Fool - Christopher Moore

   2009; 305 pages.  Book 1 (out of 3) in the “Fool” series.  Full Title: Fool: A Novel.  New Author? : No.  Genres : Dark Comedy; Shakespearean Spoofery; Humor.  Overall Rating : 9*/10.

 

    Could there be anyone in the world more foolish than a king’s Royal Fool?  He even has to dress the part with that silly hat with little tinkle bells attached (it’s called a coxcomb) and carry around a jester’s scepter, a miniature mockery of the King’s royal wand, with a silly image of himself at the top.

 

    Welcome to Pocket’s world, and as far as he’s concerned that’s not a bad life.  He lives in the royal palace, is usually in the company of King Lear himself, is responsible for keeping everyone amused, and is allowed to make snarky gibes about any and all those around him.

 

    Admittedly, the job is risky.  Heap enough insults on some visiting noble, and the Fool runs the danger of being stabbed in a hallway or poisoned at a meal.  And of course, if the king finds your remarks slanderous instead of witty, your only choice may be decapitation or the hangman's noose.

 

    But Pocket is nobody’s fool (well yes, he is, the King’s, but bear with me), and nobody in the royal court views him as a threat.  Glib speech and persuasive reasoning will keep him out of trouble most of the time, and when it doesn’t, he can always play one highborn simpleton against another.

 

    As long as Pocket sticks to that strategy, there’s no telling what he can get away with.

 

What’s To Like...

    Fool is the opening book in Christopher Moore’s trilogy retelling the plays of Shakespeare, in this case being a satire of the bard's King Lear, and although I was forced to read a half-dozen or so of Shakespeare’s plays in high school, this wasn’t one of them.  I *thought* somebody got stabbed behind an arras and someone else threw themselves in a river and drowned in King Lear, but it turns out that was Hamlet.

 

    Thanks to Wikipedia, I can say that events in Fool follow the bard’s script fairly closely, even to the point of the Royal Fool being an important companion of King Lear.  But Christopher Moore tells to tale from Pocket’s point of view, adds a slew of new plot tangents, and rewrites the ending.  He also adds scenes, quotes, and characters from other Shakespearean plays, including my favorite trio: the three witches in Macbeth.  “Double double, toil and trouble”, and all that.

 

    The text contains both old English words and some modern Britishisms, but fear not, there are easy-to-use footnotes to enlighten you about these, bubbling over with Moore’s wit, and not to be skipped.  It is advisable to bookmark the “Cast of Characters” section at the very beginning; I referred to it a lot.

 

    The tale is told in the first-person POV – Pocket’s, of course.  The chapters are of moderate length: 25 of them covering 305 pages, for an average of about 12 pages per chapter, and grouped into five acts (same number as Shakespeare’s play had), plus a short Intermission.  I liked the nod to Druidism early in the book, and chuckled at the mention of the well-known Dr. Seuss children’s book, Green Eggs and Hamlet, with its famous soliloquy quote: “Green eggs, or not green eggs!”

 

    The ending is decent and logical, and similar to the way a Shakespearean tragedy finishes, albeit not particularly exciting or twisty, but that’s okay.  Everyone gets their just desserts (or “deserts”, let’s not argue the point), which for many of the characters means they die. The final act serves as an Epilogue, giving “whatever happened to” ends to various plot threads.  I’ve already read the sequel to this, The Serpent of Venice (reviewed here), and have the most recent (final?) book in the series, Shakespeare for Squirrels, waiting for me on my Kindle.

 

Kewlest New Word ...

Boffnacity (n., made-up) : an expression of shagnatiousness (from the Latin “boffusnatious”).

 

Ratings…
    Amazon: 4.6*/5, based on 871 ratings.

    Goodreads: 3.96*/5, based on 52,606 ratings and 3,616 reviews

 

Excerpts...

    “Pocket, you have traveled the land, tell me, what is it like to be a peasant?”

    “Well, milady, I’ve never been a peasant, strictly speaking, but for the most part, I’m told it’s wake early, work hard, suffer hunger, catch the plague, and die.  Then get up the next morning and do it all again.”

    “Every day?”

    “Well, if you’re a Christian – on Sunday you get up early, go to church, suffer hunger until you have a big meal of barley and swill, then catch the plague and die.”  (loc. 1416)

 

    “Here to be murdered then, are you?”

    “Not immediately.  Uh, Edmund, if you don’t mind my saying, you’re being offputtingly pleasant today.”

    “Thank you.  I’ve adopted a strategy of pleasantness.  It turns out that one can perpetrate all manner of heinous villainy under a cloak of courtesy and good cheer.”  Edmund leaned over the desk now, as if to take me into his most intimate confidence.  “It seems a man will forfeit all sensible self-interest if he finds you affable enough to share your company over a flagon of ale.”

    “So you’re being pleasant?”

    “Yes.”  (loc. 2545)

 

Kindle Details…

    Right now, Fool costs $9.99 at Amazon.  The other two books in the series go for $7.49 (The Serpent of Venice) and $11.99 (Shakespeare for Squirrels).  Christopher Moore has about 15 other e-books to offer, most of which I’ve read; they’re priced in the range of $5.99-$13.99.

 

 

“My people burn a virgin every autumn – one can’t be too careful.”  (loc. 1265 )

    There’s not much to quibble about in Fool, although if you’re looking for a YA book suitable for little Tommy or Susie, this isn’t it.  Cusswords abound, particularly the F-bomb in all its varied usages.  There’s a rape, and a fair amount of violence, including a pair of eyes getting plucked out.  Although to be fair, that eye-gouging is also in Shakespeare’s version.

    Then there are the references to sex, oodles of them, although in most cases it is described in tasteful terms, and precisely what you’d expect from a court jester.  That seemed to be the number one complaint in the one-star reviews.  

    Last, and least, there were more typos than I’d expect in a book put out by a major publishing house (HarperCollins).  “Parsely” instead of “parsley”, “free lance” instead of “freelance”, and so forth.  It wasn’t excessive, but still, what do those professional editors get paid for?

 

    That’s about it.  In summary, if you’re looking for a well-written novel with interesting characters, an abundance of wit, no slow spots, and an adult target audience, any Christopher Moore novel is a great choice.  And if you’re in the mood for something with a Shakespearean twist, Fool is perfect for you.

 

    9 Stars.  One last note: there's a section at the end titled “You Cheeky Git – An Author’s Note”, wherein the author gives you some background to both Fool and King Lear.  The latter, it turns out, is based on a mostly-mythical figure in English history named King Leir, who, if he has any historical basis at all, lived around 400 BC.  Hats off to Shakespeare for plucking him out of the myths and plopping him into a medieval setting, and to Christopher Moore for spoofing him.