SELL THE MONKEY, A MEMOIR

Sell The Monkey is a captivating story of family, love, and abandonment, and man’s search for his identity. The story is told in clear and powerful prose, and the reader is pulled in from the very beginning by the ruthless honesty with which the narrator looks at his life. It’s a story that answers the question: What does it take to feel at home with one’s self? I enjoyed the way the protagonist was developed throughout the narrative and how he grows from a victim to someone who can live life on his own terms, embracing art and determining how his work can be appreciated. There is grittiness as well as a powerful sense of pathos that makes this memoir a gripping story. I found it to be as riveting as it is psychologically deep.        

Romuald Dzemo, Seattle Book Review, 5/5

“In the initial pages of Sell the Monkey, Galen Garwood is being urged to take a chance in life. This is just a microcosm of his life story… Sell The Monkey is not your average autobiography. The title alone proves that, but don’t let that fool you. The narrative is strong, the retelling of a tough past done beautifully. The reader will be glad to be a passenger on a voyage of self-discovery and growth. An excellent autobiography and all around great read!”    Philip Zozzaro, San Francisco Book Review  5/5

“In Galen Garwood’s wonderfully engaging memoir Sell the Monkey, the reader is immediately captivated by the exploits and wonder of a young boy left to his own devices, discoveries, and dreams. His poignant descriptions of the many houses, beaches, and relatives he was shuffled between, and his emerging self as a young man often filled with self-doubt are honest, colorful and sometimes very amusing. His metamorphosis into a man of rare artistic talent and the close friendships he made is all the more remarkable because of his self-awareness, his determination, and his inner voice. This rollercoaster of a life crisscrossing the United States, Asia, and Europe in the pursuit of art is beautifully captured in this gem of a book”   Joanna MacClean, author of Two Eggs and a Lemon

“An incredible journey. One cannot be too prepared to be swept away. Deeply stilling and resonant, Galen’s writing, like his brushstrokes, is a work of extraordinary meditation. Remarkably restrained and sublime, it is writing that emboldens the enormity of story with a cast of characters, each one bigger than life itself.”   Nirupa Umapathy