Want to know why I'm royal cheesed off with this economy? Because it’s affecting all aspects of my life and is seeping joyful events from me so fast that I barely have time to acknowledge them and wave before they run past me, thumbing their collective noses. My favorite scribe announced a new tome last year, and so of course I went looking to see when he was going to do a signing in my area. It would have been fun considering we’ve swapped some e-mails but alas (and alack) it was not meant to be. When I looked for the name of my fairly substantial burg on his roster o’ mirth, we were noticeably absent. So, in true Shmoo unabashed fashion, I whipped him another e-mail. Me-“I didn't see any dates for Toronto on your whirl- wind book tour. Fix that will ya? I'm still pis*ed that you missed last year due to snow. Want to get my copy of Dirty Job autographed (figure everyone else will be bringing Lamb so I'll spice it up) and shake your hand.” Christopher Moore-“They cancelled three weeks of the tour due to the economy. Unfortunately, Toronto and Chicago were on that part. Sorry. Hope you like the book, though.”
Well, F*cksticks!, as our reluctant hero Pocket might say. While it did NOT detract from my enjoyment of this book it did make me feel like my entire community was somehow the bastard child of North America.
And Now For Something A Little Different: Fool, published early this year is Christopher Moore’s 11th book to date and he has truly shaken up style and concept for this one. First and foremost, it is written in first person narrative from the point of view of the top Court Jester to King Lear, a diminutive, sly and wily man named Pocket of Dog Snogging (I keep picturing Billy Boyd in the role if they ever do the movie). Moore hasn't tackled a full first person narrative to date. The closest he’s come have been the overly dramatic journal entries of Abby Normal in his book You Suck- A Love Story. Secondly, Moore writes this as if he were a British author, using British humor and British colloquialisms some of which will go over the head of almost everyone not “in the know”. For example, two of the kitchen wenches trailing the pack of folk at the end of the book are named Bubble and Squeak. ‘Allo, ‘Allo, ‘Allo, wha’s this all about then?: If you have a passing remembrance of your mandatory high school English, and think you vaguely remember King Lear, then Good For You! Jump right in. If you’ve never read it, go get some Cliff’s notes or take a peak at Wikipedia just to familiarize yourself with the concept of the story because much remains the same. Don't go back and read Lear. Moore's deviations will just annoy you. The main difference is that the primary character, rather than Lear, is our little friend Pocket who is silently pulling the strings behind everything that is going on and trying to lighten the mood as tragedy and depression strike. On occasion his timing leaves a bit to be desired. For instance, near the beginning of the book at a massive party, Lear , who is thinking of transferring his rule and lands, asks a question from his three daughters: Goneril the eldest, Regan his second and Cordelia his youngest and favorite, “How Much Do You Love Me? It is a question that the eldest two have been practicing the answer to for days and had skillfully set up its asking. They wax poetic to their father, feeding his ego which is what he wanted, professing that they will never love another more than him. Cordelia answers honestly. She loves him but loves others as well and may love a man more someday. Cordelia’s answer enrages Lear. He gives away everything he has to Goneril and Regan equally (keeping 100 knights for his own self) and tells Regan she gets nothing. When the King’s best friend, the Earl of Kent, tries to object he is banished from the kingdom. The Prince of France is so impressed with Cordelia’s answer that he takes her with no dowry and immediately leaves the country. Drool, Pocket’s apprentice fool, who is a “Natural” (mentally or physically challenged in some way) and perhaps Pocket’s closest companion ends up being given to the man Pocket hates the most, Edmund the bastard son of The Earl of Gloucester. Add to this already explosive and stressful moment the fact that all of the Nobility is in religious crises. Some still believe the old pagan ways, some believe in Christianity, some want to follow a pope who has just abdicated…. …and it’s in this atmosphere that Pocket chooses to lighten the mood by launching in to the joke “Two Popes are shagging a camel behind a mosque when this Saracen comes up-“ Had he not been the King’s fool he would have been killed long ago. The joke is never told in full but the punch-line is “So the second Pope says, “Your sister? I thought she was Kosher!” The rest of the book plays similar in narrative to Lear however we see that things really aren’t as bad as they seem and that Lear is definitely making matters worse for himself. They pack up their knights and head out to spend the King's waning days with Goneril. The King finds her inhospitable towards his men so he travels on to stay with Regan, all the while realizing that he might have made a very small mistake tossing out Kent and writing off Cordelia. Thanks largely also to the utterances of Pocket in his ear as well as the devotion of a new servant named Caius (Kent in a very bad disguise). When Regan proves no better than Cordelia, Lear throws off his cloak and stumbles out in to the wilderness choosing to live in the rain and cold with an insane wanderer who calls himself Tom O’Bedlam (The Earl Of Gloucester’s legitimate heir Edgar who was banished when his brother framed him for the attempted murder of their father). Pocket will not think about leaving the old man alone, despite the fact that Lear's faults are being made more apparent as the days progress. From here, there is nothing to do but go meet Lear’s youngest daughter Cordelia, who has just sailed over from the shores of France with army in tow.
In these treks and journeys, we learn of orphaned Pocket’s upbringing in the Abbey At Dog Snogging surrounded by Nuns, we witness his first sexual encounter with a beautiful woman through the bars of her cell, we find out how Pocket came to be in the service of the King, and we learn that sometimes our actions come back to haunt us (literally). Behind the scenes, Pocket is constantly visited by a stunningly beautiful ghost who talks in riddles and drives him crazy and we see him pulling every lever, causing almost every death until the story's end.
Umm Mate- That Doesn’t Sound Really Funny It is… trust me on this one. I’ve glossed the story, not delved in to the humor. As all this is going on, sex happens (even the ghost gets in on the action), brittle barbs are thrown, and curse words flow as if they were water. The luckiest character is probably Drool who’s built like a drain pipe and ends up having sex with almost every woman in the book.
So Whatcha Think Then Eh? Brilliant but not his best work so I took one star away. His audience is going to be a bit confused by this and the journey gets a bit bogged down. However Moore doesn’t miss a trick. He has not only been faithful to Lear but he has incorporated other works from Shakespeare as well. Regan’s castle is set in Scotland so that the Three Witches can make an entrance. Moore has embraced all the death and tragedy that takes place in Lear and through the eyes of one very smart Fool has turned it funny in a way that North American’s will enjoy and the English will cough fits over. Foresooth and Oddsbodkins, read, drink mead and shag Mary, for tommorow ye all may die
Moore plays homage to one of society s most revered cultural icons: Shakespeare. Treachery, treason, and murder most foul are afoot at the Lear castle...More at Buy.com Marketplaces
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