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I'm not sure if anyone outside of old Melbourne people would understand a book as fabulous as Monkey Grip - a story about a woman in love with a heroin addicted young man who she adores.

Maybe even lots of Melbourne people wouldn't understand it.

But for me this is the essence of Helen Garner - painfully raw relationships of young adults in Melbourne in the mid to late 20th century.

https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/634141

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Funnily enough just finished monkey wrench last week. Dark and hard going at times, but enjoyable. As someone who has never lived in Melbourne but spent formative years in Brisbane, Glasgow and Dublin, I would say it's fairly relatable (within that very specific cultural milieux!)

Glasgow, Dublin are great analogues for Melbourne in many ways, especially in that period of the 1970's - 1980's.

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