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Loading... Island of the Sequined Love Nun (original 1997; edition 2000)by Christopher Moore
5   fyrefly98 | Dec 18, 2007 | 
You can’t really take this novel seriously, what with the cannibals, cargo cults, an organ-harvesting conspiracy, a talking fruit bat and the theft of a 747 from a Hawaii airport. But it is a funny and light adventure fantasy, set in the South Pacific, with a band of memorable characters and a plot that concerns, among many other things, the establishment of a new religion worshiping a WWII fighter pilot named Vincent. A fun read for your next island vacation. (  ) sturlington | Jul 26, 2011 | Tucker Case is a pilot. He's got it all. A great job, good looks, and women galore! Then one night in a fit of clouded judgment, he crashes his jet while drunk... Now he's got injuries, lawsuits, a revoked license, and no more wonderful job. Tucker Case is broken and feeling pretty sorry for himself. Then to his surprise, a mysterious letter reaches Tucker asking him go to a remote island and fly a Learjet for some doctor missionaries for way more money than his old job. The missionary doctor makes a point to include how he doesn't care about Tuckers spotty predicament, he only wants him there... When Tucker gets to the island, he finds some suspicious guards around the compound with guns, and he has some strict rules against making any type of contact with the islanders. He keeps seeing the spirit of a pilot long gone that tells him just enough to confuse him, and a fruit bat starts talking to him in an American accent. He knows the doctors are hiding something, he just can't quite figure out what. And for all that money he's making, does he really need to know? (  ) Anneliesa | Jul 12, 2011 | Christopher Moore books are not for everyone. He has been described as, “A very sick man, in the very best sense of the word.” His books are an escape for me, and I desperately needed one after reading A Child Called "It". He is zany, his humour is dark, and his books are totally off-beat. My massage therapist recommended Moore to me because his books are easy to read, don’t take a lot of brain power to follow, and leave you entertained. I have read four of his other novels (Fluke, A Dirty Job, The Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove, and Practical Demonkeeping), and this one was my least favourite. This book is about a pilot, Tucker Chase, who winds up in a lot of trouble after crashing while engaged in a drunken tryst. He winds up taking an extremely lucrative job offer to fly medical supplies for a missionary on a remote island. It was an enjoyable book, but not Moore’s best work. If you are interested in reading one of Moore’s books, I recommend starting with A Dirty Job about a guy whose job it is to gather up souls before the Forces of Darkness get to them. Oliver Wyman is the perfect narrator for Moore's novels. He is thoroughly enjoyable to listen to! MY RATING: 3 stars! ( ) DarlenesBookNook | Jun 12, 2011 | Very funny and well written story about a guy who has a good heart, but does not always use his head. There's action, adventure, one cannibal, some WW2 history, a bit of mystery, and a sequined love nun who is the master of all she surveys (when not drinking or reading trashy magazines). Great summer read. ( ) csleh | Jun 5, 2011 | This is yet another example of Christopher Moore's just-not-right-yet-entertaining stories with a beta male protagonist whose a little bit Hamlet, a little bit Moses, surrounded by a cast of eccentric characters, from a phony Sky Priestess & Sorcerer to a transvestite-turned-lesbian navigator (don't ask...I couldn't explain that if I tried :P), a talking bat named Roberto, Shark People and a pilot god named Vincent who plays poker with Jesus. This is the 7th Christopher Moore book that I have read and although I do think that Moore's writing only gets better with each book that he writes,these characters combined with a highly imaginative story incorporating cargo cults, satirical commentary about religious corruption, gratuitous (& very funny) sexual encounters, and supernatural phenomena kept me reading & wondering up until the end. (  ) KindleKapers | Apr 10, 2011 | Witty, yes; funny, sort of. I’m a little reluctant to recommend this book as the outstanding, gut busting dialogue and storyline I have come to expect of Moore was only present in a little over 1/3 of the book. The last bit of the book was still good, but I wasn’t left craving more like many of his other books. ... please read the full review at: http://tipsyreader.com/books/reviews/book-review-island-of-the-sequined-love-nun... ( ) tipsyreader | Mar 17, 2011 | Christopher Moore is a fabulous writer. All of his novels are so much fun! I really liked Island of the Sequined Love Nun. It was original, hilarious and thrilling. It was also an easy read. Basically, it is a perfect book for any time. http://dedesyearofbooks.blogspot.com/ (  ) DeDeNoel | Feb 15, 2011 | A great story that introduces us to Roberto, a wonderful reoccuring character. Good Job Mr Moore. ( ) Skooshie | Feb 13, 2011 | This book was released several years ago and is a typical Chris Moore novel filled with zany characters. It tells an excellent story. The hero of the book, Tucker Case, is a small plane pilot who takes off in a Learjet while drunk. He flies all right, but his landing wrecks the plane and him. Disgraced, jobless and broke, he accepts a strange job offer to fly for a missionary doctor on a tiny island in the South Pacific, but he misses his connecting boat to the island from Truk. A transvestite native named Kimi agrees to take him across hundreds of miles of ocean in a open boat. Kimi is accompanied by a fruit bat called Roberto. THe bat wears a variety of stylish sunglasses to keep the sun of his eyes and occasional talks. When they finally reach the island, they are captured by the island's last remaining cannibal and things rapidly go downhill after that. The missionary doctor and his beautiful wife/nurse run a nefarious business and are guarded by a half-dozen Japanese thugs armed with Uzi's. I won't give away the plot, because it's a good one with many twists and surprises. After the first few chapters, the humor dies away, but by then the reader is immersed in the plot and the characters. An enjoyable story: four stars ( ) hanque | Jul 31, 2010 | His best. Washed up pilot ends up on a Pacific island working for two very strange medical people. ( ) addunn3 | Jun 30, 2010 | Tuck stared out at the ocean for a moment, wondering whether it was time to give this gift horse a dental exam. There was just too damn much money showing on this island. When pilot Tucker Case foolishly goes for a drunken flight with a hooker who wants to join the mile high club, and crashes his boss's plane, he loses his pilot's licence and is lucky to escape with his life. Out of the blue, he is offered a lucrative job flying a Lear jet for a mission doctor on an out of the way island in Micronesia, but it isn't long before he starts thinking that there must be a catch. It is a comedy with disturbing undertones which gradually becomes more and more sinister. It; is the first of this author's books that I have read, and I was surprised that it featured such sinister goings on. Back in the 80s, I read several of the M*A*S*H books, and the tone of this extremely funny novel really reminded me of them. "Island of the Sequined Love Nun" is a very enjoyable book, and gets bonus points from me for including a map of the island. ( ) isabelx | Jun 23, 2010 | This read began kind of slow for me and the book didn't start getting to the point, in my opinion until after page 100. Ultimately, I believe I enjoyed it. I am going to give this author another try to make sure. (  ) alwaysshana | May 6, 2010 | This is my first Christopher Moore & I was looking forward to a good laugh but as I read I kept thinking when does it get funny? The plot was goofy ,nonsensical, wacky and flip. The book was filled with silly antics, colourful language and graphic sex scences. I felt I wasted my time reading this book. I will try one more book by this offer in hopes this was just an "off" book, ( ) Gerri007 | Apr 28, 2010 | Good, though not outrageously funny. Tucker is a loser who rises to the challenge of saving an island community from being taken advantage of by a greedy scientist and his soulless wife (who is the love nun). Tucker is a well drawn character and one that you like despite his flaws, and who you cheer for. This one muses on religion - whether someone can become a god through his or her actions. Good as a recommended light reading but not anything profound enough to read again. ( ) trinityM82 | Feb 19, 2010 | Typical Moore, a good quick read, that makes you laugh out loud, and not notice the social commentary. Lamb is still his best book ever, but it is always good to laugh out loud while you are reading. ( ) mydomino1978 | Feb 1, 2010 | This was better than the last few Christopher Moore books we’ve listened to. In this book, we meet Tucker Case, who also appears in Moore’s later book, The Stupidest Angel. Tucker gets himself in a bit of trouble when he takes a drunken joyride in one of his employers jets with a beautiful lady. About $2 million in damages later, Tucker’s lost his pilot’s license. When he’s approached by some supposed missionaries wanting to hire him to pilot their jet back and forth from their Micronesian island and Japan, it’s an offer he can’t refuse (at least, not if he wants to fly again). Unfortunately, when Tuck gets to the island, it doesn’t take long for him to realize that everything isn’t as it seems. People are getting hurt in the name of cash, and Tuck can’t be a part of it. He really has to step outside of himself and take on some major challenges to save these innocent island people. Tuck isn’t a particularly likable character at first (really, he’s a screw-up), but by the end of the book he’s grown into someone who can be proud of himself. Even if he did steal a 747. ( ) miyurose | Dec 7, 2009 | The story of Tucker Case, washed up pilot with a weakness for drinking and women, the Sky Priestess, the Sorcerer, and Vincent, a dead American bomber pilot. The front half of the book was slow to the point of tedious, but once the story took hold it became a page turner. Written with the typical Moore wit, this is a good vacation book or book for true Moore fans. If you can only read one Moore book, don't make it this one. ( ) Meggo | Nov 15, 2009 | I picked this up because I liked Lamb and heard his other books were really funny. But this one wasn't. I felt like I'm reading a story formed from elements drawn from a hat. The characters were merely walking personality traits without actual personalities, and the plot was contrived beyond the point of amusing silliness. The story appeared to have been written with the belief that random automatically equals funny. It doesn't. ( ) melydia | Oct 28, 2009 | Tucker Case, who becomes the ex-pilot for Mary Jean cosmetics after a late-night sex romp in the cock pit of one of her pink, corporate jets that he was piloting and crashed, ends up with a too-good-to-be-true job flying for a missionary doctor on the beautiful island of Alualu. The natives are cargo cult worshipers--Vincent, a pilot from WWII landed on their island while fighting the Japanese many years ago and is long since dead, but they believe he was and is their God, and the painting of the half naked Sky Priestess on the nose of his B-26 Bomber mysteriously becomes flesh and blood and acts as go-between for Vincent and the native islanders or so they are led to believe. It takes Tucker a while to figure out just what it is he is piloting for the doctor and The Sky Priestess, but once he does, he is determined to save the naive islanders and ultimately saves himself too. Lots of humor and many twists and turns, this was a fun story and a quick read. ( ) DanaJean | Oct 25, 2009 | This was a good book. Not my favorite Christopher Moore book, but still funny. I was a fan of the Shark People, they made me laugh more then any of the other characthers within the book. ( ) irunsjh | Sep 30, 2009 | One of the only books I've read that lives up to the reviews printed on its back cover. The plot is twisted and expertly crafted. The characters seem very flawed and frighteningly believable. This book is a great summertime read. ( ) Calypso42 | Aug 13, 2009 | Who would've thought...Christopher Moore is not all hilarity and racuousness. This very funny story is actually a pretty powerful portrait of faith and redemption--not just for one man, but for an entire population. Filled with intriguing characters and plain old cool-ass storytelling, The Island of the Sequined Love Nun kept me entertained and in semi-suspense through the entire book. Some parts of the plot were a bit too predictible, so of course Moore threw in some absurd coconuts from left field just to keep the readers on their toes. All in all, very enjoyable, highly snort-inducing, and even a little bit thought-provoking. Classic Moore. ( )1 MissTeacher | Aug 9, 2009 | My husband and I, who read this book aloud together, found it hilarious. It's my favorite of the many Christopher Moore books I've read. The book opens with its loser protagonist, Tucker Case, suspended from a breadfruit tree, captured by a cannibal. The next hundred pages describe how the one-time pilot for Mary Jean Cosmetics fell into humiliation and disgrace, then accepted an offer that was too good to be true, which, combined with his poor judgment, led to his current situation. After avoiding being eaten, Tuck's adventures on Alualu begin, with a full cast of entertaining characters and astonishing, but semi-credible, events. (  ) espertus | Aug 2, 2009 | I was entertained by it, but not as much as his vampire books. ( ) bumpish | Jul 5, 2009 | Reading this book was like watching a "B" movie, but in a good kitschy way. It was very entertaining and I looked forward to reading it. The story line and characters were a bit absurd and silly, but I think that is what made it fun. ( ) taramatchi | Jun 20, 2009 | |
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RatingAverage: (3.69)
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Review: Not as funny as some (most?) of Moore's other books, although I've mostly resigned myself to the fact that none of them are going to be as bust-a-gut funny as Lamb. This book certainly did have its moments, though, and the premise and the plot are twisted enough (both in the "convoluted" and the "slightly disturbed" sense of the word) to make it a quick and overall fun read. However, I was a little put off by some sexist and racist undertones to this book that I hadn't noticed in Moore's other works. It's possible to write about sex, even raunchy sex, without being sexist, but every female character in this book is either an emasculating bitch or a fetishized sex object (or both). Likewise, it's possible to poke fun at other cultures without being condecending, but Moore tips over to the wrong side of that line several times as well. Neither of these issues was severe enough to make me not enjoy the book, but when the humor's not up to its usual standard, they're more noticeable and therefore more distracting from the otherwise zany adventures.
Recommendation: Diverting enough but nowhere near the best that Moore's capable of. Read it only after you've run through his better works. (