I give this book a 3 and a cautionary recommendation.
This is the story of how the impressionists were inspired,
sort of. So just think of every
impressionist painter around the time of Van Gogh’s death gathering together to
share battle scars and horror stories as they fry their brains and you’ll be close.
What this book actually is, is a fairy tale of how it could have really
happened if lead poisoning, syphilis, and absinthe hadn’t actually killed off
all those painter or made them go mad.
Clever is the first word that comes to mind when I think of
this story, and classy is not. This story is funny. I’m new to Christopher
Moore’s work, but that seems to be a consensus. I know the title states that
it’s a comedy, but I’ve read comedies that weren’t very funny, but this is
funny. It’s also a little outrageous, but since it’s fiction, why shouldn’t it
be?
I could ramble off the names of all the artists and time
periods that Moore managed to intertwine in this convoluted scheme of love,
lust, muses, and death, but that could take a while and I don’t want to get a
cramp in my hand. If you know anything about art, at all, I mean eighth grade
art appreciation; you’ll recognize at least one of the characters and be drawn
into the story. For those who actually know quite a bit about art and history,
I laughingly imagine the wrinkles of your faces as you scrutinize the details of
the major plot points and character flaws. This story shouldn’t be taken too
seriously.
I truly meant it when I called this a fairy tale, but Disney
wouldn’t dare touch it. There’s too much
sex and drugs, and, to my great displeasure, an unnecessary over usage of the F
word. I guess I could attribute the over
usage of the F word to European and, specifically, the French culture, so I
didn’t let it bother me too much. For some reason, I never hold up the same
standards or European comedy as I do US comedy; so I guess the same goes with
literature.
This is not a story for the family, but a good read for
any adult with a sense of humor.
