Coyote Blue

A salesman has his life turned upside down by Coyote, the Native American trickster god.

Christopher Moore and Neil Gaiman have inspired a new category for my bookshelves: modern humorous spiritual fantasy. Moore in particularly is not afraid to tackle everything from Buddhism to memes. Coyote Blue is one of my favorites by him. The trickster god Coyote is a starring character in the novel, and plenty of Coyote stories are sprinkled throughout, told in Moore’s humorous style.

The trickster leads Sam Hunter, a Crow Indian who is on the run from the law, on a chase after the best woman he’s ever met and her baby son, who were kidnapped by the boy’s father and a motorcycle gang — which leads him right back to the reservation Sam show more originally ran away from. It always gets a little convoluted trying to summarize a Christopher Moore plot. They get to meet Anubis, Coyote’s brother, and go to the Underworld along the way — how’s that for mixing metaphors?

I thought Coyote Blue was one of Moore’s finer novels, right up there with Lamb, even if it does get a little sloppy toward the end. If you’ve never read any of Moore’s novels, and you want something lighter to end the summer with, this would be a good choice. show less

Christopher Moore is becoming one of my favorite light authors. Like Lamb, the first book of his that I read, this is funny, irreverent, slightly sacriligious, but also touching. Moore seems to be very good at portraying the trouble-making ordinary guy with a heart of gold, whether it's Sam Hunter, the insurance salesman protagonist of this book; Biff, from Lamb; or Old Man Coyote.

Samuel Hunter, born Samson Hunts Alone, left the Crow reservation of his birth when he was a teenager, on the run after accidentally killing a crooked cop in a fit of anger. Since then, the young Indian has become a master chameleon, fitting in perfectly with the greater white world. He has become a very successful insurance salesman, owns a very nice townhome and a Mercedes, and feels all-around quite satisfied with his life. So what if he isn’t in love? So what if he doesn’t have any family, or even any close friends? So what if he’s so focused on fitting in and staying inconspicuous in his normality that he doesn’t allow himself any strong emotions or real individuality?

So what indeed! Unfortunately…or fortunately, show more depending on how you look at it, Sam’s spirit guide just doesn’t see things the way Sam does. Sam’s spirit guide is the ultimate troublemaker, you see…the trickster god Old Man Coyote! It is more than just Coyote’s job to shake things up; it is his very nature! So when Coyote checks in on Sam’s life and decided to help the young man find his balance, Sam is in for the ride of his life.

Soon, Sam finds himself in danger of losing his job and his townhome, in love with an eccentric young hippie named Calliope, and caught up in a whirlwind cross-country trip to Las Vegas to help Calliope retrieve her son from his dead-beat father, a drug-dealing biker with co-dependency issues. And through it all, Old Man Coyote is smack in the middle of things, causing trouble in the name of fixing what Sam didn’t think was broken.

“Coyote Blue” is funny, wise, and just plain a heck of a lot of fun! show less

Sam Hunter has been on the run since he was a teenagers. He grew up as Sam Hunts Alone, a skeptic of his own traditions on a Crow Indian reservation, where he finds himself ironically longing for the lifestyle lived by the people on the television show Bonanza. After a tragic accident involving a dam and a spare tire Sam runs from the law, and becomes an incredibly successful insurance salesperson. Until one day his heritage comes crashing around his ears in the form of the kamikaze tornado-on-legs trickster god, Coyote.

There are a lot of jabs taken at Native American culture here, and initially I thought Moore was being very disrespectful, but of course by the end the atmosphere changes and it becomes a charming representation of a show more mythology we know little about anyway. Of course Christopher Moore is going to poke fun at people, that's what he does, but he always has more to tell than just jokes and this book is no different.

The story itself is a ridiculously cliche one. Man falls in love with woman upon seeing her, woman is in danger before man knows her at all, man rescues her, and so forth. It's okay though, Moore is funny so I forgive him. Besides, how can you not like a book where Minty Fresh makes an appearance? show less

A Christopher Moore I haven't read! Yahoo!

I enjoyed this book, as I do most Moore novels. He's got the right mix of zaney, bawdy, silly, outrageous, humanity, and mystical to make his books good reads, truly deserving of laughing out loud. Nice to see an early iteration of a character who shows up in several other books as well.

I kept thinking, while reading this, that when I was four, my family went on a cross-country trip. While out in "Indian Country" my parents bought me a book called "Coyote Tales", all about that mischief maker. Somehow, Old Man Coyote is a bit randier in Moore's book than in my memory, though maybe I ought to read the children's book again, and look for hidden meanings. You never know.

Tags: an-author-i-read, show more a-favorite-author, made-me-laugh-out-loud-for-real show less

Another fun read from the crazy world of Christopher Moore. I only have two more Moore books, before I don't have any more Moore books to read. Chris always creates wonderful characters and puts them in some really strange situations. This tale involves a tribal Indian Gods, a biker gang, and a few swindling insurance salemen to name just a few. Fun characters, funny situations and an overall good read.

A Christopher Moore Book. At his best, he is laugh out loud, crazy, smart funny. At his worst, he is laugh out loud, crazy, and smart funny. This book falls in the middle. Coyote Blue is funny is smart, and always entertaining, but this isn't the best book I've read by him.

We have a former Crow Indian, turned chameleon Insurance Salesman. A God that is both naively innocent and dangerously mischievous. We get Las Vegas, a Bike Rally in Sturgis. The characters are funny - down to the Samson, himself, from the minor characters of Dinty Moore and the Japanese Business Man. We even have some Buddhist Monk Mechanics thrown in for good measure.

But the heart of the story is Sam, and his strange, fast, immediate Love of Calliope, a very down to show more earth Hippy (which is strange, in it self).

Should you read this? Yes. But on a rainy day where you want something funny, with just a hint seriousness. show less