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lockea194's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
sarahdelaemery's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
blurrypetals's review against another edition
3.0
I'm definitely going to chew on the rating for a little bit, but for the most part, this definitely is going to sit a bit lower on the Christopher Moore ranking for me, closer to Sacre Bleu and Island of the Sequined Love Nun, not down with Coyote Blue, but certainly not up with the giants that are A Dirty Job, Secondhand Souls, Bloodsucking Fiends, You Suck, and Bite Me.
I've come to realize I prefer The Author Guy at his most relaxed. I remember reading an interview with him back in 2008, when I was first falling in love with his writing (don't mind me I'm just having a small existential crisis that it's been an actual decade since I first discovered him via You Suck oh my god that's scary) that he likes to try to go back and forth between one bigger, heavily researched novel then one shorter, more silly novel. The only time he's really broken this pattern was when he wrote Sacre Bleu and The Serpent of Venice back to back, both of them being longer, more heavily researched books. I think it's rad that Chris reaches for these grander scopes and I always tries to learn something new from the extensive research he does. The writer in me greatly admires how dedicated he is to getting those sorts of things right and I aspire to be even just a fraction as dedicated to my writing and its world building as he is. However, talk to the reader in me and, at the end of the day, I prefer Chris in the off season. World building and setting are incredibly important, but when you get down to it, I'm going to remember how effortlessly hilarious and well written the dialogue in You Suck was more than I'm going to remember how accurate Paris is described in Sacre Bleu, and I'm always going to feel more attached to the plot of the book than I am going to be to the time and place it takes place in.
One thing this book has a leg up on is that it's Christopher Moore writing about San Francisco. If there's one thing that's unquestionable, it's Chris's undying love, respect, and adoration for the city of San Francisco. One of my favorite parts of this book was his afterword, where he talked about some of the inspiration for the people and places there, because it's clearly a place he so wholly adores and he so effortlessly pulls me into seeing that rose-tinted version of the city that he always sees and writes so well about.
But, the places I find cracks in start to crumble away when I go even one layer deeper. Another thing I love about Chris is his lead protagonists; Tommy and Jody in the vampire books, Charlie Asher the father of Death Herself, and Biff, Christ's childhood pal are all such great and fun and unique characters and I will remember them for at least another decade to come, but when it comes to Sammy and The Cheese (whom I believe was partially created and named just so Chris could giggle at the idea of a hard-boiled narrator gruffly saying her nickname over and over again) are going to be joining Lucien (whose name I actually had to Google) Blue, and Samson in the obscure part of the memory bank pretty soon.
There just wasn't a lot to this other than the fantastic world building. I chuckled a couple of times, but I was nowhere near in the side-splitting stitches his better books easily put me in, but the plot was weak and had some major pacing issues. I think the only line I'll be taking along with me is, "I like my coffee how I like my women...blonde and sweet." and that's mostly because it reminded me of the similar line in Secondhand Souls: "I like my men how I like my tea...weak and green."
Oh well. Better luck next time, I guess!
Edit, 4/25/18:
I decided to write a review for Audible. Here it is:
"Needs More "Moore" To It"
Is there anything you would change about this book?
I've read almost all of Christopher Moore's bibliography and, a lot of the time, he writes really funny, bombastic, and even occasionally touching books. He's one of my favorite authors, so I was incredibly excited when I heard he was writing a send-up of the noir genre and it was set in the city he so clearly adores through and through, San Francisco. However, I was incredibly disappointed that this book had the bombastic stuff but was lacking in the funny and the heartstring tugging. I keep seeing ads for this that read, "Moore is at his best here!" and "You'll be laughing all the way!" and I just internally cringe and glance at of The Author Guy's actual best, like A Dirty Job and its sequel, Secondhand Souls, or Bloodsucking Fiends and its sequels, or Lamb, and go, "Really? Do people REALLY think this is Moore at his best? Did you REALLY laugh all the way?" It isn't Moore at his best and the most laughter he got out of me were a couple of chuckles that were either direct reference to another book of his--like the "Perfect f---ing French" part--or reminded me of another book of his--like the line, "I like my coffee how I like my women...blonde and sweet" reminded me of the line from Secondhand Souls, "I like my tea how I like my men...weak and green"--so I was definitely not laughing all the way. I was just sighing dejectedly and I was doing it a LOT.
Would you be willing to try another book from Christopher Moore? Why or why not?
There will never be a Christopher Moore book I won't read.
What about Johnny Heller’s performance did you like?
He did a good job capturing the atmosphere, making me feel like I was actually watching an old '40's noir film. He affected a really weird intonation when he read for a lot of the women, though, and that was kind of annoying, which is the reason why I gave the performance a 4 instead of a 5.
Do you think Noir needs a follow-up book? Why or why not?
No, definitely not, please don't do that, Chris.
Any additional comments?
I want to expect better from Christopher Moore and I will continue to expect the best from him, but this one was a real downer. Better luck next time, man.
I've come to realize I prefer The Author Guy at his most relaxed. I remember reading an interview with him back in 2008, when I was first falling in love with his writing (don't mind me I'm just having a small existential crisis that it's been an actual decade since I first discovered him via You Suck oh my god that's scary) that he likes to try to go back and forth between one bigger, heavily researched novel then one shorter, more silly novel. The only time he's really broken this pattern was when he wrote Sacre Bleu and The Serpent of Venice back to back, both of them being longer, more heavily researched books. I think it's rad that Chris reaches for these grander scopes and I always tries to learn something new from the extensive research he does. The writer in me greatly admires how dedicated he is to getting those sorts of things right and I aspire to be even just a fraction as dedicated to my writing and its world building as he is. However, talk to the reader in me and, at the end of the day, I prefer Chris in the off season. World building and setting are incredibly important, but when you get down to it, I'm going to remember how effortlessly hilarious and well written the dialogue in You Suck was more than I'm going to remember how accurate Paris is described in Sacre Bleu, and I'm always going to feel more attached to the plot of the book than I am going to be to the time and place it takes place in.
One thing this book has a leg up on is that it's Christopher Moore writing about San Francisco. If there's one thing that's unquestionable, it's Chris's undying love, respect, and adoration for the city of San Francisco. One of my favorite parts of this book was his afterword, where he talked about some of the inspiration for the people and places there, because it's clearly a place he so wholly adores and he so effortlessly pulls me into seeing that rose-tinted version of the city that he always sees and writes so well about.
But, the places I find cracks in start to crumble away when I go even one layer deeper. Another thing I love about Chris is his lead protagonists; Tommy and Jody in the vampire books, Charlie Asher the father of Death Herself, and Biff, Christ's childhood pal are all such great and fun and unique characters and I will remember them for at least another decade to come, but when it comes to Sammy and The Cheese (whom I believe was partially created and named just so Chris could giggle at the idea of a hard-boiled narrator gruffly saying her nickname over and over again) are going to be joining Lucien (whose name I actually had to Google) Blue, and Samson in the obscure part of the memory bank pretty soon.
There just wasn't a lot to this other than the fantastic world building. I chuckled a couple of times, but I was nowhere near in the side-splitting stitches his better books easily put me in, but the plot was weak and had some major pacing issues. I think the only line I'll be taking along with me is, "I like my coffee how I like my women...blonde and sweet." and that's mostly because it reminded me of the similar line in Secondhand Souls: "I like my men how I like my tea...weak and green."
Oh well. Better luck next time, I guess!
Edit, 4/25/18:
I decided to write a review for Audible. Here it is:
"Needs More "Moore" To It"
Is there anything you would change about this book?
I've read almost all of Christopher Moore's bibliography and, a lot of the time, he writes really funny, bombastic, and even occasionally touching books. He's one of my favorite authors, so I was incredibly excited when I heard he was writing a send-up of the noir genre and it was set in the city he so clearly adores through and through, San Francisco. However, I was incredibly disappointed that this book had the bombastic stuff but was lacking in the funny and the heartstring tugging. I keep seeing ads for this that read, "Moore is at his best here!" and "You'll be laughing all the way!" and I just internally cringe and glance at of The Author Guy's actual best, like A Dirty Job and its sequel, Secondhand Souls, or Bloodsucking Fiends and its sequels, or Lamb, and go, "Really? Do people REALLY think this is Moore at his best? Did you REALLY laugh all the way?" It isn't Moore at his best and the most laughter he got out of me were a couple of chuckles that were either direct reference to another book of his--like the "Perfect f---ing French" part--or reminded me of another book of his--like the line, "I like my coffee how I like my women...blonde and sweet" reminded me of the line from Secondhand Souls, "I like my tea how I like my men...weak and green"--so I was definitely not laughing all the way. I was just sighing dejectedly and I was doing it a LOT.
Would you be willing to try another book from Christopher Moore? Why or why not?
There will never be a Christopher Moore book I won't read.
What about Johnny Heller’s performance did you like?
He did a good job capturing the atmosphere, making me feel like I was actually watching an old '40's noir film. He affected a really weird intonation when he read for a lot of the women, though, and that was kind of annoying, which is the reason why I gave the performance a 4 instead of a 5.
Do you think Noir needs a follow-up book? Why or why not?
No, definitely not, please don't do that, Chris.
Any additional comments?
I want to expect better from Christopher Moore and I will continue to expect the best from him, but this one was a real downer. Better luck next time, man.
cheard's review against another edition
funny
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
4.0
brittanyk70's review against another edition
challenging
dark
funny
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
4.25
avesmaria's review against another edition
3.0
This unraveled a bit by the end, but it was a fun read.
testaroscia's review against another edition
4.0
Second Moore book after I read and enjoyed "Lamb". This one is a perfect audio book for the commute, rich in cliches deftly pulled off, a simple story, caricatures of characters and kept together by Moore's ability for a simile" You know that when you hear the word "like" a pretty good one is coming. Plus points for setting it in San Francisco just after the WWII
tizirk's review against another edition
dark
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
angus_mckeogh's review against another edition
3.0
A bit of a mixed bag. Great research done for a period piece. But the overall story left something to be desired. In a bit of a comparison to Moore’s other period piece on my reading list (Fool); it falls well short of that benchmark. Fool was well-researched and written and extremely funny and witty. Noir was well researched and well-written but not all that funny and the wit was subpar. Not what I was hoping.
novelette's review against another edition
1.0
Blah. Usually I love Mr. Moore's work, but this was not funny and seriously a slog to get through.