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Monster in a Box
For some time now, writer-actor-performance artist Spalding Gray has been carrying around with him a monster: a manuscript of a novel called Impossible Vacation, a book that at last sighting weighed in at about 1,800 pages. Monster in a Box, Gray's latest monologue, is a guided tour between the stations of his writing block, which include a field trip to Nicaragua, a disastrous guest appearance at the Moscow film festival, and a stint in Los Angeles hunting down the fabled few who have never written a screenplay. Hilarious and poignant, Monster in a Box is further proof that Gray has not only captured the dangerous spirit of our age but swallowed it whole.
96 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1992
6 people are currently reading
307 people want to read
About the author
Spalding Gray
27Ìýbooks102ÌýfollowersSpalding Gray was an American actor, screenwriter, performance artist, and playwright.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 32 reviews
April 16, 2010
People who make you laugh shouldn't be allowed to kill themselves. It isn't right. It spoils everything. Spalding Gray I utterly resent you doing this and I will never read anything you wrote again. Sorry, but.
So, when I received a surprise package from the UK recently - there are some lovely things about the goodreads community, aren't there? - and one of them was this film, I looked at it with trepidation for a week before making myself watch. I'm really pleased I did: observing Spalding's monologues has got to be the best way of experiencing them.
This is a real treat.
But I shall never forgive you, Spalding and I still won't ever ever read anything more by you, including the books I had sitting on my shelves, saving them up for some moment when they would have made me happy. They can't do that now. Just so as you know, you are no longer on my shelves. You live at the charity shop on Bridport St Albert Park. I hope that makes you happy.
So, when I received a surprise package from the UK recently - there are some lovely things about the goodreads community, aren't there? - and one of them was this film, I looked at it with trepidation for a week before making myself watch. I'm really pleased I did: observing Spalding's monologues has got to be the best way of experiencing them.
This is a real treat.
But I shall never forgive you, Spalding and I still won't ever ever read anything more by you, including the books I had sitting on my shelves, saving them up for some moment when they would have made me happy. They can't do that now. Just so as you know, you are no longer on my shelves. You live at the charity shop on Bridport St Albert Park. I hope that makes you happy.
April 21, 2024
I'll always miss the monologues Gray will never write.
August 23, 2018
Found this transcribed monolog in a free book bin in a grocery store. It’s SG talking about his post-Swimming to Cambodia success. Didn’t love it. There was a cool anecdote about teens making out in the street, otherwise it was just ok.�
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August 2, 2013I just published "my monster" so of course...Any author struggling to finish the dmn thing needs to read this book but I cannot say it's comforting.
The book is funny as hll, esp if you have a literary monster lurking somewhere in your head, your heart, or sitting on your desk, staring at you, incriminating you every time you walk away from it-- without touching it. It's unrequited love. It's your lover and it wants/needs you to finish it. Please don't shut the----BAM!
The book is funny as hll, esp if you have a literary monster lurking somewhere in your head, your heart, or sitting on your desk, staring at you, incriminating you every time you walk away from it-- without touching it. It's unrequited love. It's your lover and it wants/needs you to finish it. Please don't shut the----BAM!
December 12, 2009
This British author, Ruth Rendell has written a series of Inspec tor Wexford Novels and this is detailed, easy to get into and fun to read as the details give lots of clues.
October 7, 2013
Love me some Spalding Gray!
December 11, 2019
CW: suicide
I watched this movie the other day called "Scarborough" (it's really good, stars Jessica Barden and some other people) about teacher/student relationships and the message I got from it was that broken people keep breaking or broken people break other people. The movie is about All that is to say that things are cyclical. Spalding Gray's mother committed suicide and through this monologue he explores the many effects this has had on his life. He has this feeling inside of him the entire time that there is something that he can't get out, he needs to exorcise this emotion, to spit it out, bark it out, verbalize it in some way, but he can't. In 2004, Spalding Gray committed suicide. I think, if there can be something that we learn from this is that we have to try and break out of our cycles that we are in, break out of them by supporting someone, listening to someone, helping someone verbalize their emotions so we don't lose them to their emotions. I realize I am shouting into the void here, but pain breeds pain and we need to notice when someone is falling into harmful patterns. We can at least try to do something about it.
I watched this movie the other day called "Scarborough" (it's really good, stars Jessica Barden and some other people) about teacher/student relationships and the message I got from it was that broken people keep breaking or broken people break other people. The movie is about All that is to say that things are cyclical. Spalding Gray's mother committed suicide and through this monologue he explores the many effects this has had on his life. He has this feeling inside of him the entire time that there is something that he can't get out, he needs to exorcise this emotion, to spit it out, bark it out, verbalize it in some way, but he can't. In 2004, Spalding Gray committed suicide. I think, if there can be something that we learn from this is that we have to try and break out of our cycles that we are in, break out of them by supporting someone, listening to someone, helping someone verbalize their emotions so we don't lose them to their emotions. I realize I am shouting into the void here, but pain breeds pain and we need to notice when someone is falling into harmful patterns. We can at least try to do something about it.
April 12, 2024
Spalding Gray is a recent disovery of mine, a real gem after watching the 1988 Lincoln Center filming of Our Town by Thornton Wilder, where he plays one of my favorite roles of all time. After learning more about him, his melancholic eccentricity, his closet bisexuality, his alchoholism, his pursuit of a legacy and fear of death all hit so close to home. A kindred spirit seperated by a generation or two. Spalding's monologues (this one about his success post Swimming to Cambodia, and easily searchible on Youtube) not only reveal much about himself as a person, but also serve as time capsules to the eras they were written and performed in. Spalding was touched by the line in the film Big Fish "A man tells so many stories, that he becomes the stories. They live on after him, and in that way he becomes immortal." Spalding has not only insured his own, past his own demons and suicide, but has immortalized an era.
February 10, 2023
First time I've actually read one of his monologs. Again, recommended by the facilitator of my writing group because I'd like to write a one man show. I laughed out loud a few times as I read. I can hear his voice in my head. Of all the playwrights I met in graduate school, Gray made the biggest impression and seemed genuinely interested in everyone around him. I guess that's how he got people to talk.
February 6, 2020
4.5 And it is all because I listened to it from Audible. I wish ALL of his epic monologues has been recorded or made available as hearing him (his inflections, paused, giggles and guffaws) makes you, well, love him. I am the daughter of an epic storyteller and found myself laughing, crying, and sighing as I listened to this monologue.
August 24, 2021
I selected as it was a high-end rated comedic work. What I didn't realize is this monologue was written what - about forty years ago. It was like traveling back in a time machine. I'm just old enough to get the references, but I just didn't find it as entertaining or humorous as those in his for audience, although he didn't start loosing me until the last half hour.
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June 10, 2020In this 98 page book, Gray ironically writes about the struggles of a writer trying to write a "monster" book. It is laced with humor but often has a dark undertones which makes it feel almost tragic to read. An excellent quick read, though.
January 30, 2018
Very funny and very personal, this is a fantastic monologue, both hilarious and moving.
July 30, 2018
As good as any other of his 'talking works.'
November 24, 2018
Quite enjoyable transcript of a comic monologue - an account of his struggle to write a book.
September 10, 2019
For anyone who loved "Swimming to Cambodia." Fun, but--sadly--it foretells Gray's eventual suicide.
January 28, 2023
Loved it. Wished it was longer.
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January 28, 2011I suppose this is better as an actual monologue... quick read though, entertaining enough. Couldn't help thinking about how Old Spalding offed himself and also how he grew up in "Borrington" RI while I was reading. Still a guy I'm interested in. Thought he was cool in True Stories. Seemed to have it made, going to residencies and getting paid for interviewing people about UFOS. Hard to relate to from that angle. Wonder if his novel is any good. Killed himself after seeing Big Fish- is that a good movie to kill yourself after? I mean, I guess I got emotional watching it, but that was in college and I might've been stoned. I remember I was in a writing class and this nice-enough looking senior citizen New Englander wrote a story about seeing Spalding Gray on the Staten Island ferry and it was about her trying to get up the nerves to talk to him- when he jumped overboard she cried over the side "I like your books!" Weird story coming from a woman like that. Eh, you had to be there.
September 15, 2011
This quick read is an autobiographical monologue that made me laugh out loud at least half a dozen times. It recounts Gray's insights through ubiquitous projects after his play "Swimming to Cambodia" was adapted into a film by Jonathan Demme (1997), consequently making him an extra-hot ticket in the entertainment industry.
New York theater-based Gray gets a grant while attempting to finish a "monster" of a novel (what would be his first and only Impossible Vacation) at a writer's retreat in New England. He moves to LA and discovers a view of Mt Baldy, sunshine, windchimes and the best way to validate parking for an appointment with a psychoanalyst. He heads down to Nicaragua to research a script idea for a film. Gets kicked out of a museum in Russia for impersonating royalty. And so on, into the high-profile revival of Thornton Wilder's Our Town.
New York theater-based Gray gets a grant while attempting to finish a "monster" of a novel (what would be his first and only Impossible Vacation) at a writer's retreat in New England. He moves to LA and discovers a view of Mt Baldy, sunshine, windchimes and the best way to validate parking for an appointment with a psychoanalyst. He heads down to Nicaragua to research a script idea for a film. Gets kicked out of a museum in Russia for impersonating royalty. And so on, into the high-profile revival of Thornton Wilder's Our Town.
January 9, 2015
I never thought I would ever say this, but read the book instead of seeing the film. It's tragic, because as riveting as he is, it is practically ruined by the inappropriate, overly loud music throughout. Just when I'd be getting in his story, there would be loud, pretty awful music, totally distracting, playing over him.
I know this is a "thing." Many blogs are similarly annoying for this reason. Spalding doesn't need music playing over him to remind us his monologue is dramatic, funny, painful...
I miss him.
I know this is a "thing." Many blogs are similarly annoying for this reason. Spalding doesn't need music playing over him to remind us his monologue is dramatic, funny, painful...
I miss him.
February 28, 2013
The first time I read this book, I didn't know Spaulding Gray had died under mysterious circumstances. However, after the first read, I wouldn't be surprised if it was suicide. His dark, almost manic depression seeps between the lines, simultaneously pleading for help while also poking fun at himself.
Storytelling: 4 Stars
Writing: The "manic" style is a bit disjointed for me so 3 Stars
Chance I'll Reread: 2 Stars
Storytelling: 4 Stars
Writing: The "manic" style is a bit disjointed for me so 3 Stars
Chance I'll Reread: 2 Stars
May 19, 2021
I saw the DVD of this monologue years ago and couldn't have loved it more. Considered getting this in ebook form but really, half of the fun is Spalding's delivery so the audiobook was a must purchase.
Unfortunately the sound quality is not ideal. It's a little echoey but once I got rolling I noticed it less.
This is a monologue that rambles through quite a few events in his life but moves seamlessly between them and manages to hold my attention completely from beginning to end.
Love it.
Unfortunately the sound quality is not ideal. It's a little echoey but once I got rolling I noticed it less.
This is a monologue that rambles through quite a few events in his life but moves seamlessly between them and manages to hold my attention completely from beginning to end.
Love it.
July 17, 2007
The companion piece, of sorts, to Gray's novel Impossible Vacation (which I think is a complete waste of time), this is my favorite transcription of one of his monologues.
July 31, 2007
About the trials of writing Impossible Vacation, which I forgot is a novel because it isn't. And it doesn't need to be, because he's found his niche as a an autobiographical storyteller.
March 22, 2008
Matt had Spalding Gray sign this book in 1999 when we stumbled across a book signing in LA. Now I feel motivated to read more of his monologues.
July 1, 2008
I think maybe I give his monologue five stars and the book less. I love this guy, wish he were still with us. He was a Rhode Islander.
December 26, 2008
Read this and rent the movies.
September 13, 2009
śmiać się na cały wagon czytając. :)
June 21, 2010
I love Spalding Gray's monologues. This book is good, but not as good as the movie where you see him actually perform the monologue. Might be better off Netflixing the movie.
abandoned
October 1, 2011I checked out the DVD instead, it needed his delivery.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 32 reviews
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