An accomplished architect, Duncan is driving home from a site visit when a car accident leaves him almost entirely paralyzed from the neck down. Worse, his colleague in the passenger seat, was killed. After Duncan's wife Laura hears of an experimental primate assistance program, Ottoline, a female capuchin monkey, is welcomed into their home and trained to help Duncan with simple tasks when Laura and other caregivers are not present. Despite Ottoline's presence, Laura's support and the many fancy pieces of technology designed to make his new circumstances easier which have been added to their home, Duncan's bleak future makes each day a mental struggle for him.

Though it took a few chapters for me to really get into the story, I was thereafter totally engrossed. The story alternates between scenes from the present, events leading up to the accident and vignettes from both Duncan's and Laura's pasts, providing insight on their lives and personalities. Ottoline (I really wanted to know the correct way to pronounce her name — folks on the internet are of several opinions) and her big personality and antics are only a small fraction of narrative but her presence helps tie together the dual timelines. Weber's writing touches with sensitivity on all kinds of topics, from disability and infertility to guilt and hopelessness. I learned about all kinds new concepts in architecture, medicine, and art conservation. Weber must either be incredibly knowledgeable or have done extensive research. Her writing is really stellar, both authentic and perceptive. I'm frankly confused by how this book hasn't received more recognition. It's a sleeper hit for sure. Highly recommended. ( )

I was intrigued by the clever title as it refers to a helper monkey, a tufted capuchin named Ottoline who is trained to help a 37-year-old paraplegic man. Duncan Wheeler is a successful architect who was severely injured in a car accident which killed his young assistant. This isn't my usual reading fare. As I read more of the new lifestyle that architect Duncan Wheeler must adjust to, I kept asking myself if I was enjoying the book and if I was really going to finish it. But, in spite of the very nuts-and-bolts details of living in a wheelchair as a C-6 spinal cord injury victim, I continued to read. Yes, it got intense, but not graphic. What kept me engaged was the excellent writing and the realistic three-dimensional characters. Author Katherine Weber skillfully described not only Duncan's state of mind and his life both before and after the accident, but she explored the thoughts, hopes, and sense of humor of his wife Laura as well as Duncan's twin brother Gordon. These three characters were so honestly and vividly portrayed that at times I had to remind myself it was a novel and not a true story.

So what about Ottoline, the adorable little monkey? Every time she is in the story, she steals the limelight. The concept of a helper monkey is fascinating to me, and this little furry girl has such personality! Plus she is adorable, comical, and sweet.

This is a thought-provoking novel, and one that I will remember for quite a while. As the book cover notes, "Still Life With Monkey, full of tenderness and melancholy, explores the conflict between the will to live and the desire to die."

I received a copy of this book from the author in exchange for an honest review. ( )

STILL LIFE WITH MONKEY may not be what you expect. But it is such a lovely novel I give it my highest rating, and I seldom do that.

The story opens with Duncan, a quadriplegic architect in his 30s, after he is first introduced to Ottoline, a small helper monkey. You may expect, then, that STILL LIFE WITH MONKEY continues the story of “life with monkey.” Yes and no.

STILL LIFE WITH MONKEY is a character-driven novel that studies Duncan and the people closest to him, his wife, Laura, and his twin brother, Gordon. Ottoline is part of the story, but she’s not the story.

Katharine Weber makes her characters seem so real because, as she says, she uses “real-world information,” including architecture, art conservation, Sears kit houses, infertility, quadriplegia, monkey helpers, the right to die, twins, and Chinese porcelains. And she makes it interesting as you learn more and more about Duncan, Laura, and Gordon.

Author Ann Packer says that this book is “a meditation on the question of what makes life worth living.” Maybe, but I understood the opposite: what makes life worth dying.

I love this book and wish I read Katharine Weber sooner. ( )

This story of a couple—Duncan and Laura Wheeler, an architect paralyzed in an accident and his wife—is funny and smart and sad in equal measures. Weber gets at the shifts and dynamics between the two, the ill and the healthy spouse with an entire marriage's complications already packed into their otherwise smoothly run lives, and paints a sympathetic but not sentimental portrait, sometimes harsh but always believable. The monkey in question is Ottoline, a tufted capuchin "monkey helper" engaged to help Duncan with small tasks, but also a sharply drawn little character in her own right. This is all about relationships: Duncan and Laura, Duncan and his sweet oddball brother Gordon, the Wheelers and Ottoline, and—in stark highlight—Duncan's relationship to his once-comfortable life and his new limitations, the true heartbreaker of the novel. Weber's observations, small and large, are engaging and spot-on, and even Ottoline is given a believable interiority. Good, subtle, smart stuff. ( )