I recently heard Christopher Moore do an interview on NPR in which he discussed his 2009 novel, Fool, a re-take on Shakespeare King Lear from the fool’s POV. As a Shakespeare nerd, I read it and liked it, so I decided to delve a little deeper, and read another of his historical re-imaginings, Lamb, which is the lost gospel of Christ from his best friend, Biff.
I liked Lamb okay, but I was less keen on it. Blame it on my being Jewish. Still, Moore has a pretty signature quirky style, and is a very prolific writer. I would give him one more book and see which way the scales tipped.
The answer is: in Moore’s favor!
In brief (which is hard with Moore, especially this one), Practical Demonkeeping is about the intersection of a lot of pretty odd people in the sleepy little town of Pine Grove, CA when a guy (Travis) rolls through town with a demon (Catch) in tow. It turns out that all the angels and devils and whatnot stuff of lore are actually real, in addition to another race of being called the Djinns.
Moore’s books tend to be a slow start for me, and this one was no different. He starts off giving the audience a lot of credit, basically acting as though you are in on this crazy world that you are in no way in on. But once you figure out what is going on you get hooked. He changes narrative perspectives pretty dramatically and pretty often, which is not my favorite thing. Just as you’ve started to catch onto what is going on with Augustus Brine, the wine-loving bait & tackle guy, you switch drastically to Billy Winston, the cross-dressing hotel night auditor who flirts with men over the modem. It’s hard at first to understand how or why all these people are going to fit together.
Everyone gets a real royal intro as well, even the minor characters that I would argue don’t deserve that much energy devoted to them, but then again this is his first book.
In general, however, Moore’s penchant for quirk is in full force during this book. It is bizarre and fun, and after you get your bearings it keeps you interested as silly things keep falling into place. It wraps up a little swiftly, but I enjoyed it and am going to be reading another book by Moore soon.
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