• Fluke

  • Or, I Know Why the Winged Whale Sings
  • By: Christopher Moore
  • Narrated by: Bill Irwin
  • Length: 9 hrs and 45 mins
  • 4.3 out of 5 stars (1,460 ratings)

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Fluke  By  cover art

Fluke

By: Christopher Moore
Narrated by: Bill Irwin
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Publisher's summary

Just why do humpback whales sing? That's the question that has marine behavioral biologist Nate Quinn and his crew poking, charting, recording, and photographing very big, wet, gray marine mammals - until the extraordinary day when a whale lifts its tail into the air to display a cryptic message spelled out in foot-high letters: Bite Me.

Trouble is, Nate's beginning to wonder if he hasn't spent just a little too much time in the sun. 'Cause no one else on his team saw a thing - not his longtime partner, Clay Demodocus; not their saucy young research assistant; not even the spliff-puffing white-boy Rastaman Kona (aka Preston Applebaum). But later, when a roll of film returns from the lab missing the crucial tail shot - and his research facility is trashed - Nate realizes something very fishy indeed is going on.

By turns witty, irreverent, fascinating, puzzling, and surprising, Fluke is Christopher Moore at his outrageous best.

©2003 Christopher Moore (P)2006 HarperAudio

Critic reviews

"This amusing pastiche cobbles together elements from all the classic sea yarns: from 'Jonah and the Whale' to Moby Dick to 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea." (Booklist)

What listeners say about Fluke

Average customer ratings
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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

5 Stars just because

I don't give out 5 stars very often. I loved this book. I had no idea what was going to happen, and still miss some of the characters. Can we make a little cartoon whale with big eyes and an animated TV show to go with it? That way none of Jah's people gonna want ta eat up our humpies.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Ignore all the criticism of the narrator!

I was really interested in the book but hesitated to get it because of all the people dumping on Bill Irwin. Took the risk anyhow and was so glad I did. People are so finnicky. He did a fine job, I laughed a ton, and thoroughly enjoyed it. His approach is more wry and deadpan than slapstick, which I prefer. It wasn’t boring or monotonous at all, just calm and thoughtful. I thought he served the story well and I couldn’t get enough of it. You could say I binge listened to this book.

As for the story itself, I’ve only read this book and Lamb by Moore, but far prefer this book. It’s less corny and has a nice tone. It’s an interesting and unpredictable story that thoroughly charmed me and stoked my own imagination. And of course, there was some stellar wit that had me laugh out loud many times.

This book has a lot of heart. Ignore the critics. From writing to narration, it’s a total winner.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

I laughed so hard I had tears running down my leg.

Funny and inspiring. makes me want a life as an action nerd and become a pirate..

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Great book!

After enjoying his humor in another book, I was excited to try this one. As a person who has assisted with whale research years ago, I thought this would be fun, but never expected the level of expertise the author brought to the book for the layman! Never so much to turn off non-science types, but just enough to make the story realistic (well, as far as it could be) and to top it off, chapters are separated by actual humpback sounds! The story moved quickly, his humor was quirky as ever, and it was a fun listen. Make sure to listen to the authors notes at the end where he separates his fiction from the facts woven in, and adds in how the reader can help whales, without being labeled a "tree hugger".

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

had to speed it up to tolerate the narrator.

the story would have been funnier if the narrator would have put any emotion into the story telling.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Soft spoken narrator, but still excellent

Any additional comments?

Bill Irwin is getting a lot of flak - totally undeserved, I feel - for his performance. He's a soft spoken narrator, it's true, but I really enjoyed it, and thought he did a great job. I've worked my way through almost all of Christopher Moore's books on audio, and this is easily one of my favorites. Moore takes absurd plots and takes such a real approach to them, and creates characters that are so believable that it makes everything seem totally plausible. And of course, funny.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

At first, meh. Then, BAM!!!!

I Love Christopher Moore and I'm trying to catch up on a few of his books that I missed. So far I haven't been disappointed. But when I started listening to this book I thought, "You've got to be kidding me!" The narrator made me feel like I was about to fall asleep. Not the best thing to do while you're driving to and from work. He made this funny book so very dull. But then, either he got a memo telling him to liven it up, or he felt the momentum of the story. About half way through he started to sound awake, if not lively. On top of that, Mr. Moore threw a little curve ball. I was sitting there wondering, "What's the point already?" when I heard the word meme. I know what you're thinking. Those stupid cartoon faces all over the internet. That what I thought too until a few months ago when I heard a story about Meme-ology on NPR. Fascinating stuff. I would encourage everyone to go look it up. Anyway, for me it turned a dull book into a great book with just one word. The ending is pretty amazing too. But I'll stop here before I give anything away. If you love CM then you should stick with this book through the dull bits. If this is your first CM book, maybe skip it for now and listen to Fool or Sacre Bleu first.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

What a ride!

Usually not a fantasy buff, a friend recommended the book after noticing I was a Pacific Whale Foundation member (save the whale bumper sticker). What fun! Interesting and timely characters. Hawaiian and Carribean accents from the narrator made the story come alive. Although not believable, it was good fodder for a daydream!

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

So so funny

First, can I just say that I LOVE Christopher Moore's books?! He has an amazing voice and Bill Irwin (the narrator) captured his cocky, casual charm perfectly! I would have given this a 5, but parts of the book were just a little too... uh... out there for me.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Another classic Christopher Moore!

I was hesitant based on all the negative narrator comments, but while he’s not as good as other Moore narrators, he was perfectly adequate. Don’t let it deter you!

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