Sacré Bleu
Ratings39
Average rating3.6
I picked this up cause it's just so damn pretty but this tome personifies “don't judge a book by its cover” with how boring it is. DNF.
As usual, Christopher Moore got me to giggle and learn about things at the same time.
The most willing I've ever been to learn about art.
This was much closer to the kind of comedy [b:Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal 28881 Lamb The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal Christopher Moore http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1331419009s/28881.jpg 3346728] taught me to expect from Christopher Moore. I think if I had been closer to the subject matter (late 17th century/early 18th century art) I would have loved it. Overall, I liked the book and the characters but it dragged in parts.
I love me some Chris Moore. I still re-read Lamb once a year. I also have my Masters in Art History so I was very excited to read Sacre Bleu. Vintage Moore but for some reason did not have the freshness of some of his other books. Still a good read.
Made me think of Tom Robbins “Jitterbug Perfume” crossed with the film of “Moulin Rouge”. Started off pale by comparison to these two, but I grew to like it in it's own right.
It took a while for the whole logic of the mystery of the book to sink in and make sense, but it is a clever little story. But given that I have amazingly high expectations for Moore (hello, Lamb!), it doesn't score off the charts for me.
It's a mash note for the Impressionists. A long form love letter to Vincent Van Gogh, Toulouse-Lautrec, Monet, Seurat and more with cameos from Oscar Wilde and Whistler's Mother.
And while Moore states he could “pretty much find out what each of the Impressionists had for breakfast on any given day”, it's still a Moore book with an emphasis on the Fiction in Historical Fiction. Still, I want the 19th century Paris he writes about to be true. These artists chumming around with their outsized personalities and passion for the paint.
Lamb still holds the top spot as far as Moore goes, but if you pick this up, do yourself a favor and follow along with the online chapter guide where Moore provides a ton of additional paintings.