MORE MOORE

I declare that I am a member of the ever-expanding cult of Christopher Moore. His absurdist-humor-fantasy novels usually leave me chuckling and grinning, retelling the story in segments and anecdotes to coworkers and friends in attempts to get them to pick up his books. I am a Moore ambassador! Just finished reading Fluke: Or, I Know Why the Winged Whale Sings. Although it is not quite as openly humorous in ways as some of his earlier books, I loved it just the same. And it seemed that he went deeper in depth into the story, in this case whale research, than he has in a few of his lighter volumes, and I relished what I learned as well as the enjoyable story. He likes to take light-hearted jabs at institutions (whether it be the Church, history, vampirism, or, in this case, research academia). Most of his writing, it seems to me, is character driven. . .you get to know and usually like all the characters, good or bad, especially the wise-cracking everymen. I loved the first half of this book, but still enjoyed the weirdness of the latter half. Without giving too much away, it is about an absorbed whale researcher and his photographer buddy, as well as several cohorts, who stumble onto knowledge that causes them to get acquainted with a mysterious underwater world. Moore likes mixing stereotypes and creating vivid personalities. I loved his telling of how Nate Quinn met his third wife, and her later conversion to lesbianism (which brings up another thing. . .Moore has a dabbling fascination with beastiality in almost every one of his books); his merry description of the "whaley boys" (you will have to read to finds out about them); Kona, the rasta-surfer-blonde-stoner dude with a large heart and inherent wisdom and smarts. Moore has an interesting warped mins, and I greedily await my next foray into his off-kilter world. How some of the stories haven't been turned into movies is beyond me.