English language
Published Dec. 30, 2006 by William Morrow.
Charlie Asher is a pretty normal guy. A little hapless, somewhat neurotic, sort of a hypochondriac. He's what's known as a Beta Male: the kind of fellow who makes his way through life by being careful and constant -- you know, the one who's always there to pick up the pieces when the girl gets dumped by the bigger/taller/stronger Alpha Male.But Charlie's been lucky. He owns a building in the heart of San Francisco, and runs a secondhand store with the help of a couple of loyal, if marginally insane, employees. He's married to a bright and pretty woman who actually loves him for his normalcy. And she, Rachel, is about to have their first child.Yes, Charlie's doing okay for a Beta. That is, until the day his daughter, Sophie, is born. Just as Charlie -- exhausted from the birth -- turns to go home, he sees a strange man …
Charlie Asher is a pretty normal guy. A little hapless, somewhat neurotic, sort of a hypochondriac. He's what's known as a Beta Male: the kind of fellow who makes his way through life by being careful and constant -- you know, the one who's always there to pick up the pieces when the girl gets dumped by the bigger/taller/stronger Alpha Male.But Charlie's been lucky. He owns a building in the heart of San Francisco, and runs a secondhand store with the help of a couple of loyal, if marginally insane, employees. He's married to a bright and pretty woman who actually loves him for his normalcy. And she, Rachel, is about to have their first child.Yes, Charlie's doing okay for a Beta. That is, until the day his daughter, Sophie, is born. Just as Charlie -- exhausted from the birth -- turns to go home, he sees a strange man in mint-green golf wear at Rachel's hospital bedside, a man who claims that no one should be able to see him. But see him Charlie does, and from here on out, things get really weird. . . .People start dropping dead around him, giant ravens perch on his building, and it seems that everywhere he goes, a dark presence whispers to him from under the streets. Strange names start appearing on his nightstand notepad, and before he knows it, those people end up dead, too. Yup, it seems that Charlie Asher has been recruited for a new job, an unpleasant but utterly necessary one: Death. It's a dirty job. But hey, somebody's gotta do it.Christopher Moore, the man whose Lamb served up Jesus' "missing years" (with the funny parts left in), and whose Fluke found the deep humor in whale researchers' lives, now shines his comic light on the undiscovered country we all eventually explore -- death and dying -- and the results are hilarious, heartwarming, and a hell of a lot of fun.
I got about 10 pages in. It was kinda funny, but the phrase “beta-male” had appeared on about every other page, so I asked my reader and it told me “beta-male” appeared 100s of times in the book. That was it for me.
Somewhat silly and mostly humorous, but goes on a lot longer than it should.
The plot summary is well covered in the book blurb and most reviews. I appreciated the (mostly) caricatured characters, and their satire. The snarky humor is good, though a bit overdone at times. This is not the first Christopher Moore I have read, and I would still recommend the irreverent Lamb as a very good example of his work (he says it is his favorite book).
The plot of A Dirty Job is a bit convoluted, overly long, and covers six years without much warning that time is passing. Many extraneous passages, including one describing hospice workers (understandable with the dedication), and a religious zealot chanting "death to the infidel" (no effect on the plot). Wraps up quickly and in a decent fashion, and a sequel was released 9 years later.
It is perhaps telling that …
Somewhat silly and mostly humorous, but goes on a lot longer than it should.
The plot summary is well covered in the book blurb and most reviews. I appreciated the (mostly) caricatured characters, and their satire. The snarky humor is good, though a bit overdone at times. This is not the first Christopher Moore I have read, and I would still recommend the irreverent Lamb as a very good example of his work (he says it is his favorite book).
The plot of A Dirty Job is a bit convoluted, overly long, and covers six years without much warning that time is passing. Many extraneous passages, including one describing hospice workers (understandable with the dedication), and a religious zealot chanting "death to the infidel" (no effect on the plot). Wraps up quickly and in a decent fashion, and a sequel was released 9 years later.
It is perhaps telling that I am in no rush to put it on hold at the library. 2½ stars (out of 5).
