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3.7 AVERAGE
3.7 AVERAGE
christopher moore books are good, relatively quick, laugh-out-loud reads. i love the characters that he creates and how he can give them unbelievable qualities or stick them in unbelievable situations, yet i buy into it completely. for example, there's a talking fruit bat and i have no problem believing that it tags along with one of the characters and how everyone else in town reacts. the story is fun and takes an unexpected but hilarious turn.
This one fell flat. None of the characters really grabbed me, and the "big ending" was so reminiscent of the Sopranos that there wasn't much fizz to it. Didn't deliver what I thought it'd be from the jacket plot description.
It's really a 3 1/2 but I don't know how to make it a half. It was raunchy and funny but I felt there were parts where I needed to have read other books by this author in order to have a better understanding.
This is a review for the audio edition of this book. I read the hardcover version a few years ago, and really liked it, and so I took this out of the library to listen to on my car trip to see family for Christmas.
The Stupidest Angel is the story of an angel who comes down to deliver a Christmas miracle. True to the title, though, he's not very bright. He interprets a child's wish for someone to come back to life by raising zombies who, after they're done munching on brains, want to go to Ikea. The residents of Pine Cove are confronted with this problem during the annual Christmas party.
This book is no less hilarious the second time around. If anything, I found it even funnier this time. I've read more of Christopher Moore's books, now, and so I understand the in-jokes his characters allude to.
That's not to say that his previous books are a prerequisite to this one, but you do enjoy it on a different level if you've read Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove and Island of the Sequined Love Nun, as characters from both feature primarily in this narrative, and don't overtly talk about the weirdness they've been through before. This takes place some years after both stories are set. Raziel from Lamb is also the title angel, but his part in that narrative is pretty well summed up within the text.
I feel compelled to warn you that I have a rather dark sense of humor, and you might not find this book as funny as I do. People die, have their brains sucked out by zombies, and lose their minds. I didn't find the violence too gruesome, but some readers may not appreciate jokes about evil developers deserving to be dispatched with gardening equipment.
The Stupidest Angel is the story of an angel who comes down to deliver a Christmas miracle. True to the title, though, he's not very bright. He interprets a child's wish for someone to come back to life by raising zombies who, after they're done munching on brains, want to go to Ikea. The residents of Pine Cove are confronted with this problem during the annual Christmas party.
This book is no less hilarious the second time around. If anything, I found it even funnier this time. I've read more of Christopher Moore's books, now, and so I understand the in-jokes his characters allude to.
That's not to say that his previous books are a prerequisite to this one, but you do enjoy it on a different level if you've read Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove and Island of the Sequined Love Nun, as characters from both feature primarily in this narrative, and don't overtly talk about the weirdness they've been through before. This takes place some years after both stories are set. Raziel from Lamb is also the title angel, but his part in that narrative is pretty well summed up within the text.
I feel compelled to warn you that I have a rather dark sense of humor, and you might not find this book as funny as I do. People die, have their brains sucked out by zombies, and lose their minds. I didn't find the violence too gruesome, but some readers may not appreciate jokes about evil developers deserving to be dispatched with gardening equipment.
This is the third time I've read this book. It's becoming something of a Christmas tradition. I'm not the sort to get a lot of saccharine stories about the true meaning of Christmas, though; give me a tale of a jerk real estate developer dispatched with a shovel, only to be resurrected as a zombie on Christmas Eve, and I'm good.
The real estate developer in question is Dale Pearson, and he's dressed as Santa. The seven-year-old boy who witnesses this thinks this means no presents, so he wishes Santa back to life. Unfortunately for Pine Cove, the setting of our tale, Raziel, the title angel, is in town. (Readers of Christopher Moore will recognize Raziel as the angel who missed Christ's birth in Lamb and showed up a decade later.) Raziel is there to perform a Christmas miracle, and so he resurrects Santa and everyone else in the graveyard on Christmas Eve, just in time for the Christmas Eve party.
Pine Cove is the setting of Practical Demonkeeping and Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove, so the residents know a thing or two about dealing with weirdness. We get reappearances by Molly Michon, the B-movie actress with a tenuous hold on reality, Theo Crowe, the pothead constable, and Mavis Sand, the old-as-dirt owner of Head of the Slug, the town's bar. Tucker Case, who starred in Island of the Sequined Love Nun, is there flying a helicopter for the DEA.
This is a really short book, so you'd think there wouldn't be a lot I could miss in earlier readings. And yet, I only now noticed that Tuck and his island love are divorced, while Molly and Theo are still going strong. Apparently, if you find yourself in a Christopher Moore novel, you're going to wind up happiest if you can keep things interesting.
There are references to many Christmas stories throughout The Stupidest Angel. "The Gift of the Magi" forms a subplot around Molly and Theo, and a paragraph on Dale Pearson's fate references A Christmas Carol. There's a lot of satire around Christmas themes, and some cynicism about the commercialization, as one might expect. Mostly, though, this is what you might expect from Christopher Moore.
Though this was the third time I'm reading this book, I still laughed out loud at some of the lines, though probably not the same lines I did the other two times I read it. I don't know if I'll read it again next year, but another reread is in my future. Until then, I have a movie to look forward to next November. I hope it's good.
The real estate developer in question is Dale Pearson, and he's dressed as Santa. The seven-year-old boy who witnesses this thinks this means no presents, so he wishes Santa back to life. Unfortunately for Pine Cove, the setting of our tale, Raziel, the title angel, is in town. (Readers of Christopher Moore will recognize Raziel as the angel who missed Christ's birth in Lamb and showed up a decade later.) Raziel is there to perform a Christmas miracle, and so he resurrects Santa and everyone else in the graveyard on Christmas Eve, just in time for the Christmas Eve party.
Pine Cove is the setting of Practical Demonkeeping and Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove, so the residents know a thing or two about dealing with weirdness. We get reappearances by Molly Michon, the B-movie actress with a tenuous hold on reality, Theo Crowe, the pothead constable, and Mavis Sand, the old-as-dirt owner of Head of the Slug, the town's bar. Tucker Case, who starred in Island of the Sequined Love Nun, is there flying a helicopter for the DEA.
This is a really short book, so you'd think there wouldn't be a lot I could miss in earlier readings. And yet, I only now noticed that Tuck and his island love are divorced, while Molly and Theo are still going strong. Apparently, if you find yourself in a Christopher Moore novel, you're going to wind up happiest if you can keep things interesting.
There are references to many Christmas stories throughout The Stupidest Angel. "The Gift of the Magi" forms a subplot around Molly and Theo, and a paragraph on Dale Pearson's fate references A Christmas Carol. There's a lot of satire around Christmas themes, and some cynicism about the commercialization, as one might expect. Mostly, though, this is what you might expect from Christopher Moore.
Though this was the third time I'm reading this book, I still laughed out loud at some of the lines, though probably not the same lines I did the other two times I read it. I don't know if I'll read it again next year, but another reread is in my future. Until then, I have a movie to look forward to next November. I hope it's good.
"The ocean there was bitterly cold, with an average visibility of eighteen inches, and a huge elephant seal rookery at the shore. Through the winter thousands of the rotund pinnipeds lay strewn across Pine Cove beaches like great barking turds, and although not dangerous in themselves, they were the dietary mainstay of the great white shark, which had evolved over 120 million years into the perfect excuse for never entering water over one's ankles."
Another funny, satiric parody of the Christmas season in Pine Cove with the craziest cast of characters you will love to love -- even a fruit bat named Ronaldo. I was laughing out loud and am a fan!
Another funny, satiric parody of the Christmas season in Pine Cove with the craziest cast of characters you will love to love -- even a fruit bat named Ronaldo. I was laughing out loud and am a fan!
My favorite Christopher Moore book - I lauged out loud so many times reading this. Esp. the IKEA part. I'm starting to giggle now just thinking about that part.
Just re-read again this year and it is still so much fun. I love Mavis and Molly and Roberto especially, but there are so many weird fun characters in this book. And the miracle?! 😂
Just re-read again this year and it is still so much fun. I love Mavis and Molly and Roberto especially, but there are so many weird fun characters in this book. And the miracle?! 😂
This is a hilariously weird story. I thought the "a year later" part at the end was random and didn't contribute anything to the plot or character development, but overall I enjoyed it. Hopefully this is made into a movie at some point, because I think it could be fantastic.