Love Monkey (novel)
Cover to the first USA edition
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| Author | Kyle Smith |
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| Cover artist | Jacket Photograph (c) Royalty Free/Corbis |
| Country | United States of America |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Comic novel |
| Publisher | William Morrow, Harper Perennial, HarperCollins e-books |
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Publication date
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February 2004 |
| Media type | Print (Hardcover & Paperback) & e-book |
| Pages | 352 pages (Hardcover edition) & 368 (Paperback edition) |
| ISBN | (1st edition) & ISBN (Paperback) |
| OCLC | 53839887 |
| 813/.6 22 | |
| LC Class | PS3619.M5895 L68 2004 |
Love Monkey is a comic novel by Kyle Smith published in 2004. It is the basis for the 2006 CBS television series of the same name. Love Monkey is Kyle Smith's first novel. Smith is currently a film critic for the New York Post. The title, Love Monkey, is from a song lyric.
Tom Farrell is a man in his thirties who resides in New York City in 2001 (before, during and after the September 11 attacks). The novel is a slice of life story, briefly visiting several months of his life as he works as an editor of the weekend edition of the New York City newspaper, Tabloid. Although his friends and relatives advance in life (marriage, kids, etc.), Tom believes he is not. He makes around $86,000 a year, but the most expensive item he owns is a several thousand dollar couch (doesn't own a high priced item like a home or car, for example). The novel tracks Tom as he moves through his life, with each chapter being a day in his life during the year 2001 (not all days covered, and not all chapters start new days).
Throughout the book, Tom dates several women, including the woman he really fancies, Julia. Unfortunately for him, Julia is living with another man, and is ten years his junior in age. Julia also works at Tabloid, but while Tom is an editor, Julia is just starting out.
Tom's days are filled with drinking, watching TV (lots of cartoons), working at Tabloid, and trying to deal with his deep desire to be in a relationship with Julia, who seems somewhat determined to not have said relationship.
On his ride through 2001, Tom interacts with some of his friends, including Bran, Karen & Mike, Rollo, and Shooter (among others).
Tom Farrell: Narrator and star of the novel, Tom is a man of relatively average height who describes himself as having the shape of a bowling pin (pudgy, fat, overweight), who also happens to have long hair. Tom works as the editor for the weekend edition of the NYC newspaper Tabloid. Tom has worked the majority of his professional career at this newspaper. His friends include: his default date Bran, who is something of a female friend, though the relationship is undetermined; Karen & Mike, the married couple (and unlike in the TV series, Karen is not his sister); Shooter, the tall, powerful, rich, ladies man, who is black. Tom is from Maryland, and his Missouri breed mother still lives in Maryland as a dental hygienist.
Brandy 'Bran' Lowenstein: Bran works as a producer for a television news program, is Jewish, and is the “default” date for Tom. They tend to like each other, but not really in a romantic way.
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