Divine Misfortune

By: A. Lee Martinez

Narrated by: Fred Berman

Length: 7 hrs and 48 mins

Publisher's summary

Teri and Phil had never needed their own personal god. But when Phil is passed up for a promotion - again - it's time to take matters into their own hands. And look online.

Choosing a god isn't as simple as you would think. There are too many choices; and they often have very hefty prices for their eternal devotion: blood, money, sacrifices, and vows of chastity. But then they find Luka, raccoon god of prosperity. All he wants is a small cut of their good fortune. Oh - and to crash on their couch for a few days.

Divine Misfortune is a story of gods and mortals - in worship, in love, and at parties.

©2010 A. Lee Martinez (P)2011 Audible, Inc.

Critic reviews

"Wonderful... from start to finish." (sfsignal.com)

Office Space rewritten by Disney

A fun book. An interesting take on religion, benign, not heavy or preachy. Definitely funny, and strangely atheist friendly. There is some extrapolations on humanitarianism, but it stays in the shallow end. A novel approach to the relationships and mythos of deities and their followers.

Divine Misfortune is one of those books that's easy to relate with. A good pick me up listen after your car breaks down, or your boss yells at you. Lucky struck me as kind of douchey Raoul Duke (Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas,) but perhaps that was intentional.

A fortunate stab in the dark

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

I would recommend this book to friends who like a little absurdity, or friends who like trashy science fiction movies.

What did you like best about this story?

This story paced itself just right. It kicked in the absurd early on, and then built on it slowly using loads of humour, cliche and "I saw that coming but still got a surprise" type moments to get to a obvious but still surprising climax.

Any additional comments?

I bought this book based on my previous purchased of his book "Automatic Detective". Initially I was a bit disappointed that this book had a less noir style, but soon I forgot about that and enjoyed this book for it's own merits. It's not good literature, but it's a good story and a fun listen.

Interesting idea poorly delivered

The story and topic seems pretty interesting and unique. But the narrator delivers the story with the same voice for all characters. That and his annoyingly loud breathing between every other word made it impossible for me to make it very far from the beginning.

Clever, inventive, humorous.

There were some outright funny situations and clever concepts. The author has a great imagination and a talent for painting pictures with words.

Fun listen but not too deep. Good idea for story

Narrator did a fantastic job. Would listen to him again. Narrator was did a good job

Mystical fun

The worlds of A. Lee Martinez are filled with a delightful and sometimes nonsensical mystery, and show how thin the border can be between ourselves and everything we can't explain.

Divine Misfortune is a hilarious and oddly believable look at how the world could be if the Gods truly showed themselves, existed all at the same time and adapted themselves to our time.
It was a very enjoyable audiobook, and one I will find myself returning to, often.

Very Orginial

Once again, I find Martinez has written an original story. They aren't great stories, but they are very good stories and I feel comfortable hearing more.

Beach read

Would you consider the audio edition of Divine Misfortune to be better than the print version?

Funny- quick "read" mindless fun and funny story

What did you like best about this story?

Levity

Which scene was your favorite?

The gods "not party" party

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

A twist of godliness

Any additional comments?

Just silly fun

Divinely Funny

A. Lee is one of the most underrated authors out there. His books are funny. kind and mind-opening without being preachy. Thank you for all the great books and laughs!! Enjoy this every time I re-read it because not only well written but expertly read. If you like Christopher Moore, Tom Robbins or Kevin Hearne you will enjoy this author tremendously.

His Second Best

If you haven't read Emperor Mollusk Versus the Sinister Brain, I'd recommend starting with that one. I think it's by far Martinez's best, and it's the reason I've read four of his books, even though I think two of them were mediocre at best (Monster, and Chasing the Moon). I'm moving on to other authors, but I would definitely recommend Emperor Mollusk, and I would say Divine Misfortune is worth the read but not a must-read either.