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It's Every Monkey for Themselves: A True Story of Sex, Love, and Lies in the Jungle
Aiming to put as much distance as she could between herself and a dysfunctional relationship, Vanessa Woods left her Pleasantville life in the leafy but safe suburbs of Canberra and headed for the remote, wild, and distinctly unsafe jungles of Costa Rica. She had a research job, a contract with the Disney Channel, and would spend the year working with a small community of dedicated like-minded scientific souls researching the behavior of capuchin monkeys while making a documentary about Costa Rican wildlife. Or so she thought. As it turned out, she didn’t get along with her housemates, was stung so often by wasps and killer bees she developed a lethal allergy, and the monkeys were evasive, mean, and aggressive—the only difference between them and her housemates being that at least she could tell her housemates apart. Over the course of a wild and tumultuous year, Vanessa learned that not all monkeys—or people—are alike, that friendship can be more important than sex, and that sometimes it takes a brush with death and an abscess the size of a melon on your head to make you realize that being pretty isn't always enough.
- GenresNonfictionAnimals
336 pages, Paperback
First published March 1, 2007
1 person is currently reading
167 people want to read
About the author
Vanessa Woods
12 books80 followersVanessa is an award winning journalist and author of Bonobo Handshake (Gotham 2010). She has written three children’s books; It’s True! There Are Bugs In Your Bed (2005), It’s True! Space Turns You Into Spaghetti (2006), and It’s True! Pirates Ate Rats (2007). It’s True! Space Turns You Into Spaghetti won the Acclaimed Book award from the Royal Society, UK.
Vanessa is an internationally published journalist and has written for various publications including the Discovery Channel, BBC Wildlife, New Scientist, and Travel Africa. In 2003, Vanessa won the Australasian Science award for journalism.
Vanessa is currently a Research Scientist at Duke University and studies the cognitive development chimpanzees and bonobos at sanctuaries in the Republic of Congo and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Vanessa is on the Board of Directors for Friends of Bonobos, the US charity that supports Lola ya Bonobo. Part of her author profits will go to Friends of Bonobos to help bonobos in Congo.
Vanessa is an internationally published journalist and has written for various publications including the Discovery Channel, BBC Wildlife, New Scientist, and Travel Africa. In 2003, Vanessa won the Australasian Science award for journalism.
Vanessa is currently a Research Scientist at Duke University and studies the cognitive development chimpanzees and bonobos at sanctuaries in the Republic of Congo and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Vanessa is on the Board of Directors for Friends of Bonobos, the US charity that supports Lola ya Bonobo. Part of her author profits will go to Friends of Bonobos to help bonobos in Congo.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
May 7, 2010
I am prejudiced so I can't say much. I am sure my experience reading this would be different to yours. Buy a copy hough, help my kid become famous some of ot might rub off on yours truly and I neeed all the help I can get
February 17, 2021
It's pretty messed up that this book has below a 4 but I think I also understand. In this book Vanessa Woods is brutally, if not clinically, honest and I think that can take people aback, especially when she doesn't portray herself in the best light. Readers often like books where they can escape into the protagonist and this isn't that kind of book.
Put simply, this is a book about someone with PTSD who doesn't realize that it's crippling her ambition, her performance, her ability to interact, and her friendships. She was a category 5 hurricane of a person and nobody anticipated it. BUT! That doesn't make this a bad book; quite the opposite, for two reasons:
1 - Accuracy. She captured personalities masterfully, to the point that I found myself repeatedly relating to- and feeling bad for- the quasi-antagonist of the story, Diane. This isn't common. Generally antagonists are written in such a terrible light that they come off as unusual or unreal. Instead, Diane was a full person and that's admirable.
2 - In order to accomplish the feat above, the author must have excellent analysis in hindsight, which also implies that since the time in question (her mid-20's, mind you) she's come a long way and developed a self-awareness that's extremely rare.
In short, this is a must-read for anybody interested in primatology on the human level and its also a must-read if you (or a loved one) struggles from PTSD and you need to see how that comes to life.
Put simply, this is a book about someone with PTSD who doesn't realize that it's crippling her ambition, her performance, her ability to interact, and her friendships. She was a category 5 hurricane of a person and nobody anticipated it. BUT! That doesn't make this a bad book; quite the opposite, for two reasons:
1 - Accuracy. She captured personalities masterfully, to the point that I found myself repeatedly relating to- and feeling bad for- the quasi-antagonist of the story, Diane. This isn't common. Generally antagonists are written in such a terrible light that they come off as unusual or unreal. Instead, Diane was a full person and that's admirable.
2 - In order to accomplish the feat above, the author must have excellent analysis in hindsight, which also implies that since the time in question (her mid-20's, mind you) she's come a long way and developed a self-awareness that's extremely rare.
In short, this is a must-read for anybody interested in primatology on the human level and its also a must-read if you (or a loved one) struggles from PTSD and you need to see how that comes to life.
November 4, 2017
It's Every Monkey for Themselves is Vanessa Woods' warts and all story of her year spent in the Cielo Forest in Costa Rica researching behavioural ecology of Capuchin monkeys. Focusing primarily on the upright primates that inhabit the "monkey house", rather than the those in the wild, the book abounds with plenty of adult-themed content and comes across as something like what the 1990's TV series Melrose Place might've been, had it been set in the jungle.
Having blagged her way into a film-making job with Disney Channel, Woods heads to Costa Rica with hopes of forgetting about her boyfriend with whom she has just recently broken up with, by throwing herself into a research project on Capuchin monkeys. On arrival at the monkey house, she quickly comes to realise that surviving the myriad of horrors in the jungle such as killer bees, scorpions, poisonous snakes and infectious parasites will be nothing next to surviving 12 months in close proximity with her fellow co-workers.
It's Every Monkey for Themselves introduces us to three main groups of Capuchin monkeys and the residents within each group, who have great names such as Havoc, Angel, Murder, Carnage and Mayhem. To most of us, the Capuchin monkey is instantly recognisable as Ross's monkey, Marcel, out of Friends, or the evil ghost monkey out of Pirates of the Cairibbean, and so named due to their resemblance to the Capuchin monks with their dark hoods.
Before long, we are fully engaged with the monkeys as they go about their daily lives, which mostly consists of eating, pooping, grooming and having sex. The humans of monkey house pretty much do the same thing, and with sleep walking house-mates, associates who are male prostitutes trafficking in narcotics and psychotic booze-fuelled parties, the antics of the murderous monkeys themselves, by comparison, look positively tame.
The book provides a reasonable insight into the drudgery and difficult conditions that the research group are subjected to. Rising at 4.30am to work 14 hour days with only 5 days scheduled off at the end of each month illustrates just how demanding this research work is. Woods obvious passion for animals and the wildlife is extremely apparent, as evidenced also by her previous stints in far flung places such as Uganda when counting chimpanzees, Kenya while undertaking a zebra census and Antarctica filming penguins.
Predominantly though, It's Every Monkey for Themselves is a book about the friendships, jealousies, love interests, bitching and in-fighting that takes place amongst the co-workers. Working under the conditions that they do, it is easy to see how extreme enmities and close bonds are forged and the book doesn't hold back in baring everything that goes on.
No one is safe from Woods' pen, including herself, and she comes across as extremely shallow and mostly concerned with how beautiful she is whilst also being convinced that all the male members of the household want to have sex with her. Her constant scheming, lying and manipulating makes it hard to warm to her, which unfortunately detracts from her overall writing which actually is of good quality. The fact, also, that the story takes place in Costa Rica is somewhat irrelevant as apart from the odd Spanish phrase thrown in, you would never have known.
It's Every Monkey for Themselves, reminds me in parts as a revved up and R-rated version of Laurie Gough's book, Kite Strings of the Southern Cross, and in the end there is too much Mills and Boon (the x-rated version) and not enough Daniel Boone for this to have wide appeal for those looking for a good travel story.
Having blagged her way into a film-making job with Disney Channel, Woods heads to Costa Rica with hopes of forgetting about her boyfriend with whom she has just recently broken up with, by throwing herself into a research project on Capuchin monkeys. On arrival at the monkey house, she quickly comes to realise that surviving the myriad of horrors in the jungle such as killer bees, scorpions, poisonous snakes and infectious parasites will be nothing next to surviving 12 months in close proximity with her fellow co-workers.
It's Every Monkey for Themselves introduces us to three main groups of Capuchin monkeys and the residents within each group, who have great names such as Havoc, Angel, Murder, Carnage and Mayhem. To most of us, the Capuchin monkey is instantly recognisable as Ross's monkey, Marcel, out of Friends, or the evil ghost monkey out of Pirates of the Cairibbean, and so named due to their resemblance to the Capuchin monks with their dark hoods.
Before long, we are fully engaged with the monkeys as they go about their daily lives, which mostly consists of eating, pooping, grooming and having sex. The humans of monkey house pretty much do the same thing, and with sleep walking house-mates, associates who are male prostitutes trafficking in narcotics and psychotic booze-fuelled parties, the antics of the murderous monkeys themselves, by comparison, look positively tame.
The book provides a reasonable insight into the drudgery and difficult conditions that the research group are subjected to. Rising at 4.30am to work 14 hour days with only 5 days scheduled off at the end of each month illustrates just how demanding this research work is. Woods obvious passion for animals and the wildlife is extremely apparent, as evidenced also by her previous stints in far flung places such as Uganda when counting chimpanzees, Kenya while undertaking a zebra census and Antarctica filming penguins.
Predominantly though, It's Every Monkey for Themselves is a book about the friendships, jealousies, love interests, bitching and in-fighting that takes place amongst the co-workers. Working under the conditions that they do, it is easy to see how extreme enmities and close bonds are forged and the book doesn't hold back in baring everything that goes on.
No one is safe from Woods' pen, including herself, and she comes across as extremely shallow and mostly concerned with how beautiful she is whilst also being convinced that all the male members of the household want to have sex with her. Her constant scheming, lying and manipulating makes it hard to warm to her, which unfortunately detracts from her overall writing which actually is of good quality. The fact, also, that the story takes place in Costa Rica is somewhat irrelevant as apart from the odd Spanish phrase thrown in, you would never have known.
It's Every Monkey for Themselves, reminds me in parts as a revved up and R-rated version of Laurie Gough's book, Kite Strings of the Southern Cross, and in the end there is too much Mills and Boon (the x-rated version) and not enough Daniel Boone for this to have wide appeal for those looking for a good travel story.
June 2, 2011
Didn't like it very much, she's a bit self obsessed!
November 4, 2024
This is one of my favourite books of all time. I had a similar experience (in some ways) when I was younger volunteering. I love how Vanessa writes, such rich descriptions of the jungle, her personality comes through and despite the hostile jungle and jungle house environments you wish you were there too. I love love love this book!!
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April 7, 2021My advisor lended me this after my defense for some beach reading and it fit the bill.
February 25, 2016
I think Vanessa Woods is very brave to have published this story of her time watching monkeys in Costa Rica. Whilst the experience she paints of living in the monkey house mimics the constantly changing social structures in the monkeys they watch for hours on end, it also portrays her in a less than flattering light. She's inexplicably mean to new assistants, she has no filter on what she says and she is incredibly self-centred.
There were many times when my jaw dropped in shock and I had to stare, dumb-founded, away from the book. They were brutally raw and politically incorrect passages that were not endearing and had crossed the too much information threshold. Her style of story telling lacked the ability to show that she had learned from the mistakes she made, and so you kind of feel like there is no remorse. I guess we've come a long way on the political correctness continuum since 2003 when Woods was in Costa Rica, which I guess makes it all the more shocking to read some of the things she came out with.
That all said, it was better written than I was expecting it to be and like the morbid urge to watch something horrible, I couldn't put it down because I wanted to find out what would happen next and what she would do to upset the others, all the while holding out hope that she would make amends for her nastiness.
There were many times when my jaw dropped in shock and I had to stare, dumb-founded, away from the book. They were brutally raw and politically incorrect passages that were not endearing and had crossed the too much information threshold. Her style of story telling lacked the ability to show that she had learned from the mistakes she made, and so you kind of feel like there is no remorse. I guess we've come a long way on the political correctness continuum since 2003 when Woods was in Costa Rica, which I guess makes it all the more shocking to read some of the things she came out with.
That all said, it was better written than I was expecting it to be and like the morbid urge to watch something horrible, I couldn't put it down because I wanted to find out what would happen next and what she would do to upset the others, all the while holding out hope that she would make amends for her nastiness.
October 13, 2011
After reading this book, I have a new theory: every writer has to write a story about their story. Here, Vanessa Woods tells us about her story, the one in which she realizes perhaps more about herself than she thought she might.
I picked this up at the 2011 Bookmarks festival, where Woods spoke about her work with bonobos. She's intelligent, engaging, witty, funny and doesn't mince words. (To be honest, I never thought I'd hear a writer say the word 'sex' so many times!) Regardless, I got the book after the talk, and I wasn't disappointed.
For what's probably her first work, the reader gets a very in-depth look at the relationships between monkeys in the jungle and how those relationships seem to be echoed in the 'monkey house,' the home base for the monkey research project.
I have to say I'm relieved that she realized her depression, and annoyed beyond all belief that the main researcher seemed to not care. I also hope that all research projects are not managed this way!
It's a quick, funny read and one you'll likely enjoy.
I picked this up at the 2011 Bookmarks festival, where Woods spoke about her work with bonobos. She's intelligent, engaging, witty, funny and doesn't mince words. (To be honest, I never thought I'd hear a writer say the word 'sex' so many times!) Regardless, I got the book after the talk, and I wasn't disappointed.
For what's probably her first work, the reader gets a very in-depth look at the relationships between monkeys in the jungle and how those relationships seem to be echoed in the 'monkey house,' the home base for the monkey research project.
I have to say I'm relieved that she realized her depression, and annoyed beyond all belief that the main researcher seemed to not care. I also hope that all research projects are not managed this way!
It's a quick, funny read and one you'll likely enjoy.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 5, 2008
Vanessa Woods is one gutsy chick that's for sure! And her passion for her work is very admirable.
To be able to survive in that *monkey house* and work with monkeys in the forest 14 hours a day is not for the faint-hearted. Just all the descriptions of the insects - the scorpions, the chiggers, the fleas, the snakes and all the other disgusting parasites she encountered makes me want to hurl. One of the funniest books I've read in a while!
To be able to survive in that *monkey house* and work with monkeys in the forest 14 hours a day is not for the faint-hearted. Just all the descriptions of the insects - the scorpions, the chiggers, the fleas, the snakes and all the other disgusting parasites she encountered makes me want to hurl. One of the funniest books I've read in a while!
August 16, 2009
It was my first time reading from an author who was so honest about the situation and people around her (including herself). I'm a big fan of sociology, and this book sets the scene for very interesting findings.
August 31, 2010
Fun - but I probably should have read this before Bonobo Handshake. I have to say that Woods is vain and self centered and obnoxious...but I like her anyway. She certainly bares all in this, but it's a good (and entertaining) illustration of what life is like in intense human contact situations.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews