So, this weekend just gone, we had Book Club; first one since December and, for me, first one since November. I missed the last one because of a hangover, where the girls discussed The Suspicions of Mr Whicher. This month we were talking about The Stupidest Angel by Christopher Moore, my pick.
Now, I have never read this book before. I have never seen it advertised, nor heard ‘great things’ about Mr Moore. I simply typed ‘Christmas Books’ into Google, and it was the most interesting one to pop up. I thought, ‘Zombies, awesome, that’ll be a bit different’ and different it definitely was.
It was not a well loved book. First off, I was the only one to finish. Now, that’s not actually unusual for book club, there have been many occasions where at least one of us has given up on a title before the meeting. Take Andrew Marr for instance; not a single one of us finished that. But considering the book was quite short, I was a little surprised.
I never thought it would turn out to be a gem but I did expect an entertaining read. While I wasn’t bored by the book, I wasn’t exactly thrilled by it either. It plodded along and I came to the end rather under whelmed. Very much an ‘well that was nice, what’s next?’ kind of book. The others, however, actively despised what they read of it. The talking corpses, the overly descriptive nature of Moore’s writing, and the overpoweringly mundane nature of the characters all gave way to some dreadfully low scores.
I wouldn’t actually recommend Moore to anyone. If you want Sci-Fi, read some real Sci-Fi – Philip K. Dick, Ray Bradbury, Arthur C. Clarke. Christopher Moore is like Sci-Fi Extra Light; all the ingredients but none of the flavour.
Overall Score: 2/10 Next Book: Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk
