HC Reviews

Fluke : Or, I Know Why the Winged Whale Sings by Christopher Moore

Having read various other books by Christopher Moore (Bloodsucking Fiends, Lamb, The Stupidest Angel) and liking them all, I got his latest book from the library and settled in to be amused.

Yeah. This book? Not so much with the amusing. I mean, it's not a horrible book. Just not as funny as his others.

The story revolves around Nate Quinn, a Ph.D. Biologist based out of Hawaii, who studies humpback whales and tries to figure out why they sing.

Moore has his eccentric cast of characters: Nate, Clay (another biologist), Amy (the research assistant), Kona (the other assistant who's adopted the Rasta/Pidgeon speak of the Islands even though he's a Jewish kid from New Jersey), and the Old Broad (the benefactor who claims to speak with the whales by phone).

The first half of the book is pretty much a straightforward story. The second half of the story then takes you on a journey that is just so odd, you find yourself going, "Wha? Wait. What the hell is going on?" By the end of the book, you're just so relieved that some (not all) of your questions were answered. And it's not until you've finished the book that you realize that you basically just read a whole book dedicated to telling you that whales are a precious species and they need to be protected. It's like a Greenpeace propoganda book, cleverly disguised as a science fiction novel.

I will give Christopher Moore props for doing extensive research into the world of Marine Biology though. I know way more than I did before about whales, how they mate, etc.

Posted by xinh at February 1, 2005 08:19 PM