointless. These characters, for all their inner turmoil, shifting alliances, and non-stop yapping, have little to intrigue a contemporary adult reader. As a period piece, this is an especially annoying artifact. The positive part of it is that Garner overcame this unpromising beginning and established herself as a writer with a global following. “Monkey Grip” is for curious literature students and hard-core fans only. Thanks to NetGalley.com for making this new release available for review.

I can’t tell if it’s a success or failure of this book that I constantly felt so exhausted reading it! Garner's writing stunned me. I was content to read and reread her prose, regardless of the story that prose built. Luckily, the story was strong and ache-worthy as well. I'm glad I got to read this rerelease. Groff's introduction was unsurprisingly great.

Originally published in 1977, Helen Garner's Monkey Grip has been re-released with an introduction from Lauren Groff.

Garner drops the reader right into the 70s. We're in Australia with Nora and her young daughter Gracie, living in a communal house with musicians, artists, bakers and cooks and movie people. Nora has a partner (don't try keeping track of the names) until Javo comes around and she becomes entranced with him. He's entranced with heroin. It's not ideal.

I like Garner's writing, the realistic dialogue and descriptive settings. The challenge with this one was the repetition. Nora and Javo. It was relentless and kind of sad. While I didn't love being in ťhe world of Monkey Grip, I'll continue reading these Garner re-releases.

My thanks to NetGalley and Pantheon for the ARC.

Thank you #NetGalley for introducing me to Helen Garner via the re-release of Monkey Grip. Happy to provide a very positive review for this novel, originally published in 1977 and considered a classic in its home of Australia. Very grateful for the new printing and promotion here in the states and the excellent foreword by Lauren Groff (a favorite author of mine). #MonkeyGrip is the rare book that can bring you viscerally into the lives of the characters via incredible writing and sensory descriptions. Garner uses Nora, the protagonist, to project the desolate, unforgiving, and lonely life of addiction and codependency. Nora is a free spirit with a young, precocious daughter, Gracie (not a bit player in the novel but one of my favorite characters - with the absolute best lines)! Gracie and other children (Juliet and The Roaster - yes the latter is the most stellar of monikers), are pint-sized players in the lives of a cast of "adult" characters who cycle through various versions of drug use while dealing, acting, performing music, and creating art. And, especially, sleeping on/off/on/off with one another - changing partners more often than clothing! I really enjoyed this novel and Garner's writing, but it did get depressing to read (even as someone who very much enjoys this genre and topic). It was difficult for me not to start taking on Nora's mindset (that's how good the writing is). With those caveats in place, I strongly recommend this book if the topics are appealing to you.

"I began to sense myself as something very balanced and steady, and him as a dark mass yawing wildly and out of control. Got to let him pass through and round me, keep my centre, not let his disorder pull me askew.."

Helen Garner’s Monkey Grip is a novel originally written in 1977 - her first published book. It is now considered a classic of Australian literature.

After reading this story that centers around Nora and her band of friends in Melbourne, I understand the title, Monkey Grip. Nora and her friends have loose bonds with each other, but at the center is Nora’s friendship with Javo, a heroine addict.

Garner keeps the details about Nora’s profession, it seems to be screen or playwrighting here and there, to a minimum. Her group of friends are all creatives and flow in and out of their rented houses and flow in and out of casual relationships with each other.

Even Nora’s young daughter, Gracie, is cared for, at times, by some of Nora’s friends.

The story is atmospheric, it feels of its time in a good way. I can only imagine this story being very singular at the time of publication because of its unique, very independent female protagonist.

Since everyone and their mother has done a summary for Monkey Grip I am just going to give my opinion. I found everyone in the book to be horrible people having said that I did find the story interesting although I didn’t like the disjointed way it was told and how it leap frog from one subject to the next I think the reason this book was popular in the 70s was because this wasn’t a way of life people lived or knew about that much and you know what they say curiosity killed the cat and it also obviously made this book popular. It is books like this that alert me to how much I dislike this information overload atmosphere we have in life today because there was a time when I would’ve devoured this book but drug addicted losers and the women who love them these days are nothing new the fact that she drug her daughter along for the ride in my opinion made her a fool and a terrible mother but as I said I still found the story interesting I just wish it would’ve been told in a more forward way as opposed to the disjointed telling I got. As far as whether I recommend it or not I do think that monkey grip is a book that I would recommend because I do believe either you love or hate the book. I would in no way go tell somebody I didn’t like the book because I did they were just aspects of it I didn’t like in the fact except for the little girl there was no one really to root for. I want to thank Knoph, pantheon, vintage an anchor and NetGalley for my free arc copy please forgive any mistakes as I am blind and dictate my review.

Novels belong to times and places. This novel is absolutely a product of its time...the 1970s...and place, settler-colonial Australia. Now we are fifty years (close enough) on from that time, we see it very differently. The term "settler colonial" as an example had not been articulated in any but the most ardently leftist circles and is now much more a part of the cultural conversation. What Garner has to say about a liberated woman of the 1970s hits very differently now than it did then. Nora’s descent into sexual obsession and drug abuse was transgressive in a different way. Now, in a conservative social landscape developed in reaction to that bright bohemian moment, Nora seems appallingly neglectful, pretty much criminally culpable for her treatment of Gracie as an expendable accessory to her own life. We think that differently about children and their needs. Thank goodness.

A point that was clear then that we of the 2020s often seem to ignore is that Gracie...of necessity...has a dad. Nora is living her own life without so much as a thought for Gracie. And so, I remind is all in our desire to tut over this, is Gracie’s dad. In the 1970s that was so ordinary an outcome that nothing whatever is made of it, nor is Javo’s hostile indifference to anyone’s needs except his own. He is, after all, A Man. Nora, by the end of the tale, is the only sufferer for her actions. Her resentful neglect of Gracie, product of an unhappy stab at marriage, really stood out for me as she simultaneously pined after the job of riding herd on Javo of the wild blue eyes and the clearly terminal smack (heroin, for the youths who might read this) addiction. As always, the inconvenient thing about children is that they need meals, clothes, baths, every day. Junkies like the adult-but-younger Javo, in contrast, can be left in their own mess, and no one does a double-take.

The reason this book sprang out at people back in the day was that it was still very much Not Done for a woman to write about women’s desires for sex, and about the bright shining fact that the reason drug culture took hold was that taking drugs feels really good. It gets a user out of their doubtless boring and routine life. That it also takes them over and ruins that boring tedious necessary engagement with living one’s life slowly emerges as Nora stays focused on herself and her addictions to sex and drugs. The shock value of this, then, was that it was a woman writing about it without stuffy moralizing and overt message-making. Yes, she has been in this out-of-control relaationship but she does come to know it must, and is at the, end. Nora does not ever think about the impact of any of this on Gracie.

I do not pretend to like Nora, or to think I would voluntarily pick up a book about her. I’m glad that I read <I>Monkey Grip</I> because the prose is terrific...elliptical, imprecise, and poetic...and the fact that this is based off Garner’s own life is much better known now. This adds a depth of field to my reading of the nearly plotless events that occur. The fact that Garner spent her energy in this difficult-to-sell way, then transmuted that sort-of wasted life into a work of very loud art in a very beige cultural landscape, made me admire her for her honesty, and for her clarity of purpose in writing it as a novel. She could have written a mea-culpa memoir, and been forgotten in a year.

What we get instead is a book that, for its story and its storyteller, was a loud <B><I>BANG!</I></B> of brightly-colored paint in that very beige cultural landscape. It would take over a decade for Australian writers to follow Helen Garner into the Fitzroy Baths and soak some of the settler-colonial stiffness out of their storytelling muscles.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Pantheon for gifting me a digital ARC of the American debut of the 1977 book by Helen Garner, a famous Australian author - 3.5 stars!

Monkey Grip follows single mother and writer Nora as she navigates the tumultuous cityscape of Melbourne’s bohemian underground, often with her young daughter Gracie in tow. When Nora falls in love with the flighty Javo, she becomes snared in the web of his addiction. And as their tenuous relationship disintegrates, Nora struggles to ween herself off a love that feels impossible to live without.

I was a big fan of Garner's The House of Grief but this book was its polar opposite, although equally well written. It's just that the subject matter is tough. Written and taking place in the late 1970s, it's all about addiction and obsession, so it's constant sex and drugs amid a constant and continuing cast of characters. My heart broke for the children in this story - they were raised amidst all this and you could feel the neglect even through the love.

I have read her other reissued books, but this one was not my favorite. it felt like it was trying too hard to be scandalous even for the 1970s. I didn’t feel like the characters felt like real people. They felt like people thought drug users were like in the 1970s. It reminded me of scared straight type books and not a novel I want to read for fun. It could’ve been better, but it wasn’t the idea was there but maybe she didn’t know enough about that lifestyle to make it seem real?

Pantheon books is reissuing Helen Garner's first novel Monkey Grip after last years reissue of The House of Grief. The author is from Geelong im Australia and writes things that oftentimes about the bad side of humans or thow we cause harm to ourselves or others. Monkey Grip is a tough book to read. It's about addiction and the toll it can take on us and the people around us. It was written in 1977 but still holds true today with addiction stories and things are a lot worse with the opiod crisis in the world. The two main characters are Nora and Javo. They both have addiction problems but Javo is the one with the major drug problem and Nora tries to get him off it but she gos doen her own path of not helping herself of her child. For people who like a book where they have to love the charatcers than this book is not for you and I think the author intended it to be that way. Drugs and addiction are not pleasant things. If you don't show the reality of it than we will never know how destructive it can be to the person doing it and their family members. I really hope that this books gets the love it deserves. Would be a great book for book clubs and actually addiction meetings. Thank you to Netgalley and Pantheon for the ARC.

A fictionalized, though realistic, story line set in a Melbourne, Australia commune/camp during the 1970s. The 1970s found most communities in upheavel as the mores and lifestyles were changing drastically and quickly. Each new day could find the rules of polite society stomped into something that only vaguely resembled current events. Helen Garner has set her story in a community of change and populated it with characters that are as hard to understand as the politics of the time. As Nora struggles through her life, she will forge a path that a woman with less strength could never come back from, all the while dragging her young daughter through the turmoil with her.

The story portrays the era in such a manner that you see the characters and hear the sound of rebellion that surges in and around them. Garner first released this book in 1977. Her research materials included her personal actions and observations, adding the "real" to the story. I've read several of her books and found them all so good that I never hesitate to recommend them to my reading circle.

gorgeously done portrayal of daily life and of very real people. i feel so lucky to have gotten this arc. thanks for the arc.

Pairs Well With:

Mid-day naps
‘Spotless’ by Zach Bryan ft. The Lumineers
Non-U.S. centered stories on the “free love” era

Helen Garner was a new author to me in the winter of last year, reeling me in with her non-fiction work ‘This House of Grief,’ a reporting tour-de-force of one of the most famous murder trials in Australian history.
Coming off of that, I’ve sped through her backlog of fiction and concluded that while her fiction work established her as a literary star, it’s really her eye for the wavering lines of morality and truth IRL that make me love her.
This new release of Monkey Grip is one of three reissues of Garner’s work by Knopf, and probably my favorite of her fiction catalog. An early look at a loving, sometimes scummy free-love community in Australia during the 70s, you can feel the lethargy and drenching heat banging against your head on every page. The repetitive cycles of loving someone entrenched in addition play out in a uniquely down-under way, but left me exhausted by the end, lacking the energy that Nora does to get up and give it another go.

Thank you to knopf for the ARC - out 20 FEB

Originally published in 1977 in Australia, Helen Garner’s MONKEY GRIP, her debut, is a fascinating look at the turmoil of a relationship with a heroin addict. Only recently released in the states, MONKEY GRIP was missed garners debut novel that quickly cemented her as an author to watch.

Nora Lewis a, 32 year old, single mother to Gracie lives in a share house with friends. She meets Javo, a serious heroin addict, and her life is never the same again. She loves being in love, and is willing to go to any lengths to keep Javo in her life, to the detriment of forming positive, healthy relationships.

As often in Garner‘s future books, she takes from her own life and a previous interview. I read, confirmed that she did the same for this novel. This is the third novel I’ve read from Helen Garner and I hope it will not be my last for she has a strong, healthy command of her craft and is willing to share her most intimate stories through her writings. I look forward to more being published in the United States to see where Miss Garner takes me next.

*******TRIGGER WARNINGS: SEX & HEROIN USE/ABUSE*******

Thank you to NetGalley and Pantheon Books for this arc opportunity. All opinions are my own and given voluntarily.

I’d never read Helen Garner before this and I’m glad to discovered her via NetGalley, albeit decades after everyone else has! If you’re one for plot-driven books, this wouldn’t be the book for you, but I found it a fascinating study of love, obsession, addiction, and self-destruction. Even though I have nothing outwardly in common with Nora, I found her inner dialogue painfully relatable at times. Garner’s writing was so evocative for me, and I really felt I was living through 70s counter- culture Australia. I’m looking forward to exploring more of her works.

Monkey Grip by Helen Garner is a fascinating novel. The writing was done well, with many details that really set the scene and gave a clear mental picture of what was happening.
A very creative and interesting story.

I would like to thank NetGalley and Pantheon for the opportunity to read this ahead of its publication date in return for my honest review.

Well, I have just finished reading "Monkey Grip", my third Helen Garner read. I don't know how she does it. Garner gives so much story without bogging it down with tiny details. Its as though she just took the roof off of a house and let us all peek inside like a fly on the wall and watch life happen.
   "Monkey Grip" is 1970's suburban Melbourne, communal living and drugs, just to scratch the surface. We follow Nora who's fallen hard for Javo, and along with that, falling in love with an addict. This is not a light story, it's intense following all the repercussions that come with her love of a junkie, which in itself is its own addiction. Loving and learning to let go. 
    What Garner does is just plainly putting the story out there in its realness and doesn't fall into the over dramatic Lifetime movie of the week sort of treatment that stories like this tend to get. What we get is to watch a glimpse of Noras side of life. One that unfortunately is not a stranger to so many.
     I have said it before and I'm saying it again..I am so glad that we are fortunate enough to get a chance to read Garners works stateside now. Australia kept her a secret long enough!