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AbstractHistoryArchive Description
Set in inner suburban 1970s Melbourne, Monkey Grip describes the fluid relationships of a community of friends who are living and loving in new ways. Nora falls in love with Javo the junkie, and together they try to make sense of their lives and the choices they have made.
Adaptations
-
form
y
Monkey Grip
1982
Australia
:
Pavilion Films
,
1981
Z820614
1982
single work
film/TV
(taught in 1 units)
Set in inner Melbourne over two summers, Monkey Grip is a frank portrayal of a divorced mother who is attempting to cope with both her thirteen-year-old daughter and her own relationship with a drug addict, while also trying to get into the music business. As she battles to regain control of her life, we meet an array of talented and reckless musicians, actors, and writers, all of whom play a part in her world and most of whom refuse to live by society's rules.
Notes
- Other formats: Also sound recording.
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Works about this Work
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A New Literary Portrait of Helen Garner Leaves You Wanting to Know More
2017
single work
essay
— Appears in: The Conversation , 3 May 2017; 'How remarkable that, after some 40 years of books and essays, stories, articles and movies, there have been so few major publications on the life and works of Helen Garner. The National Library of Australia catalogue lists discussion notes; a study (in Mandarin) by Zhu Xiaoying; and Kerryn Goldsworthy’s excellent 1996 monograph. Bernadette Brennan’s A Writing Life goes a considerable way to filling out this slender collection' (Introduction) -
Australia in Three Books
2017
single work
essay
— Appears in: Meanjin , Autumn vol. 76 no. 1 2017; (p. 19-22) 'I’ve chosen authors born in the twentieth century, whose work was published over a span of not quite half a century, from 1941 to the year of the bicentenary, 1988. I know: I’ve chosen three books published over some 47 years when there’s almost another 230 colonial and post-colonial years and, of course, 60,000 more with rich stories of continental habitation to choose from.' (Introduction) -
Australia in Three Books
2016
single work
essay
— Appears in: Meanjin , Autumn vol. 75 no. 1 2016; (p. 21-23) Sofie Laguna shares her thoughts and memories on the reading of three Australian books. -
Top 10 Books about 'Bad' Mothers
2016
single work
column
— Appears in: The Guardian Australia , 14 September 2016; -
Reading Australia : Jessica Anderson's Tirra Lirra by the River'
2015
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , March no. 369 2015; (p. 30-32)'In 1978, Australia’s two most coveted national literary prizes of the time were both won by women: Helen Garner’s first novel Monkey Grip (1977) won the National Book Council Award for fiction, and the Miles Franklin Literary Award was won by Tirra Lirra by the River (1978), Jessica Anderson’s fourth novel. Both of these books have since become classics of Australian literature, rarely out of print and regularly rediscovered by new generations of readers.' (Author's introduction 30)
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First Impressions : The Critical Archives
2003
single work
review
— Appears in: The Age , 1 November 2003; (p. 2)
— Review of Monkey Grip 1977 single work novel -
Monkey Grip
1978
single work
review
— Appears in: Womanspeak , March-April vol. 3 no. 5 1978; (p. 29)
— Review of Monkey Grip 1977 single work novel -
Untitled
1978
single work
review
— Appears in: Luna , vol. 3 no. 1 1978; (p. 42)
— Review of Monkey Grip 1977 single work novel -
Books of the Week
2012
single work
review
— Appears in: The Sunday Mail , 30 September 2012; (p. 37)
— Review of Monkey Grip 1977 single work novel -
The Books That Made Us
1995
single work
review
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 19-20 August 1995; (p. rev 1-2)
— Review of My Brother Jack : A Novel 1964 single work novel ; The Lucky Country 1964 single work non-fiction ; Joe Wilson and His Mates 1901 selected work short story ; My Brilliant Career 1901 single work novel ; Monkey Grip 1977 single work novel ; Voss : A Novel 1957 single work novel ; The Fortunes of Richard Mahony 1917 single work novel -
Traffic
i
"The traffic is heavy today and the going's uphill. This is the",
1988
single work
poetry
— Appears in: Telling Ways : Australian Women's Experimental Writing 1988; (p. 53) Wordhord : A Critical Selection of Contemporary Western Australian Poetry 1989; (p. 236) -
Coming Clean in an Ocean of Grey
2003
single work
column
— Appears in: Canberra Sunday Times , 12 October 2003; (p. 19) -
Mother & Child Reunion
2006
single work
biography
— Appears in: The Age , 19 August 2006; (p. 12-13) The Sydney Morning Herald , 19-20 August 2006; (p. 8-9) -
Hard Hearts, Tender Years
2006
single work
essay
— Appears in: The Age , 7 October 2006; (p. 5) -
Sex in the City : Sexual Predation in Contemporary Australian Grunge Fiction
2007
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Aumla , May no. 107 2007; (p. 145-158) 'This essay will focus on the sexuality of grunge fiction characters, and will examine the relationship of this focus to issues of embodiment, culture and urban spaces' (146).
Awards
- 1978 joint winner National Book Council Award for Australian Literature
- Melbourne, Victoria,
