# Bad Monkeys **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 3, 2007, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-monkeys/417859 "2007-09-03T00:04:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Tapiotar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3be4f8/32.png) [@Tapiotar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapiotar)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2007, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-monkeys/417859/1 "2007-09-03T00:04:43Z")
I just finished reading Bad Monkeys by Matt Ruff, and my head has been thoroughly twisted by it. Has anyone else read it yet? [Bad Monkeys](http://www.amazon.com/Bad-Monkeys-Matt-Ruff/dp/0061240419) ---
**Author:** ![Mrs.Cake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/2acd7d/32.png) [@Mrs.Cake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mrs.Cake)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2007, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-monkeys/417859/2 "2007-09-03T00:08:46Z")
I’m about halfway through. So far it’s a fun read but not mind-twisting. Glad to hear that it actually is twisty - I was starting to wonder. ---
**Author:** ![Tapiotar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3be4f8/32.png) [@Tapiotar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapiotar)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2007, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-monkeys/417859/3 "2007-09-03T01:20:15Z")
Oh, the twistiness is coming… ---
**Author:** ![Hoops](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hoops/32/6408_2.png) [@Hoops](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hoops)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2007, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-monkeys/417859/4 "2007-09-03T01:50:36Z")
Hoping to read it soon. I liked _Fool On The Hill_. appreciated _Sewer, Gas And Electric_ (as a former teenage Rand enthusiast and fan of Robert Anton Wilson), and was absolutely blown away by _Set This House In Order_, which I would heartily recommend to anyone. [Matt Ruff’s website.](http://home.att.net/~storytellers/) ---
**Author:** ![saramamalana](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/74df32/32.png) [@saramamalana](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saramamalana)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2007, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-monkeys/417859/5 "2007-09-03T15:39:19Z")
I bought the book based on cover alone. I was poking around in Barnes & Noble and it caught my eye. I haven’t read it yet but it’s definitely next once I finish my current read. I’ll be sure to bump this thread once I do! (for anyone interested, my current read is The Partly Cloudy Patriot by Sarah Vowell) ---
**Author:** ![Man\_With\_a\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/cab0a1/32.png) [@Man\_With\_a\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Man_With_a_Cat)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2007, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-monkeys/417859/6 "2007-09-03T16:55:17Z")
I saw it on the new books rack at the library, and had to get it, just based on the cover and shape. It’s good, and the twistiness is coming, believe me. I liked it enough to go find more Ruff. I just finished Sewer, Gas & Electric, and am off to the bookstore this week to find more of his work. ---
**Author:** ![Mrs.Cake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/2acd7d/32.png) [@Mrs.Cake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mrs.Cake)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2007, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-monkeys/417859/7 "2007-09-03T19:58:17Z")
Finished it last night. It was certainly a twisty page-turner, although I guessed a couple of the twists in advance. I didn’t like it as much as I usually enjoy Chris Moore’s books, but enough to recommend it and be interested in reading some more of the author’s works (not currently available at my local library, or I’d pick some up this week). I actually liked the premise and many of the details more than the twisty endings. I could see it becoming a bit of a cult classic for the paradigm alone. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2007, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-monkeys/417859/8 "2007-09-03T21:52:20Z")
Thanks for alerting me. I love Ruff’s “Sewer, Gas, and Electric: The Public Works Trilogy” (which should be required reading for Ayn Rand fans, since it’s impossible to take her seriously ever again) and would love to read more. ---
**Author:** ![Tapiotar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3be4f8/32.png) [@Tapiotar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapiotar)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2007, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-monkeys/417859/9 "2007-09-03T22:39:01Z")
[QUOTE=Mrs. Cake] Finished it last night. It was certainly a twisty page-turner, although I guessed a couple of the twists in advance. I didn’t like it as much as I usually enjoy Chris Moore’s books, but enough to recommend it and be interested in reading some more of the author’s works (not currently available at my local library, or I’d pick some up this week). I actually liked the premise and many of the details more than the twisty endings. I could see it becoming a bit of a cult classic for the paradigm alone. [/QUOTE] It’s not as laid-back nor does it have the slapstick of Christopher Moore’s books (and I love certain of Christopher Moore’s books, especially Lamb, Practical Demonkeeping, and Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove. Haven’t gotten to A Dirty Job yet. ) but it provided a more interesting take on the good/evil teams than many books do. I’m going to make a point of looking up and reading Ruff’s earlier work. ---
**Author:** ![JCorre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/3da27b/32.png) [@JCorre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JCorre)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2007, 7:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-monkeys/417859/10 "2007-09-04T07:33:38Z")
I liked it because of the character development. The end smacked of deus ex machina though which turned me off a bit. ---
**Author:** ![Tapiotar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3be4f8/32.png) [@Tapiotar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapiotar)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2007, 11:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-monkeys/417859/11 "2007-09-04T11:23:24Z")
[QUOTE=JCorre] I liked it because of the character development. The end smacked of deus ex machina though which turned me off a bit. [/QUOTE] Interesting. I thought that any element that could be used as a deus ex machina was there right from the very beginning. I didn’t think that the ending did not defy the internal logic of the story, but was a rather nice culmination of it, perfectly in line with the protag’s history as revelaed in the novel. (I don’t know how to do a spoiler box, so I can’t say it more plainly than that.) ---
**Author:** ![Paintcharge](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/paintcharge/32/7946_2.png) [@Paintcharge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paintcharge)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2007, 12:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-monkeys/417859/12 "2007-09-04T12:35:44Z")
I liked it, but not nearly as much as his other books. The ending did feel kind of like he just got tired and finished it off quick. It was his first book that, to me, even felt like his others. By that I mean “Fool on the Hill”, “Sewer, Gas & Electric” and “Set This House in Order” all were very different in tone, subject matter etc. This one went back to some of the themes from House and Fool. I don’t really see the comparisons to Chris Moore. Matt Ruff doesn’t have the same _trying_ to be funny vibe that Moore does. ---
**Author:** ![Tapiotar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3be4f8/32.png) [@Tapiotar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapiotar)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2007, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-monkeys/417859/13 "2007-09-04T14:49:49Z")
Moore did a blurb of praise for the book, and theat tends to make one think there will be some similarities. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2008, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-monkeys/417859/14 "2008-03-01T22:41:48Z")
I just finished it five minutes ago, having checked it out from the library three hours ago. Quite a page-turner! I need some time to digest the ending; I’m not sure whether it fits well within the story’s parameters. I suspect it does, but something about it felt a little off to me. Daniel