Practical Demonkeeping | Christopher Moore | "A prune in a Carmen Miranda costume"

Practical Demonkeeping | Christopher Moore | Twisted in all the right ways!

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Practical Demonkee...

	Practical Demonkeeping Christopher Moore Harper Paperbacks, 2004 - 256 pages average customer review:based on 113 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

"A prune in a Carmen Miranda costume"

This book isn't exactly laugh-out-loud funny. Too many people are devoured by the demon for it to be tongue-in-cheek...unless it's the demon's cheek and our tongue we're talking about here. However, "Practical Demonkeeping" is witty, shading into heavy irony. It is blackly humorous as in the scene where the demon coughed, "...and a red spiked heel shot out of his mouth and bounced off the windshield, spattering the glass with hellish spit."

You might guess that the red high heel once belonged to a woman, but it's not that kind of novel. As a matter of fact it belonged to a motel night clerk named Billy Winston who was a transvestite from the waist down (the parts that the motel customers can't see below the counter). Most of Moore's characters have some redeeming characteristics, even the scum-bag drug dealers and pool sharks, and I was really sorry when the demon ate Billy.

Even the demon whose name is Catch has his likeable moments--usually when he's reading Cookie Monster comic books and in between snacks. He also has a sense of humor, the kind of humor you'd expect from a cat toying with its next meal.

Some of the book's real humor comes from a second supernatural creature, the King of the Djinn who has been chasing after Catch ever since the glory days of King Solomon--except for a few thousand year time-out in a lead jar at the bottom of the sea. He expresses himself in phrases such as, "By Aladdin's lamplit scrotum," and "Tell us where the Seal of Solomon is hidden or we will have your genitals in a nine-speed reverse action blender." The true hero of "Practical Demonkeeping," owner of Pine Cove, California's bait, tackle, and fine wines shop thinks the King of the Djinn looks like "a prune in a Carmen Miranda costume." Nevertheless, this unlikely pair teams up to do a bit of demon-hunting.

Wickedly funny. That's the term I'm searching for. This book with its winos, pagans, wrinkled-prune Djinn, and hungry demon is wickedly funny.

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Twisted in all the right ways!

This was a great book. Very sick and twisted, but in all the right ways. It made me laugh out loud at parts, and I absolutely couldn't help loving the demon Catch (despite the fact that he eats people on a regular basis!). Very witty, totally enjoyable. This is the first Moore book I have read, and I will defintely be reading more!

Needs more demon

This was the second Moore book that I've read (A Dirty Job: A Novel being the first). While overall I enjoyed this book, I felt that it suffered from not having a clear main character that the story could revolve around. This was compounded by developing characters that were "removed" in short order. By far the funniest parts of the book are those with the demon and ultimately there were not enough of those to go around.

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Demons

Another original take on a monster book - good even for those with a weak stomach - he has a way of making even the gruesome & scary seem like fun

Imagine Carl Hiaasen or Bill Fitzhugh Writing Horror/Supernatural Novels and You've Got Christopher Moore!

This is a very enjoyable mild horror adventure that once finished will have you looking for everything else Christopher Moore has ever published. This is his first novel and too be honest there are probably a few too many characters constantly popping up between chapters for very short scenes, that at times you do have to think who was this character again. This is the only reason I dropped my rating a star but we have to remember this was Moore's first book and more importantly Practical Demonkeeping is still a very interesting and unique good book!

The small Californian town of Pine Cove has had an interesting history but nothing can prepare the surreal eccentric townsfolk for two visitors that are about to separately arrive who are older than the town itself. One named Catch is accompanied by another named Travis who is also older than he looks by about 70 years. The looks of Catch aren't too important as the only time the townfolk are likely to see this ancient reptilian demon is when he is in eating mode and then they don't want to as they are likely to be on the menu. His reluctant travel companion has a plan to rid himself of his murderous demon and the answer lies within Pine Cove. Meanwhile a frustrated policeman is trying to find a man named Breeze to save his career but only Catch and Travis know where he is. A deadbeat husband is trying to get taken back, a hippie feminist wishes for an earth spirit to help her with her goals, a frustrated with life store owner is about to meet a stranger who's a Djinn with a score to settle since the days of King Solomon and will make his life a lot more exciting. Throw in a heap of other eccentric townsfolk and you've got one hell of a read!

If you like the surreal eccentric character novels also check out the authors Bill Fitzhugh (Pest Control's a great place to start), Carl Hiassen (Stormy Weather's as good as any other), Dave Barry (Tricky Business) and Max Barry (Syrup).

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