(Reviewed by JD Jung)
“Nathan was meant to be the last batch, to use the last of the family dough. All the remaining chocolate chips were dumped into him—he was large, muscular, handsome, and had a charming inexplicable southern drawl.
Unfortunately, after Nathan was put in to bake, the baker realized that he had forgotten to scrape the empty dough bowl. Being the type who hated to waste things, he hastily scraped the bowl—the gene pool if you will—and formed me from the scourings.”
That was Lance, the youngest of eight children. From as early as infancy, Lance suffered from a debilitating skin disease that often forced him to stay at home.
Lance relates his life from childhood and his Catholic upbringing through the present in his humorous and often self-deprecating memoir, Golden Monkey. Actually “humorous” may be the wrong word to describe this book. “Hilarious” better fits the tone. Lance, who is an astute observer of people, can see the comedy in everyday life.
He was an underachiever at work but knew how to get along with people. I loved that part of the book. He didn’t want a promotion or a full-time job. He tells us, “…downtime is every bit as important as work time.” I found his navigation of the online dating scene in China especially funny. Though he was an ESL teacher there, Lance was hesitant about the culture and knew little of the language. Try finding a relationship with that attitude! Those are just two examples, but the hilarity ran throughout the book.
I am critical of memoirs—and usually don’t read them—because I often find the authors too self-absorbed. I get irritated when I read one’s “poor me” life story and it winds up being no different than other peoples’ or even my own. Of course there are exceptions, as in when the author has suffered a horrific event or series of events.
I feel that Lance was able to dig deep through the pain and produce a “hysterically” entertaining read for all of us. In fact, if anyone wants to learn how to write an engaging memoir, I suggest reading Golden Monkey. And why the title? Read the book and find out.
