I finished this book by Christopher Moore last night. It is a quick, fun read about a 20 year old kid who gets turned into a vampire on page 1 by his girlfriend and them running around trying to deal with being vampires in present day San Francisco. There is not much substance to the book, it is a very fast read and there are some genuinely funny moments, but like the rest of Christopher Moore's books, I feel that something is missing.
This is the 3rd book of his that I have read and I see many comparisons to Tom Robbins in his writing style, but the problem that I find is that Tom Robbins seems to have something to say about people, society, religion or whatever and Christopher Moore has the ability to write an entertaining book, but it seems like he doesn't say anything in all of his books. I even read his book Lamb which is the story of Jesus from when he was a kid up until his death and it followed what he did in his youth in a comedic way, but even that book seemed to not say much.
This is not to say his books are not entertaining. They are. Very entertaining, but when you look back you realize very little happened and you wonder if it was worth the time it took to read.
I will say this though. You Suck had a very awesome scene in it where one of the main characters ran into a main character of Moore's other book A Dirty Job which I read about 2 years ago. They didn't just run into the character, the exact same scene was written, but this time it was from the You Suck point of view. I was reading along and got a sense of deja vous so I picked up A Dirty Job and literally opened up to the right page where Jody from You Suck was having a conversation with Charlie from A Dirty Job. I remember reading that book and thinking that scene was weird, and never explained when I finished, and it finally was. The books were written only a year apart (according to their copyright dates) so I'm sure he wrote both books around the same time, but I really appreciate when authors take you into their own worlds like that. It's probably the Marvel Universe kid in me.
So You Suck is a fun, witty, page-turning read that really does not have much substance, but if you are a fan of Christopher Moore I'm sure it is up your alley. It is not as good as Lamb which is so far his best since it almost had something to say, but I found this more fun of a read than A Dirty Job, but honestly, I think I'm done reading his books. I completed my own personal Trilogy and I think it's time to read some other books with more substance. Either that, or it's time for the newest Alex Cross adventure.
1 comment:
I agree about being done with Moore. I read Lamb, I adored it, and maybe it's my Catholic upbringing, but I did get quite a lot out of it. Then I read Coyote Blue and I chuckled, but found the jokes sort of played out and too familiar. He is definitely a one trick pony, and while funny, there is way too much to read out there for me to read basically the same book again. Perhaps I judge too harshly after only 2 books, but, I don't really care.
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