A Dirty Job by Christopher Moore

I think this will be the first book review that I've done here? That's been done on here? It's not that we don't read, well I read, everyone else in this madhouse is illiterate, I swear to god, but it's really more so that prior to January when I was still in school I didn't do much leisure reading, and what I did just never made it's way to The Beard. Wow, ok, MOVING ALONG. A couple of weeks ago Jana kicked me in the back of knee, causing me to fall to the ground where upon she proceed to choke me until I agreed to purchase and read the book A Dirty Job by Christopher Moore. So I did.

The book has an interesting premise: Charlie Asher wtinesses the death of his wife mere moments after the birth of their daughter and his life is irrevocably changed because he is now an agent of Death. This is probably the most light hearted take on Death and dying that I've ever read or viewed. Despite this, Moore manages to maintain a relatively somber and semi-serious tone throughout the book; the key word here being relative since quite a bit of what takes place in this novel is actually quite ridiculous.

What really kept me going in A Dirty Job wasn't neccesarily the plot or the action, but rather it was the characters. Moore does an absolutely excellent job of writing Charlie Asher as the pinnacle of the Beta Male. This excellence extends to the rest of the main characters as well, each with their own quality of dialogue and thoughts to the point where you could show me any line of dialogue (of reasonable length) from the book and I could probably told you who said it.

I only had two real issues with this book, one being pretty minor and the other being kind of significant. The minor issue is that the book has some pacing issues early on, as in I was wholly uninterested and bored for about the first 40 pages. After that though, it was fantastic. My second problem, is not neccesarily the fault of the book itselt, but more then likely a product of the type of books I've read over the course of my life. When I finished this book, it didn't leave me with that heady sense of revelation and/or satisfaction that one gets from reading something along the lines of say 1984 or Frankenstein. A Dirty Job is a light snack in comparison to these smorgasbords. But, if that's what you're looking for, something quick, easy, and enjoyable to read then by all means go for it.

Last note: this book is probably good for anyone 14 or older. Mainly because I think anyone younger then that wouldn't really be able to grasp all of the emotional aspects, and that parents might not want their children to be exposed to the several scenes of blatant sexual tension between some of the characters.

A Dirty Job by Christopher Moore gets 5 Beards.