Fluke

Or, I Know Why the Winged Whale Sings

By: Christopher Moore

Narrated by: Bill Irwin

Length: 9 hrs and 45 mins

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)

An all time favorite!

This was one of the most creative and funny books I've ever read. I did read it, then bought the audio, and have listened a couple of times now enjoying it just as much. The narrator did a great job with the characters (Kona slides in and out of a faux surfer/Hawaiian/Jamaican accent as the author intended). The plot is inventive with good character development and settings that I, personally, would love to see in a movie. Beware of reading it in public - you will laugh out loud, people may stare. Some suggest Moore's humor is crude, but this one is generally milder. My advice is to read/listen to the intro to Fool and "take heed"...if you think you might be tempted to turn your nose up at such vulgar tripe, run away, don't look back, and don't complain later. Otherwise, enjoy, Moore is in a class of his own.

Fabulous

Loved it. What an imagination to create such a clever and intriguing story with appealing characters.

Great book! Bad narrating :-(

During the very first chapter of the book, maybe even the 1st paragraph, the narrater flubs up a line and it grated on me for at least 15 chapters after that. I found a hard copy of the book just to see if maybe Christoper Moore was being genius and I was too dense to figure it out and he really meant to write it the way Fisher Stevens narrated it. Nope! It was a mess up. Once I got past that it was a great book! Defeinitely not my favorite narrating, but worth the listen just the same. By the end of the book I totally forgot I about the 1st chapter screw up. :-) I will pay attention to avoid this narrater in the future though. Sorry guy!

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.

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.

Good but not the best

This audiobook was very enjoyable but not quite as good, or as funny, as some of his other works. It's OK......not great.

Great!

I have read 4 of Moore's books, and have enjoyed them all. This was the first one that I have listened to, and it was even better than reading them.

A fluking good read!

What starts out rather seriously, whale researchers in Hawaii, quickly becomes an amazing tale that really keeps you wondering what the heck is going on! I loved the characters, the reading style, the story line and the crazy ideas. When it was all over, I kind of think to myself, hmmm, what about those whales, maybe there is more to them than we know. The whaley boys are hilarious, the ship is imaginable and there's even a love story or two.
What a wonderful, fun, goofy book!
Christopher Moore is the best!!

Too Silly

The book was a little too silly for me. Just couldn't get into it.

Narrator makes it hard to listen to

Who decided to have a guy who pronounces the H in whale, white, and while, narrate a book about whales? I don't like that person. The book is great, but grrrr.