A Fantastic Job

A Dirty Job


Author: Christopher Moore

Published:
William Morrow (2006)

Number of Pages: 400

Review:
“So now you’re death…”  and you have the daunting task of visiting every dying person in San Francisco and collecting their soul vessels all the while being attacked and followed by death demons in the form of giant birdlike creatures - Sewer Harpies (complete with skulls and chicken legs) - and as if that wasn’t bad enough your only daughter is death’s spawn! For all you desk hoggers out there who think your job is bad, just think of poor Charlie Asher – the quiet, spineless beta male - who following the death of his wife found himself to be a death merchant.

Charlie Asher was as normal as a man can be, living in San Francisco and married to the beautiful Rachel Asher who was pregnant with her first child.  He owned a small used clothing shop which employed a young Gothic girl named Lily and a pornographic obsessed ex-cop named Ray.  Aside from his wife there were no shining beacons in his life, until the death of his wife brought him face to face with Death – well actually his minion  who in turn somehow initiated him into the death business and opened his eyes to the millions of shining beacons across the city.  And all of these beacons shined red.  As a newly appointed minion of death along with your death manual, you soon find out that you must scour the city of the left over souls of dead people and ensure that they are given to their new rightful owner.

Christopher Moore has written a hilarious and unapologetic tale of good vs evil. You cannot help but fall in love with the world he has created in this novel.  Charlie is hilarious and his sidekicks Minty Fresh, Ray and Lily carry the story beyond just a hunt for souls but a quest for survival. Sophie is tres adorable, her killer word was a wacky twist added to the plot and you can’t help but love her even though she is death in the flesh! Her babysitters are stereotyped galore and I didn’t care because it was so damn hilarious. His quirky sister, Jane (the true alpha male in the family) looks better in his pant suits than he does and is portrayed as the butch lesbian she is, which makes the reader, even a conservative one, fall for her.  Moore is who he is and plays women as sex objects and plays on stereotypes and yet doesn’t take it to an unhealthy and insulting extreme.

Moore uses the subject of death as a focus on the light instead of the darkness of it. He throws in humor, puns and ironic situations that will have you laughing at death and leave you looking forward towards living your life.  The throwaway humour and wordplays on life are wonderful and reading this book does in fact challenge you to look at life and death different, not in a sense of doom but to laugh at death and live your life the way you want too.  He takes a simple concept and turns it into an adventure, for that is truly what death is… an adventure.

Happy Reading!!!