‘Monkey!’ Book Review: Karan Madhok’s Raw Tale of Mountain Solitude & Grief

Book Title: Monkey! A Novel
Author: Karan Madhok
Publisher: Aleph Book Company
Number of Pages: 152
ISBN: 936523008X
Date Published: Oct. 15, 2026

Book Review

In “Monkey!“, Karan Madhok places a grieving hotel manager named Amit inside a foggy Himalayan cottage. His quiet life breaks when a maimed rhesus monkey begins staring through his window. Karan uses this strange encounter to build a story about grief, loneliness, and the untamed world outside.

Karan excels at capturing the damp atmosphere of hill station life alongside the quiet ache of personal loss. The writing feels grounded when detailing rainy mountain roads, local chatter, and the tension between human routines and animal presence. He cleverly shows how an uninvited creature can mirror human anxiety.

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However, the story stumbles when it wanders into lengthy, dreamlike train journeys and loose inner reflections. These abstract tangents slow down the plot, making parts of the book feel bloated and pulling focus from the sharper moments happening back at the cottage.

Despite these pacing issues, Karan delivers a thoughtful look at human vulnerability and isolation. He handles grief with humor, sharpness, and simple honesty. The result is a memorable novel about how hard it is to hide from our emotions when nature comes knocking.

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About the Author

Karan Madhok is an author whose writing spans fiction, narrative non-fiction, and literary criticism. He is the author of the novel A Beautiful Decay (2022) and Ananda: An Exploration of Cannabis in India (2024), a non-fiction narrative that received the 2025 REC-Valley of Words Award.

His essays, stories, and other writings have been published in a range of literary journals, magazines, and digital platforms, including Epiphany, Sycamore Review, Gargoyle, Fifty Two, Scroll.in, The Plank, and The Caravan. His work has also featured in the anthology A Case of Indian Marvels.

Beyond writing, Karan is the editor and co-founder of The Chakkar, an Indian arts review, and co-founded the Landour Literature and Arts Festival (LLAF), bringing together voices from the literary and creative communities.