Thursday, July 30, 2009

Book 2/50: Fluke, or I Know Why the Winged Whale Sings (initial thoughts)

Moving along to something completely different from The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, meet Christopher Moore, am American humanist author whose first novel, Practical Demonkeeping, was published in 1992. Fluke is the first of two Moore novels on my list, so here's hoping I like Moore.

The recommender of this book told me that Moore possesses one of the most original imaginations she's ever seen. The inside flap of the book supports the idea that this will, at the very least, but an odd and unusual story: "Marine behavioral biologist Nate Quinn is in love--with the salt air and sun-drenched waters off Maui--and especially with the majestic ocean-dwelling behemoths that have been bleeping and hooting their haunting music for more than twenty million years. But just why do the humpback whales sing? That's the question that has Nate and his crew poking, charting, recording, and photographing any large mammal that crosses their path. Until the extraordinary day when a whale lifts its tail into the air to display a cryptic message spelled out in foot-high letters: Bite me."

The story appears to get stranger as it goes, as there are conspiracies, rival researchers, phone calls from marine mammals, and sandwiches thrown into the mix. Just the sort of thing, I suppose, that would follow a whale telling you to "Bite me."

Looking forward to this novel; hope to make a pretty sizable dent in it while I'm in Lubbock for the weekend, especially since I've got a whopper of a book on hold for me at the library.

Oh, and while it's not exactly the Oprah Book Club, it's worth noting that it did make NBC's Today Show book club in 2004.

Stats: 321 pages
Published: 2003, William Morrow (an imprint of HarperCollins publishers)
Links: http://www.harpercollins.com
http://www.chrismoore.com

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