Page Count: 321
Author: Christopher Moore
Publisher: William Morrow
ISBN: 0-380-97841-5
Category: Fiction
Genre: Science Fiction/Comedy (with a little Drama mixed in!)
Dove's (Personal) Review: Excellent! A very funny book! You'll find a laugh on just about every page of this one!
Nathan (Nate) Quinn spends his life studying whales... for a living! His current "research project" is trying to find the meaning behind the Humpback-whale's song. Why do they sing? Why is it just the males that sing? Does it have to do with mating? Hunting? Locating other pods? That's what he wants to know.
Nate has employed a research assistant named Amy, who - he thinks - is just as curious. He also thinks she's human, but... that's another part of the story, LOL! Another one of his assistants, Kona, is quite a character as well. Kona is fluent in Rastaspeak, much to the annoyance of Nate - and everyone else within earshot!
While Nate studies whalesong, he is also struggling in the "dating world." He was married, but that union fell apart when his wife left him... for another woman. In dealing with that, he meets and hires Amy. She's very cute, and he soon develops "the Hots" for her.
During their whalesong research-expeditions, many obstacles get in their way. For one, their boat is sunk by the enemy... all their data is destroyed... Nate is swallowed by a humpback whale, and presumed dead... Amy mysteriously disappears at sea... another team-member almost drowns... a new underwater world is discovered... Kona teams up with Nate's exwife and her new Lesbian lover to help rescue everyone, as well as the research...
It's a hilarious book, for lack of a better word, LOL! The ideas presented within the pages are quite intriguing. The "Goo," the half-human/half-whale people, the "whale" ships, and the cetacean facts combine nicely, creating a genuine Science Fiction/Out of this world feeling.
Christopher Moore has a charmingly witty personality, which shines brightly through his novel Fluke. Just from the chapter titles, the reader is clobbered by his sense of humor:
Chapter One - Big and Wet. Next Question?
Chapter Two - Maui No Ka Oi (Maui Is the Best)
Chapter Three - A Little Razor Wire Around Heaven
Chapter Four - Whale Men of Maui
Chapter Five - Hey, Buddy, Why the Big Brain?
Chapter Six - Whale Wahine
Chapter Seven - Sanctuary, Sanctuary, Cried the Humpback
Chapter Eight - A Rippin' Talk
Chapter Nine - Relativity
Chapter Ten - Safety
Chapter Eleven - The Merman and the Martian
Chapter Twelve - Here's My Coupon, He Said, Singing the Redemption Song
Chapter Thirteen - Spirits in the Night
Chapter Fourteen - Down to the Harbor
Chapter Fifteen - A Song for Your Supper
Chapter Sixteen - Shoes Off in the Whale!
Chapter Seventeen - Jonathan Livingston Reaper
Chapter Eighteen - Heinous Fuckery Most Foul
Chapter Nineteen - Scooter Don't Meep
Chapter Twenty - Missing Biscuit, Flopping Tuna
Chapter Twenty One - I Lick the Body Electric
Chapter Twenty Two - Deep Below, Bernard Stirs
Chapter Twenty Three - Clair Stirs a Brainstorm
Chapter Twenty Four - Orientation to the Blues
Chapter Twenty Five - The Inner Secrets of Cetacean Sluts
Chapter Twenty Six - Picking the Lock to Davy Jones's Locker
Chapter Twenty Seven - The Found World
Chapter Twenty Eight - Single-Celled Animal
Chapter Twenty Nine - Talking Up the Dead
Chapter Thirty - Motherfluker
Chapter Thirty One - Booty and the Beasts
Chapter Thirty Two - The Replicator Versus the Imitator
Chapter Thirty Three - Could be Worse, Could Be Dog Years
Chapter Thirty Four - Necrophiliacs Anonymous, Gooville Chapter
Chapter Thirty Five - Yeah, but You Can't Dance to It
Chapter Thirty Six - Black and White and Red All Over
Chapter Thirty Seven - A Whaley Death
Chapter Thirty Eight - Pirates
See what I mean? Some of those titles just GRAB your attention hilariously, don't they?
Dove gives this book an A++++++ rating for the laughs alone! And another A++++++ rating for creativity, and imagination!
A great book! Very enjoyable, from cover to cover! Two Thumbs Up!!!