You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
A review by missflyer
The Stupidest Angel: A Heartwarming Tale of Christmas Terror by Christopher Moore
2.0
Well, this was a waste of my time to finish. The only positive thing I can draw from reading and finishing this book is that I believe I have learned that I cannot stand satire in full-novel length, only The Onion-length writings.
That being said… The jokes, to me, were not all that funny, sex and drugs and drinking and general overall “let’s decide to do something very obviously stupid” were rampant and played up for humor’s sake – which is near the bottom of my list of Things that Make Me Laugh or even the list for Things that Amuse Me. The best event of the novel, in my opinion, is the immediate repercussions of Raziel’s granting of Joshua Barker’s Christmas wish during the Lonesome Christmas party. Everything else was just filler and building up to character placement. Molly and Theo, to me, were the most ‘fun’ and amusing to read about, and were a small redeeming grace in the book. (Get it? “Redeeming grace”? Haha…ha.)
Favorite character is probably Molly Michon, because who doesn’t love the Warrior Babe of the Outlands and her Narrator Voice? Theophilius Crowe was decent too, and actually somewhat relatable as a person – both of them were trying to keep on the straight and narrow for the person they care about and mostly succeeding. And when they slip, they both recognize it and ask themselves the “right” questions about their own actions and thought processes while still pressing forward and pretty much managing to do the ‘right’ thing in a new situation. Most annoying characters are probably Lena Marquez and Tucker Case – I really did not buy into their whole relationship which followed the Dale Pearson Event which threw them together in the first place. Though Roberto the fruit bat was amusing.
So, if this book so annoyed me, why did I finish it instead of creating a “dnr” list and closing the book long before the end? One: I have a hard time not finishing a book/any book because a) I don’t like to leave things unfinished, and b) there’s always that small chance that there will come something redemptive later in the book or at the end. (Of course, One a) and One b) almost were not enough to get me to finish this book.) Two – and the kicker - : I was reading it for a book club, and did not want to not finish it and be “that person” who does not finish a book. So I finished the book, and promptly wanted the hours I had spent reading it back.
I found no quotes worth repeating outside of the context of the story. Not even any of the humorous ones (see my second paragraph about the quality of the humor). There were a couple half-way decent turns of phrase which struck cords with me, but not loud enough to warrant getting typed up.
Typographical error: “… half a Slim-Jim in a folded-ever wrapper.” – page 197 – “ever” should be “over”
That being said… The jokes, to me, were not all that funny, sex and drugs and drinking and general overall “let’s decide to do something very obviously stupid” were rampant and played up for humor’s sake – which is near the bottom of my list of Things that Make Me Laugh or even the list for Things that Amuse Me. The best event of the novel, in my opinion, is the immediate repercussions of Raziel’s granting of Joshua Barker’s Christmas wish during the Lonesome Christmas party. Everything else was just filler and building up to character placement. Molly and Theo, to me, were the most ‘fun’ and amusing to read about, and were a small redeeming grace in the book. (Get it? “Redeeming grace”? Haha…ha.)
Favorite character is probably Molly Michon, because who doesn’t love the Warrior Babe of the Outlands and her Narrator Voice? Theophilius Crowe was decent too, and actually somewhat relatable as a person – both of them were trying to keep on the straight and narrow for the person they care about and mostly succeeding. And when they slip, they both recognize it and ask themselves the “right” questions about their own actions and thought processes while still pressing forward and pretty much managing to do the ‘right’ thing in a new situation. Most annoying characters are probably Lena Marquez and Tucker Case – I really did not buy into their whole relationship which followed the Dale Pearson Event which threw them together in the first place. Though Roberto the fruit bat was amusing.
So, if this book so annoyed me, why did I finish it instead of creating a “dnr” list and closing the book long before the end? One: I have a hard time not finishing a book/any book because a) I don’t like to leave things unfinished, and b) there’s always that small chance that there will come something redemptive later in the book or at the end. (Of course, One a) and One b) almost were not enough to get me to finish this book.) Two – and the kicker - : I was reading it for a book club, and did not want to not finish it and be “that person” who does not finish a book. So I finished the book, and promptly wanted the hours I had spent reading it back.
I found no quotes worth repeating outside of the context of the story. Not even any of the humorous ones (see my second paragraph about the quality of the humor). There were a couple half-way decent turns of phrase which struck cords with me, but not loud enough to warrant getting typed up.
Typographical error: “… half a Slim-Jim in a folded-ever wrapper.” – page 197 – “ever” should be “over”