Fool: A Novel
by Christopher Moore
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Book Summary Information
Author: Christopher MooreEdition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2009-02-10
ISBN: 0060590319
Number of pages: 311
Publisher: William Morrow
Book Reviews of Fool: A Novel
Book Review: Not Moore's best, but still quite hilarious and very ambitious.
Summary: 4 Stars
Christopher Moore is an author I stumbled across years ago when I saw his book THE LUST LIZARD OF MELANCHOLY COVE on a shelf in a used book store. How can you NOT pick up a book with that title and look at it. And the title isn't ironic or clever...it's pretty much what the book is about! I enjoyed that novel, and sought his other comic novels.
His works tend to be genre pieces with a twist. BLOODSUCKING FIENDS is a comic vampire novel. A DIRTY JOB is a comic horror novel. He's had comic war stories, comic Michael Crichton-ish stories, comic Native-American mysticism novels and even the brilliant LAMB, a comic novel about, yes, the "lost years" of Jesus, as told by his childhood buddy Biff.
Moore has an imagination that is clearly nearly limitless. It's some what hit-and-miss, because the events in his plots are so fanciful and ridiculous that it can occasionally be difficult to actually CARE very much, because you're so busy shaking your head at the silliness. But when Moore is firing on all cylinders, what he does best is make you laugh your rear-end off for ¾ of the book and then he turns serious (and serious, for him, is still pretty crazy), and actually manages to touch the reader. He's got a romantic streak that all his lewd dialogue and flippant manner can't disguise.
And now he's presented a very ambitious new book called FOOL, which is essentially a comic retelling of KING LEAR, as seen through the eyes of Lear's fool. It presents the events of Shakespeare's play relatively faithfully, but not everything that's front and center in the play is front and center in the novel. And it adds PLENTY of exploits for the fool and his friends and associates to engage in. In fact, it is the Fool who leads the story we know to its conclusion.
Don't for a moment get the idea, though, that this is written in the style of Shakespeare! FAR from it!! This is Moore's most profane book yet, with ungodly amounts of sex or at least descriptions of sex acts...not explicit in the way we normally think of it, but packed with loads of very creative euphemisms (and plenty of f-bombs as well). This is an extremely adult novel...for the adult who's open-minded and willing to just go with the jocularity. For the most part, the book is written as though someone today were telling the story...and that someone had a VERY dirty mind indeed.
Fool is an entertaining narrator. As the court fool, he is tolerated when he makes the most scathing insults about everyone and everything around him. All the dukes and lords would love to kill him for his insults...but he's protected by tradition and Lear. He's also very intelligent and is capable of fast-talking and subtle machinations and manipulations. If you remember your basic Lear, the King decides to divide his kingdom among the daughters who love him (although they don't) and to disinherit Cordelia, the one girl who is truly devoted to him. His plan is a disaster, sparking wars and ruin. In Moore's take on it, only the work of the Fool himself stops things from getting even worse.
People will ask if it's necessary to have read Lear to enjoy FOOL. I would say it is NOT necessary (it has been 15 years for me!)...but it would have helped in the enjoyment, I think. It WOULD help to just have a vague knowledge of Shakespeare, because there are oblique references to HAMLET and more direct references to MACBETH (the witches are characters here too).
For me, the most enjoyable parts of Moore books are the asides and little non-sequiters. His plots, though often very imaginative, leave room for Moore to explore random thoughts (the master at that, of course, was Douglas Adams...who is ultimately funnier than Moore, too). These ramblings have often left me near tears of laughter, as do his clever turns of phrase. If FOOL has a significant weakness, it is that there are fewer of these asides. It is more "plot packed" that Moore's books usually are...and it's fairly important to actually make an effort to follow the plot. Thus, reading FOOL feels occasionally like a minor chore...not enough to make you stop...but in the end, I found this to be the least briskly paced of his books.
If you've not read Christopher Moore before, but this review sounds interesting...I'd suggest you start with something like COYOTE BLUE or A DIRTY JOB or even LUST LIZARD. If you HAVE read Moore before (or you're a big Shakespeare buff)...then by all means plunge ahead!
Summary of Fool: A Novel
A man of infinite jest, Pocket has been Lear's cherished fool for years, from the time the king's grown daughters - selfish, scheming Goneril, sadistic but hot Regan, and sweet, loyal Cordelia - were mere girls. So he can see trouble brewing when Lear demands that his kids swear their undying love and devotion before a collection of assembled guests. Of course Goneril and Regan are only too happy to brownnose Dad. But Cordelia's blunt honesty ends up costing her her rightful share of the kingdom and earns her a banishment to boot. The only person who can possibly make things right is Pocket, who has already managed to sidestep catastrophe on numerous occasions, using his razor-sharp mind, rapier wit and the equally well-honed daggers he keeps conveniently hidden behind his back. He's going to have to do some very fancy maneuvering - cast some spells, incite a few assassinations, start a war or two (the usual stuff) - and shag every lusciously shaggable wench who's amenable along the way. Pocket may be a fool ...but he's definitely not an idiot.United States Books
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