Fluke

After reading Lamb, I wondered if it was just a fluke - could Christopher Moore really be that good of a writer? On the way home from Maine, I picked up a copy of one of his earlier novels, Fluke: Or, I Know Why the Winged Whale Sings. Considering the fact that I had just traveled to Maine for the purpose of seeing whales, it seemed like a good pick.

As I mentioned quite recently, Moore is an extremely clever writer. I think that part of the reason his books are so successful is that he really takes the time to research his subjects. For Lamb, he studied religious texts that ranged from the bible to the "hidden" gospels. For Fluke, he studied whales - lots of whales.

Fluke follows Nathan Quinn and his research team as they study humpback whales in the Pacific, hoping to finally explain the reason behind the humpbacks' songs. Humpbacks are unique in that their tails (flukes) have distinct markings. This makes it easy to track and study them -- relatively speaking, of course. While on the water, Nate captures a fluke on film that clearly reads, "BITE ME," but when he receives the processed film, the frame is mysteriously missing.

The story that follows is one in which the reader is asked to set aside reason and become engrossed in a tale that takes us back to Pangea and suggests an ongoing war between our world and the one below the surface. I'm sure that many researchers today have theories upon theories to explain why the humpback whale sings. Who knows -- Moore could be right!

Is Christopher Moore really that good of a writer? No. He's even better! I've put every one of his books on my Amazon wish list. He's definitely not a fluke. Heh.