Rating: 
Summary: one of the best books of the year
Review: Comic novels just don't get much better than Love Monkey, Smith's hilarious dissection of the mating dance in a confused world of angsty New Yorkers torn between their cellphones and their dates. Smith's arch antihero Tom Farrell has a little touch of Holden Caulfield as he explores the shortcomings of every modern big city type (the over-caring new parent, the work-obsessed ambition machine), but mostly takes potshots at himself as he tries (but mostly stumbles) in his attempts to waltz away with the greatest prize in the city: a gorgeous young would-be dancer. Very few male writers have ever showed such understanding of women (his thoughts about women and shoes alone are worth the price of the book), and even fewer male writers have dared to put the male ego under such an unforgiving microscope. The results are hilarious and insightful.
Rating: 
Summary: A joke of a book (but not funny)
Review: The joke is on the reader, for buying Love Monkey.I know what I like, and I know what I don't like. There is never any in-between. When it comes to books, I rarely make mistakes. This time I did. I do not like this novel, which is a dreadful and tragic waste of felled trees. The very least I can do is recycle this thing, I guess. I know there is some good fiction out there, but this novel really threw me off track (esp. since right before this one, I read The Fortress of Solitude, by Jonathan Lethem, which was excellent! Highly recommended). So now I need a very, very good novel to cleanse my palate, and make this bad book--and the accompanying indigestion it gave me--go away.
Rating:
Summary: great stuff
Review: This is a really excellent book that goes far deeper into the minds of single people than you'd ever expect. I read Love Monkey a few weeks ago after hearing about it on National Public Radio but the review of it running in the entertainment section of cnn.com today (they called it "at times laugh-out loud funny, at times endearingly touching") made me remember all over again what a lively, funny experience it is to dive into this very perceptive, penetrating examination of what men really think about women. Read it, you won't be disappointed.
Rating:
Summary: Dumber than a bag of hammers
Review: I found LOVE MONKEY terrible beyond belief. As my five-year-old would say, it was really yucky. I think my local paper The Washington Post nailed it when the critic said that they hoped the author was paid a pile, because they sure don't see this book getting him much action. I too found the protagonist Tom to be annoying, even miserable company. Hilariously the Post said that
listening to him rant is like "being stuck on a cross-country bus handcuffed to a morning-zoo deejay." All too true. I also found the book *very* misogynistic and juvenile. This guy is learning stuff that we all should have picked up back in high school or college. Another peeve I have is that it truly is a compleet and total rip-off of Hornby (Nick, that is), an author I like now and then. This was such a poor rip-off that the imitation and mimicry did not seem like the sincerest form of flattery but more like an arrogant, unimaginative, failed attempt at one-up-man-ship. Sorry to be so negative, gang. Okay, so what do I like? Of recent books? Monica Ali's Brick Lane; Mark Haddon's Curious Dog...; the latest Dave Eggers (okay, not so new); and the Scott Mebus. There! I can end on a positive note. Whew.
Rating:
Summary: I DO NOT RECOMMEND!
Review: Kyle Smith's Love Monkey cannot be recommended under ANY set of criteria. It's an awful, beyond bad novel - but not in a guilty pleasure kind of way. It's just plain bad, and no amount of self-sycophantic, obsequious pitter-patter can cover the stench.
Rating: 
Summary: Chick lit for the male set
Review: "Chick lit" has become a generic term for light fiction for young women. But what about guys? Kyle Smith presents the flip side of chick-lit, a light relationship-based book for guys called "Love Monkey." It's funny, light and sometimes quite sweet. Average guy Tom is in his early thirties, lives in New York, has a rather pitiful rewriting job at Tabloid, enough money to live cushily, and a LOT of ex-girlfriends. He is a "manboy" who lives an essentially lonely existance despite the women who surround him, including platonic-but-might-become-more-pal Bran (and one particular male friend, a playboy called Shooter who dispenses love life advice). Then... Tom goes out with Julia, a pretty feminine young woman whom he has silently longed for for months. Unfortunately, the following little dance-of-dates just frustrates Tom further, as he starts to clue in what kind of girl Julia really is (here's a hint -- she has a boyfriend already). But a sudden disaster might force Tom to change for real... The basic mold of "Love Monkey" is shared with Nick Hornby's "High Fidelity" -- dissatisfying lives for thirtysomething males, who reflect on their failed relationships and vaguely problematic lives. Hey, Smith even mentions "High Fidelity" early on. The big difference between these two is the tone of the novel -- "Love Monkey" is a bit less sardonic, more comedic. Smith does a good job of balancing out contradictions in a modern guy's life -- how to be real, and how to be the kind of guy that women say they like. He does a good job of taking a tangle of sex, pop culture, romance, questions about maturity (grow UP already!), and just what the heck it is Tom wants from his life. Most of the time he himself (Tom, not Smith) seems pretty confused about it. Smith has a certain knack for snappy dialogue and genuinely funny comedic scenarios that will make you giggle and cringe at once. Tom takes awhile to grow on you, but he seems like a nice guy once you read on (much, I suspect, like his real-life counterparts). The supporting characters are all pretty sizzly; Shooter is an especially delicious character. "Love Monkey" is the flip side of chick lit, relationship fiction about young men and their love lives and careers. Amusing light study of the modern male.
Rating:
Summary: I rate this zero stars, actually
Review: Love Monkey is so slight and poorly written taht it doesn't even warrant inclusion in the so-called Lad Lit genre. Anyone who thinks otherwise either has some personal investment in the matter, or just doesn't read much. Trust me, Love Monkey stinks.
Rating: 
Summary: gender bender slick lit tale
Review: Thirty-two tears old Tom Farrell is a swinging single enjoying life in Manhattan while working as a rewrite man at Tabloid, "America's loudest newspaper." His job is to revise submissions into spicy tales with attention-grabbing headlines, the more outrageously conspicuous the better. Tom's pastime is to collect and discard girlfriends at a pace that would rate a mention in Guinness if they kept such a category. His hobby besides women and sports is the Cartoon Network as he prefers to emulate the life of a young teen to that of a thirty something soul married with children. Recently Julia entered his top head and he cannot switch gears with her as he normally does with females. Still that does not stop him from thinking (with the wrong head) that he might want to end his friendship with Bran by enticing her into his bed. This gender bender slick lit tale is amusing though the protagonist loses his cute image turning Tom terrific into an unsympathetic character when he pursues action with a gal pal not out of undying love and regardless of the cost to their friendship. Readers will appreciate LOVE MONKEY for placing a mirror to the chick lit sub-genre with a stag stud star, but ultimately ask what's it all about Farrell? Harriet Klausner
Rating:
Summary: Five Stars for Making Me Laugh Out Loud
Review: Tom Farrell, the hero (or perhaps it's the anti-hero) of Love Monkey, struck me as an amalgam of any single guy living in New York that I have ever known or heard about. Only condiments and beer in the refrigerator, total commitment-phobe, inconsiderate at times, likes to drink. There's nothing all that unique about Tom, but as the narrator of Love Monkey, he is terrifically funny. This novel will make you laugh out loud (warning: not all jokes here are politically correct). The story is not all that original. Tom essentially spends the whole novel pining away over Julia, a woman he probably will never have. In that aspect, Love Monkey is a refreshing change from the romantic comedy, chick lit brand of novels (which I love, don't get me wrong) in that this isn't a fairy tale with a fairy tale ending. It's just a very funny book. The plot can get weak at times, however any novel that is as funny as this ones deserves all five stars. Enjoy the laughter.
Rating:
Summary: Not a Good Novel
Review: I picked up Love Monkey because I thought it would be one of those guilty pleasure novels. Well it was, but without the pleasure part. After reading this Hornby rip-off, I felt guilty for not spending that time playing with my dog instead. This is everything you hope you won't find in a book- big turn-off characters; juvenile, sexist `observations' of men and women and dating; cliched, supposedly `insider' views of the New York tabloid journalism world. Love Monkey is appalling low brow muck.
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