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Chris Vola’s debut novel, Monkeytown, is an indictment of American suburbs, a reminder that there is nothing scarier than young white people with lots of free time.
- The Brooklyn Rail
The joy of Monkeytown is discovering Vola’s mastery. He is virtuosic at parceling out surprises. The layers of emotional and character complexity he unveils over hundreds of pages set in a place where people are regularly beaten, raped, and killed, all the while intensifying the drama and humanity of the abusers and the abused without treating either gratuitously, indicate a writer confident and daring enough to assume he has the reader’s trust, a trust Vola repays time and time again.
- Prick of the Spindle
Vola has his ear to the street. He's tapped into his generation here. Whatever he does next, watch out.
- The Small Press Book Review
Monkeytown is a frightening vision of what we might become.
- Toad Suck Review
A hoaxy, scaly Halliburton nightmare. Vola's hot-headed nihilism will wake you up screaming.
- John Reed, author of Tales of Woe and Snowball's Chance
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