TBR Challenge - REVIEW - Fool

I am listening to: Maurine by Say Hi To Your Mom.


"Here's the Cliff Notes you wished you'd had for King Lear—the mad royal, his devious daughters, rhyming ghosts and a castle full of hot intrigue—in a cheeky and ribald romp that both channels and chides the Bard and all Fate's bastards. It's 1288, and the king's fool, Pocket, and his dimwit apprentice, Drool, set out to clean up the mess Lear has made of his kingdom, his family and his fortune—only to discover the truth about their own heritage. There's more murder, mayhem, mistaken identities and scene changes than you can remember, but bestselling Moore (You Suck) turns things on their head with an edgy 21st-century perspective that makes the story line as sharp, surly and slick as a game of Grand Theft Auto. Moore confesses he borrows from at least a dozen of the Bard's plays for this buffet of tragedy, comedy and medieval porn action. It's a manic, masterly mix—winning, wild and something today's groundlings will applaud." From Publishers Weekly - Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

What's not to love about the majestic tragedy of King Lear with extra naughty bits thrown in? If you're a purist, stay away from Christopher Moore's anachronistic re-telling of Shakespear's King Lear. In fact, if you are a purist, stay away from any Christopher Moore book because the man is a mash-up artist. There are references wrapped up in references, jokes and one-liners that go by so quickly that you sometimes have to say, wait a minute, did he just say that Goneril likes to be spanked, or am I imagining it?
Moore's humor is earthy and loose and silly and very very funny. Along the lines of Douglas Adams or Terry Prachett, or Tom Robbins, highly absurd and irreverent. I first started reading Moore when I came across A Dirty Job, still my favorite book by him. And that's where my one complaint about Fool comes in. A Dirty Job had boobs and knobs and all sorts of blood and guts, but it had heart, something I thought was a little lacking in the story of Pocket, the court jester in Lear's disintegrating kingdom. There are glimpses of it, but ultimately, though a fun, witty romp, it left me a little - watch out kids, this is a literary term used in the high echelons of academia - meh.


Here's my system on reviewing, based on the old nursery rhyme about magpies:

One for sorrow (DON'T BOTHER)

Two for joy (NOT BAD, NOT GREAT)

Three for a girl (WORTH GETTING AT THE LIBRARY)

Four for a boy (WORTH ASKING FOR IT FOR YOUR BIRTHDAY)

Five for silver (BUY IT BUY IT BUY IT)

Six for gold (BOW DOWN AND WORSHIP)

Fool - Three Magpies

TBR Challenge - REVIEW - A Certain Slant of Light

I am listening to: I Might Be Wrong, Radiohead


First of all, I want to say HURRAY! I finished a book that I was supposed to read! I've talked about how rubbish I am at reading on demand as I'm easily distracted by other shiny books.


Secondly I want to say that I've never written a review before, so I'm sure to cock it up and I'm not sorry. I'm just going to write what I think and leave the rest up to you. Nah Nah.


"In the class of the high school English teacher she has been haunting, Helen feels them: For the first time in 130 years, human eyes are looking at her. They belong to a boy, a boy who has not seemed remarkable until now. And Helen--terrified, but intrigued--is drawn to him. The fact that he is in a body and she is not presents this unlikely couple with their first challenge. But as the lovers struggle to find a way to be together, they begin to discover the secrets of their former lives and of the young people they come to possess." - from www.laurawhitcomb.com


This is a YA novel that's different, thoughtful and thought provoking. It's different because, though it's fast-paced and has some supernatural elements (ghosts) I haven't read another YA book like it. The main characters are adults that inhabit teenage bodies - which makes it sound like Freaky Friday or something, but I assure you it's not in anyway corny or exploitive. Ms. Whitcomb does an amazing job of seamlessly combining the interior world of a ghost from another century to the exterior world of modern day high school and all the craziness it entails. The juxtaposition of what the teens have to endure in their daily lives (restrictive parents, algebra, bullying) and the longing of the ghosts for each other and for closure - after all, they don't know why they're haunting the earth - is masterful because it never seems confusing or forced.


For a book exploring big themes like spirituality and freedom, it clips along. This is the first book I've ever stepped into the shower with, admittedly, I stayed away from the spray, as I was waiting for the water to get hot. The last few pages I shed a few tears, probably because I have kids and because I'm a sucker. The ending was a little  'spiritual' not to say dogmatic or religious (it's not) and I felt a tiny bit disappointed by that. But hey, they're ghosts. Some great reward has to come to them sometime. 


So, because I'm feeling cutesy, here's my system on reviewing, based on the old nursery rhyme about magpies:

One for sorrow (DON'T BOTHER)

Two for joy (NOT BAD, NOT GREAT)

Three for a girl (WORTH GETTING AT THE LIBRARY)

Four for a boy (WORTH ASKING FOR IT FOR YOUR BIRTHDAY)

Five for silver (BUY IT BUY IT BUY IT)

Six for gold (BOW DOWN AND WORSHIP)

A Certain Slant of Light - Five Magpies