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MauritiusToday.com - Shopping Mall - The Stupidest Angel: A Heartwarming Tale of Christmas Terror, Version 2.0
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List Price: $14.95
Our Price: $14.02
Your Save: $ 0.93 ( 6% )
Availability: N/A
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Binding: Hardcover
Format: Bargain Price
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 320
Publication Date: 2005-11-01
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Editorial Reviews:
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Christmas crept into Pine Cove like a creeping Christmas thing: dragging garland, ribbon, and sleigh bells, oozing eggnog, reeking of pine, and threatening festive doom like a cold sore under the mistletoe. 'Twas the night (okay, more like the week) before Christmas, and all through the tiny community of Pine Cove, California, people are busy buying, wrapping, packing, and generally getting into the holiday spirit. It is the hap-hap-happiest time of the year, after all. But not everybody is feeling the joy. Little Joshua Barker is in desperate need of a holiday miracle. No, he's not on his deathbed; no, his dog hasn't run away from home. But Josh is sure that he saw Santa take a shovel to the head, and now the seven-year-old has only one prayer: Please, Santa, come back from the dead. But hold on! There's an angel waiting in the wings. (Wings, get it?) It's none other than the Archangel Raziel come to Earth seeking a small child with a wish that needs granting. Unfortunately, our angel's not sporting the brightest halo in the bunch, and before you can say "Kris Kringle," he's botched his sacred mission and sent the residents of Pine Cove headlong into Christmas chaos, culminating in the most hilarious and horrifying holiday party the town has ever seen. Only Christopher Moore, the man who brought you the outrageous lost gospel Lamb and the hysterical fish tale Fluke could have devised a new holiday classic that tugs at the heartstrings and serves up a healthy slice of fruitcake to boot. Move over, Charles Dickens -- it's Christopher Moore time.
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating: 
Summary: Devilishly Funny, Bizarre and Morbid
Comment: This is the first book I've read by this author. Mr. Moore is a cross between Carl Hiaasen, Stephen King and Timothy Leary during one of the professor's mind-altering drug experiments. Very, very funny metaphors are to be found throughout the story. I started laughing upon reading the author's dedication page which is certainly a first for me. I also cracked up upon reading the first paragraph of the story (32 words). At some points in the story, I had tears of laughter streaming down my face. Mr. Moore is truly an extremely creative and funny gentleman in a Charles Manson, helter-skelter sort of way. The book is sure to cause a few massive heart attacks in unsuspecting religious readers who live in the ole Bible Belt. I liked it a lot, but Mr. Moore's book is not for individuals who are easily offended.
Customer Rating:
Summary: First We Feast, Then IKEA!
Comment: Christopher Moore's The Stupidest Angel CD: A Heartwarming Tale of Christmas Terror is another audiobook to entertain, even at 5 A.M. on the commute into the city. My husband and I have gotten into a habit of listening to audiobooks in the car when we travel to and from work, and when we take little road trips.
Christopher Moore's books seem to be the most addictive for us even with the sometimes dark humor and harsh content. The Stupidest Angel is no exception.
The book is set in Pine Cove, Calif., where the Archangel Raziel is set upon Earth to grant a Christmas wish to one child. That child is Josh Barker. Unfortunately, Josh has no idea what is in store when he asks the angel to bring Santa Claus back to life.
With characters like a Warrior babe named Molly, a pot-smoking constable--her husband, a DEA helicopter pilot, and a evil developer, among others, there was nothing to do but sit back and laugh at the follies, misunderstandings, and interactions between these characters. Of course, there had to be a speaking, sunglasses wearing, fruit bat named Roberto! These characters stumble around in their relationships with one another, insulting their spouses and their friends, only to make up in the end, but the ride is raucous.
It gets even crazier in Pine Cover when Molly goes off her medications and starts hearing the narrator in her head, giving her direction. She wonders off into the woods naked and carrying a Japanese sword where she meets Raziel who only wants to eat the marshmallows out of the cocoa packets. Meanwhile, zombies are raging war against the townspeople at the Lonesome Christmas celebration in the local church. The resolution to this story is truly in the Christmas spirit, but the ride to its conclusion is hilarious and action-packed.
Customer Rating:
Summary: You'll know if you'll like it by the title
Comment: Like all of Moore's books, if you didn't like the title, you won't like the book. It is fun, light reading with a twisted sense of humor that is sarcastic and satirical without being overly cynical or superior. If you enjoy looking at the human condition from three degrees off center, and have at least once found yourself wondering what goes through a dog's mind as it is sniffing your crotch, then do not miss reading every one of his books. If you take anything very seriously in life, chances are that you will be offended somewhere in the nine titles presently out there, but chances are you need to lighten up anyway. If you are just not at the point in life where lightening up is at all practical, then you should immediately look elsewhere (like nonfiction or more likely self-help).
AN EXTRA BONUS is available to those who read Moore's books in general order of publication, as some inside jokes and characters from previous novels appear in later ones. While every book is fully self-contained, the crossovers can provide an extra chuckle for the most ardent fans. You may want to buy them all now, though, because if you make it through the first 50 pages of any of Moore's books, the time it takes to download the next one may be too long to wait.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Chris is insane, but in a good way.
Comment: It took me a while to discover Christopher Moore, but when I did, I had to get 9 of his books (excluding Lamb, so far) and read, read, read! Of the 9, The Stupidest Angel is my 2nd favorite. The book takes all of the quirkiness, hilarity and absurdity of the cast of characters introduced in his novels, Practical Demonkeeping and The Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove, and brings them to the pinnacle of madcap psychosis. Out of 5 stars, I would actually give this book a 6. When you sit down to read this book, get ready to expect the unexpected and wonder, "did he just say that???" I certainly hope that this cast of misfits and oddballs appears again.
Customer Rating:
Summary: somewhat surreal, somewhat silly, wholely enjoyable
Comment: Readers will get the most out of this book if they have read other novels by the author, because this one incorporates characters from almost all of his previous works. In effect, even though the story itself is new, it's a "greatest hits" package of interesting people culled from Moore's earlier efforts. You can still read it without knowing the characters (as I had about three Christmasses ago) but it probably won't be as "fun."
As with most of Moore's works, a slightly macabre sense of humor is needed, so if the idea of a zombie Santa doesn't already have you chuckling, you probably won't like this.
I will say that the ending hit one of my major writing pet-peeves, but sadly I can't explain that without giving it away. However, the rest of the book was humorous enough to make up for that, and admittedly it probably is the only way the book could have ended, especially if Moore plans to revisit this setting in the future.
All in all, recommended, especially as a Christmas present to those sick friends of yours whose favorite holidays are either Haloween or April Fool's.
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