Find all of my reviews at: http://52bookminimum.blogspot.com/ “We are all Fate’s bastards.” In what may be the longest synopsis in the history of the universe, Moore does a great job explaining that his book is actually a retelling of King Lear. The differences in the modern version? Fool is told from Pocket the Fool’s perspective and the tale is presented as a comedy rather than a tragedy. Things that remain the same? The cast of characters (Lear and his three daughters with a bevy of su...

It's really hard to describe a Christopher Moore book to anyone who has never read one. Or to anyone without a sense of humor. Or to a Republican. Mainly because when Moore says that "This is a bawdy tale," he certainly isn't lying. Couple that with his completely absurd sense of humor and you're guaranteed a read that will certainly never bore. This is delightfully raunchy stuff; gleefully vulgar; immensely readable. However, there's more to a Moore novel than just the humor. Moore's take on Sh...

“This was a bawdy tale!” Thus begins Fool by Christopher Moore, a parody of King Lear by William Shakespeare but also really a comic tribute to all of The Bard’s work. Besides Lear, I recognized several other direct or indirect references and Moore himself, in an epilogical aside said he had blended over a dozen plays into the narrative. Unique amongst Moore’s work, it does not operate in his connected universe of Hawaii, Pine Cove and San Francisco (as of the publication date). Irreverent, prof...

Nothing like a good Moore-gasm to end the evening.Fool is a comic retelling of King Lear from the fool's point of view. Pocket, the fool, is lechererous, duplicitous, and all round magnificent. He engineers the downfall of Lear's kingdom by pitting the king's daughters against each other, along with other nobles and their bastards. There are references to Shakespeare, as well as a vanished race called the Mericans, ruled by the mad King George. For me, the biggest laughs came from the faux Engli...

It is little secret that I think that Christopher Moore is one of the funniest writers currently putting ink to page. Whether he's writing about playing stone the adulteress with Jesus, talking fruit bats or a schizophrenic former B-movie star who still believes that she's a warrior babe of the outlands, Moore almost never fails to leave you panting on the floor with tears in your eyes and lungs aching for air. Needless to say, I was all up ons Fool when I first heard of it.A humorous take on Sh...

Hilarious! ...if you're really into gay jokes. If you're not a frat boy, on the other hand, this really has nothing for you.The idea is an exploration of King Lear through the eyes of the Fool, imagining him as the hero of the story. That's a perfectly good idea, but Moore does a dreadful job. Jane Smiley's Thousand Acres is a smart, insightful retelling of Lear from the point of view of his daughters; Fool is a bullshit Dungeons & Dragons-y retelling where the Fool comes with awesome throwing d...

Okay I laughed out loud numerous times reading this book. Bawdy, witty, a mishmash of various Shakespearean plays. Packet, the fool, is the main character and he rains barbed insults down on everybody from King Lear to the laundress (with spectacular breasts). This dangerous need to express himself leads to the daily threat, sometimes several times a day, of being hung (once even threatened with being hung twice) or run through with something sharp and deadly. I used this book as my "just before...

"Life is loneliness, broken only by the gods taunting us with friendship and the odd bonk."Not since Shakespeare has Shakespeare been this clever. "Fool" is a retelling of Shakespeare's "King Lear" from the Fool's perspective. The fool in Shakespeare's text is an integral supporting character who utters most of the play's philosophical secrets. Moore picks up on that and expands it into the plot for this novel.Although I have heard many people say (including Mr. Moore) that you don't need to be

Moore takes the idea of re-telling King Lear from the Fool's perspective and makes a very funny hash of the whole thing. My second favorite Moore novel after Lamb now.

I do enjoy a Shakespeare retailing from time to time and this one didn't disappoint. A bit ridiculous and a bit of fun. Have tried or read some other books by Christopher Moore before but haven't enjoyed the humour, but this one worked well for me and I'm in the mood to try to read more. Not sure if I have read a full book of his before. Maybe I have and there is a 4 stars book hiding somewhere in my reviews that I forgot. I don't know if it's necessary to know a bit of Shakespeares plays and su...

It´s possible that I don´t get many of the innuendos and connotations because of losses in translation from English to German and a lack of foreknowledge, but I definitively think that it doesn´t has to be so coarse. Don´t get me wrong, I have no problem with sweating, I do it silently in my mind on many occasions, **** *** ****!! *****!, see? But I find it unnecessary to overuse it so much that the author has to place a warning as intro and yes, many of the old classics might have had some rou...

Christopher Moore - image from Lit reactor Pocket is a diminutive Jester in the court of King Lear. Hijinks ensue. In this darkly comedic retelling, Moore has some fun with Willy the Shake and walks us through a maze of betrayal and downright cussedness in the Britain of a (thankfully) long-gone age. There are times when it is laugh-out-loud funny, particularly if (like me) you tend to guffaw at humor of a low sort. But while I am a fan of Moore, and have enjoyed A Dirty Job, You Suck and Lamb,

Welcome, gentle goodreader, to a profane, irreverent and hilarious serving of shag-filled Shakespornean bawdiness.Warning: Smutty naughtiness below (says Captain Obvious). This...is...my new favoritest Christopher Moore, nudge nudging out the excellent Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal with ear-hugging, diamond-studded prose like: ‘The castle’s awash in intrigue, subterfuge, and villainy—they’ll be wanting-comic relief between the flattery and the murders.’ ‘Intrigue...

Shakespearean wankfest making a mockery of King Lear in the most entertaining and loving way. Bonk...BONK. Perfect black comedy that made me laugh out loud. Pocket is my hero. "I need to be spanked.""A constant, I'd agree, lady, but again we're declaring the sky blue, aren't we?""I want to be spanked."

This was great even though it's been too long since I read King Lear & only have the vaguest recollections of the original. It didn't matter. Actually, it might have been a plus since I had no real expectations of where Moore was going with this. Sometimes I wondered if he knew, but it turned out he did & he eventually got there, not without a lot of shagging, death, & horribly funny situations, though.There was horror, but there was more fun & sex and a lot of funny sex. I can still see Pocket