A Dirty Job: A Novel (original 2006; edition 2007)

[SPOILER ALERT]
This book had its moments. It was cute. And weird. Really weird. Definitely not my usual genre.

The back and forth banter was witty - I love that. I definitely feel like some of it went over my head, but that's okay.

The character quirks were pretty great. Inspector Rivera was fantastic. Lilly's screwing with Ray and his desperate Filipinos was pretty amusing. I'm not sure I bought all of the relationships, though. Sophie did not always sound like a 6-year old, but she was the Luminatus, so maybe I can make an exception for her. Audrey and Asher declared their love pretty quickly, too. I didn't buy that one. I get that she was a Buddhist monk so she was very zen and honest, and he's a beta male, but I just wanted to smack him. Didn't work for me.

It was an interesting read overall. I'm not sure I've heard this concept of soul vessels before. Similar, but not quite the same. I also very much liked the epilogue of this one. The last paragraph gave me a big ole smirk! ( )

In High School I really ate up all of the Piers Anthony books I could and I particularly fell in love with "On a Pale Horse" a book about the Incarnation of Immortality--Death. A guy becomes Death. I loved it.

Fast forward to College and I discovered this amazing HBO show "Dead Like Me" about a bunch of people who become reapers. They get the first name of the person who is going to die on a POST IT NOTE and have to claim the soul before they die.

Fast forward to me reading this book. Kind of disappointed. The similarities to "Dead Like Me" (come on, Moore! Seriously!) and "On a Pale Horse" I had to force my way through the beginning. This is my problem with Twilight and Sookie Stackhouse. Love Sookie and Love True Blood but Twilight just isn't different enough to make me interested in it.

The premise of "A Dirty Job" is different enough that it can exist on its own but unfortunately for me I think that I've spent far too long in the realm of Literature and had a hard time taking the book lightly. It's difficult for me to let go and just enjoy a good "fluff" book.

That being said, I enjoyed reading it even though it was a struggle and I would highly recommend this to anyone who is not a boring book snob like myself. At the end of the day it's hilarious, a light read, and a fun one at that. :) ( )

I actually listened to this one and enjoyed it. I ended up buying two of the authors other books in actual paper form and think I'll enjoy them in the written format more. Although, this author's books are read by Fisher Stevens and he actually has a good voice for audio books.

Charlie Asher is your average Beta Male. He owns a second-hand shop in San Francisco and rents out the apartments in the rest of the building to some kooky tenants. He has somehow managed to win the heart of beautiful Rachel and she has just given birth to their daughter Sophie when the book begins. Charlie can't believe his luck, and, with typical Beta Male imagination, believes that Sophie has eleven toes or a tail or something--good things just don't happen for Beta Males. After Sophie's birth, weird things start to happen to Charlie. People drop dead in front of him, objects glow with an eerie red light, and he hears evil voices coming from the sewer drains. Enter Mr. Minty Fresh. He explains what is going on to Charlie. Basically, they are Death Merchants. They collect objects from the dead and dying that are imbued with the dead person's soul. Then they hold onto the object until the soul's next owner comes along and buys it. If they screw up, or if they have contact with other Death Merchants, the Forces of Darkness will rise and the World As We Know It will end. No pressure.

I think I had laughed out loud four times in the first four pages of this book. Moore's sense of humor is a perfect match for mine. I've been trying to think of the word to describe it. Not exactly crass or crude, it's more like the not-exactly-for-polite-company jokes that you make with your best friends and maybe even your family, but you probably wouldn't say in front of your in-laws or your boss. I had a few "I can't believe he had the nerve to write that!" moments in some of the funnier parts. Here are a couple of my favorite quotes:

"'There's no g*****n tail , you doofus! Look!' She pulled down the blanket and aimed baby Sophie's bottom at him like she might unleash a fusillade of weapons-grade poopage such as the guileless Beta Male had never seen."

"Don't be ridiculous, Charlie, people love the parents who beat their kids in department stores. It's the ones who just let their kids wreak havoc that everybody hates."

While the book was definitely an irreverent comedy, there were some very nice parts where Charlie is reflecting on death and loved ones. Probably one of the nicest passages was about hospice workers, calling them "benevolent Valkyries, midwives of the final light." These nicer parts are few and far between, but it was nice to have them in there.

The characters are all quirky but loveable and you just can't help rooting for Charlie as he comes to terms with fatherhood and his new status as a Death Merchant. Charlie's employees and tenants provide a comedic sideshow that I loved.

The plot is so different that I never had much of an idea where Moore was going with this. And I mean that in a good way. I like well-written unpredictable books and this fit into that category.

The humor isn't for everyone, but if it sounds like your brand of humor, read this one. It's a lot of fun. ( )

Hilarious! What a weird and wonderful writer. ( )