The Serpent of Venice A Novel (Audible Audio Edition) Christopher Moore Euan Morton HarperAudio Books
Download As PDF : The Serpent of Venice A Novel (Audible Audio Edition) Christopher Moore Euan Morton HarperAudio Books
New York Times best-selling author Christopher Moore channels William Shakespeare and Edgar Allan Poe in this satiric Venetian gothic featuring the irresistibly mischievous Pocket, the eponymous hero of Fool.
Venice, a really long time ago Three prominent Venetians await their most loathsome and foul dinner guest, the erstwhile envoy from Britain who also happens to be a favorite of the Doge The rascal-Fool Pocket. This trio of cunning plotters have lured Pocket to a dark dungeon, promising a spirited evening. Their invitation is, of course, bogus. These scoundrels have something far less amusing planned for the man who has consistently foiled their quest for power and wealth. But this Fool is no fool....
Once again, Christopher Moore delivers a rousing literary satire A dramedy mash-up rich with delights, including (but not limited to) Foul plots; counterplots; true love; jealousy; murder; betrayal; revenge; codpieces; a pound of flesh; occasional debauchery; and water (lots of water). Not to mention a cast Shakespeare himself would be proud of Shylock; Iago; Othello; a bunch of other guys whose names end in o; a trio of comely wenches; the brilliant Fool; his large sidekick, Drool; Jeff, the pet monkey; a lovesick sea serpent; and a ghost (yes, there's always a bloody ghost).
Wickedly witty and outrageously inventive, The Serpent of Venice pays cheeky homage to the Bard and illuminates the absurdity of the human condition as only Christopher Moore can.
The Serpent of Venice A Novel (Audible Audio Edition) Christopher Moore Euan Morton HarperAudio Books
This is a sequel to Moore's "Fool," and best read after first perusing that book. For me, the first bits moved slowly and it took until around 60 pages in to begin warming to the plot, hence the four stars I gave it. Serpent features Moore's usual thumbing of the nose to literary correctness. He unashamedly has a character note that everyone is speaking Italian with an English accent, boils metaphors over and holds various alliterations up to the reader as if saying, "Whatcha gonna do about it? Huh?" Moore uses a chorus of invisibles who gauchely interact with characters.Most writers of fiction hew to making themselves invisible as possible to the reader so as not t spoil the spell of the tale. Not so Moore. In Serpent, Moore thrusts his dramaturgian persona right at us *through* the tale as if impaling it. Pocket is a character after Moore's own pervy heart.
And finally, we come to the plot's mainspring, yet another intentional foisting of the writerly crime of using Deus Ex Machina in the form of a superpowered sea serpent.
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The Serpent of Venice A Novel (Audible Audio Edition) Christopher Moore Euan Morton HarperAudio Books Reviews
This is not the best Christopher Moore novel. I know a lot of people didn't like Fool, but I really enjoyed it. I like a lot of Moore's books. This one though, it sort of required me to drag myself to finish it. The humor seemed a little forced, and though I enjoyed the monster and most of the mystery, the basic writing elements Moore employed such as his tawdry descriptions of sexual parts started becoming repetitive and lost their quippy wit. Characters that I was led to not like near the beginning were somehow people I should be rooting for at the end. And the expectation of the future for the main character and the love interest seemed .... presumptuous. I'm trying to write this without spoilers, and I can't. Unfortunately, this book lacked much of the low brow pizzazz it's predecessor sparkled with.
The Serpent of Venice marks another adaptation by Moore of Shakespeare's works (one of the others is Fool, where the character Pocket is introduced) - a very loose adaptation actually based on several Shakespeare plays, with, of course, a typical Christopher Moore twist or two thrown in, including a dragon, a fool, a fool's apprentice, a puppet and of course, a monkey (and a ghost, there's always a bloody ghost...." Usual hilarity ensues.
Moore excels at comedic writing and the Serpent of Venice does not disappoint, although I must confess that Serpent isn't nearly as strong as some of Moore's other offerings in my opinion (such as Lamb or Bloodsucking Fiends). Certainly, if you are familiar with Moore's other works, then you can't go wrong with this book, but if you're new to his works, I would suggest starting elsewhere before tackling this book, mostly because it's seems like a bit of an epilogue to Fool; and while it can be read as a stand alone book, it helps to have some of the background of the prior story.
I've always found it interesting how much base research Moore has invested in writing his books, and some of that comes through when reading his comments at the end of the book...and while Serpent certainly can't be thought of as being anywhere near historical fiction, it reads well because of this extra effort.
As he did in "Fool", Christopher Moore has once again taken on Shakespeare with his latest book, "The Serpent of Venice." To make things even more interesting, he's tossed in a bit of Edgar Allan Poe for flavor--anyone care for some amontillado? The result is sort of a bizarre, foul-mouthed love child of Poe and Shakespeare all wrapped up in a little bundle.
The fool Pocket travels to Venice at the behest of his beloved queen, only to run heinously afoul of some Venetians with other plans. I read "Othello" and "The Cask of Amontillado" back in high school and both were never as funny as this, and even though I haven't read "The Merchant of Venice" I had no problem following the story as they were woven together.
Shagging. Profanity. Murder. Revenge. Intrigue. Jealousy. Pirates. Betrayal. All of these elements are to be found within the pages of "The Serpent of Venice", along with a silver-tongued, foul-mouthed fool who wears a cracking large codpiece and saves the day. If you're one of those people who loves Shakespeare and think he's better than sliced bread, this book might not be for you. But if you're like me and you find The Bard to be rather dry and hard to understand with all that damn iambic pentameter, this is a fresh and humorous take on two of his more famous plays. Long live Pocket!!
What do you get when you mix Poe's "Cask of Amontillado," the "Merchant of Venice," bits from the biography of Marco Polo, "King Lear" and vast portions of "Othello"? Christopher Moore combusted them and they morphed into "The Serpent of Venice." Moore sets things right as only he can, and he does quite improve the ending of Othello (much as Jasper Fforde improved the ending of "Jane Eyre"). This may not be Moore's best (what can be better than "Lamb"? It is a fantastically funny twist on history, the Crusades, and the Bard's best writing. Shakespeare could have taken some instruction from Moore on the art of setting things right. "Serpent of Venice" is a smashingly funny read, poking fun at Venetians speaking with English accents. Unfortunately, you'll find yourself thinking in a British accent along the way, but you won't regret it at all.
This is a sequel to Moore's "Fool," and best read after first perusing that book. For me, the first bits moved slowly and it took until around 60 pages in to begin warming to the plot, hence the four stars I gave it. Serpent features Moore's usual thumbing of the nose to literary correctness. He unashamedly has a character note that everyone is speaking Italian with an English accent, boils metaphors over and holds various alliterations up to the reader as if saying, "Whatcha gonna do about it? Huh?" Moore uses a chorus of invisibles who gauchely interact with characters.
Most writers of fiction hew to making themselves invisible as possible to the reader so as not t spoil the spell of the tale. Not so Moore. In Serpent, Moore thrusts his dramaturgian persona right at us *through* the tale as if impaling it. Pocket is a character after Moore's own pervy heart.
And finally, we come to the plot's mainspring, yet another intentional foisting of the writerly crime of using Deus Ex Machina in the form of a superpowered sea serpent.
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