Shelf Monkey is a novel by Canadian author Corey Redekop, describing the exploits of the shelf monkeys - an extremist secret society of literary snobs - and the rising popularity of talk-show host Munroe Purvis. Much to the ire of the shelf monkeys, Purvis has started a book club, much like that of Oprah Winfrey, except the books that he promotes are exclusively rubbish.
As Purvis' book club becomes increasingly popular, Thomas Friesen, our depressed, ex-lawyer protagonist, lands a job at the massive bookstore, READ, where he befriends a curious trio of his fellow employees, Aubrey, Warren and Danae - all of whom are secretly shelf monkeys. After Thomas demonstrates his passion for literature, he is invited to join the shelf monkeys. As the group are forced to sell books they despise, they become increasingly resentful, plotting a way to get back at those who write and promote bad books - and it looks like Purvis is the prime target.
Shelf Monkey contains examples of:
- Asshole Victim: Munroe Purvis.
- Deadpan Snarker: Thomas
- Death Seeker: Thomas becomes one once his antidepressants run out when he is on the run.
- Serious Business: Books, to Thomas and the shelf monkeys.
- Foregone Conclusion: It's clear from very early on that Thomas commits (or is at least widely thought to have committed) some felony related to Purvis and becomes a fugitive. The details of this crime, however, are unclear until close to the end.
- Karma Houdini: Aubrey, Warren and Danae all successfully evade the law. By the end of the novel, they are still fugitives.
- Love Makes You Evil: Thomas is successfully pressured by Danae, his capricious love interest, into helping the other shelf monkeys hold and eventually torture Purvis.
- Meaningful Name: At their secret meetings, each of the shelf monkeys names themselves after literary characters. Most notably, Aubrey, the group's founder and leader, names himself Don Quixote, in keeping with his extreme crusades against bad literature ("tilting at windmills").
- Only Sane Man: Thomas feels like this for most of the book, in contrast with the more deranged shelf monkeys.
- Verbal Tic: Page, the manager of READ, alternates between pronouncing her store as "red" and "reed." Thomas believes this to be intentional, a ploy to see if he'd correct her.
