 | | |
| Fluke: Or, I Know Why the Winged Whale Sings (Today Show Book Club #25) | 
 enlarge | Author: Christopher Moore
Publisher: HarperCollins
Category: Book
List Price: $13.95
Buy New: $1.23
You Save: $12.72 (91%)
Buy New/Used/Collectible from $1.23
Avg. Customer Rating:  (124 reviews)
Sales Rank: 25808
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Unknown), English (Published)
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 321
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.6
Dimensions (in): 7.9 x 5 x 0.9
ISBN: 006056668X
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN: 9780060566685
ASIN: 006056668X
Publication Date: June 1, 2004
Release Date: June 15, 2004
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
|
| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
Just why do humpback whales sing? That's the question that has marine behavioral biologist Nate Quinn and his crew poking, charting, recording, and photographing very big, wet, gray marine mammals. 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. Trouble is, Nate's beginning to wonder if he hasn't spent just a little too much time in the sun. 'Cause no one else on his team saw a thing -- not his longtime partner, Clay Demodocus; not their saucy young research assistant; not even the spliff-puffing white-boy Rastaman Kona (ne Preston Applebaum). But later, when a roll of film returns from the lab missing the crucial tail shot -- and his research facility is trashed -- Nate realizes something very fishy indeed is going on. By turns witty, irreverent, fascinating, puzzling, and surprising, Fluke is Christopher Moore at his outrageous best.
Amazon.com
In his entertaining adventure-in-whale-researching, Fluke, or, I Know Why the Winged Whale Sings, Nathan Quinn, a prominent marine biologist, has been conducting studies in Hawaii for years trying to unravel the secret of why humpback whales sing. During a typical day of data gathering, Nate believes his mind is failing: the subject whale has "Bite Me" scrawled across its tail. Events become even stranger as the self-proclaimed "action nerds," Nate, photographer Clay, their research assistant Amy, and Kona, a white Rasta (a Jewish kid from New Jersey), encounter sabotage to their data and equipment. They also observe increasingly bizarre whale behavior, including a phone call from the whale to their wealthy sponsor to ask that Nate bring it a hot pastrami and Swiss on rye, and discover both a thriving underwater city and the secret to what happened to Amelia Earhart. Thoughtful, irreverent, and often hilarious, Moore has crafted a tale that contains a bit of the saga of declining whale populations due to hunting and habitat destruction, as well as his over-the-top, decadent wit as applied to scientific methodology and professional jealousies. Moore notes a pasty, rival scientist "looked like Death out for his after-dinner stroll before a busy night of e-mailing heart attacks and tumors to a few million lucky winners," and that killer whales (which are all named Kevin), are "just four tons of doofus dressed up like a police car." Smart, sincere, and a whale of a story, Fluke is terrific. --Michael Ferch
|
| Customer Reviews: Read 119 more reviews...
Good, but could be better June 1, 2008
This book was funny, clever and brought up many original ideas that no one has really thought of. This seems charateristic of Moore's books. I enjoyed Fluke but at times it got boring, and if you're not very interested in sea creatues it won't be AS captivating. In general though, it was good.
 Only Moore is so Imaginative, thought-provoking, and hilarious May 26, 2008
Nate Quinn, a nerdy, quiet behavior-biologist is investigating the humpback's song with his photographer and best friend Clay Demodocus, a young wannabe Rastafarian Kona, and the hot (though 1920s slang-spewing) assistant Amy Earhart. Suddenly, he sees a message on the fluke of a whale: Bite Me. This sends Nate on a bizarre and enigmatic and evolutionary quest through the seas. Christopher Moore is a treasure, as always. He writes a fantastic, clever, and surprising science fiction tale, touching on greater themes (who are we? where did we come from? how are we connected?), but all with a truly wonderful and unique and hilarious style that puts him far and away from other writers. His ability to bring together seemingly opposing ideas (this time: evolution and intelligent design) is only surpassed by his great comedic timing. His characters are beautiful, real, and delightful. Fluke--though it lags a bit with the explanations and around the middle, and isn't as wonderful as Lamb--is another wonderful joy. Though, of course, anything that is imaginative, thought provoking, and hilarious is. Best book I've read in a long time. Grade: A+
 Good Book May 14, 2008
I have to agree with another reviewer listed here: Good, but not great. It was entertaining, very readable, but not that great.
Fair enough April 28, 2008
Started out as one book and almost seemed to turn into a completely different one by the end. A good read, but not Moore's best.
Christopher Moore is Awesome - Most of the Time April 27, 2008
"Fluke" is not Christopher Moore's best novel. That honor, in my humble opinion, goes to "Lamb" followed closely by "You Suck". Granted, I have not yet finished them all.
Having said that, even when not top of his game, Moore delivers humor and holds your interest throughout this book. I liked it...but didn't love it.
|
|
|
Powered by Associate-O-Matic
| | |