Welcome back to the normal sturm and drang of posting. I'm back in snowy, freezing Minnesota and questioning my sanity for steadfastly digging in to the climate. I've had a column in the chamber, loaded and ready to go for a day where I can't really type much of anything, so here goes.
Today we look at another of Chris Moore's excellent books, Fluke, (or I Know Why The Winged Whale Sings). It's a story of a marine biologist who investigates the mysteries of the whale song and how it dovetails with a secret as old as life itself. Let's dig in, shall we?
Continuing in line with my precious assesment of Moore's work, Fluke is a book that is both ingenious and insane. The tale is one of conspiracies, far-out ideas on the nature of life and a demanding request of an acceptable break from reality for the reader. If you find yourself incapable of suspension of disbelief, you might consider looking elsewhere for reading material. Accordingly if you like the idea of people being swallowed by whale without ending up any worse for the wear, read on!
Nathan Quinn is the protagonist of our story. He spends his days on the island of Maui and the surrounding water observing whales and examining their song in the hopes of deciphering what function it serves for the cetaceans. Nate serves as the level headed skeptic and grizzled veteran for the insane tale that unfolds throughout the course of the book. His donor for the funds facilitating his work is a kind-hearted but seemingly out-to-lunch New Ager who listens to whale songs, not for the mystical effects but supposedly because she hears messages. Nate figures a donor is a donor and tries not to lose patience. One day, while out with his attractive young lab assistant, Amy, he spots a fluke (whale tail, to you and me) that he swears up-and-down to say "Bite Me" in big letters across the underside. Frantically scrambling for his camera, he manages to capture a single shot of said fluke. When the developers claim they have no photos he chalks it up to his burn-out lab assistant Kona, your typical white-boy surfer who is perpetually baked. However when his lab is tossed and the research vessel scuttled, Nate begins to expect sinister things are afoot. Obviously, he's on to something, but what? Unable to secure more funding from his benefactor, Nate resolves to borrow a friend's boat. As he heads out to the open sea Nate ends up getting knocked overboard by the very same whale. Reading about it looming up behind him in the open water, jaws agape, gave me the willies.
Gulp.
Nate gets swallowed whole and the book subsequently gets weird. He survives the the trauma only to find himself tumbling down a rabbit hole of divergent evolution and ocean madness, or what Turunga Leela calls "The Wet Willies" or "The Screaming Moist". Nate is presumed lost at sea and his friends and colleagues assume the worst. Amy and Kona dig in to the remaining research that had been left untouched by the mysterious vandals, determined to press on with their cause. The crazy old benefactor calls from her mansion, high up on the mountain side, to say she's heard him and they need to speak right away.
To say more about what exactly ensues would be to spoil the excellent but wholly bizarre tale of a man's quest to save himself from stranger and stranger circumstances. This book is, for lack of a better summation, utterly insane in the best way possible. If your predilection allows for some weird and wacky stuff, by all means, dig in. You will not be disappointed.
Today we look at another of Chris Moore's excellent books, Fluke, (or I Know Why The Winged Whale Sings). It's a story of a marine biologist who investigates the mysteries of the whale song and how it dovetails with a secret as old as life itself. Let's dig in, shall we?
Continuing in line with my precious assesment of Moore's work, Fluke is a book that is both ingenious and insane. The tale is one of conspiracies, far-out ideas on the nature of life and a demanding request of an acceptable break from reality for the reader. If you find yourself incapable of suspension of disbelief, you might consider looking elsewhere for reading material. Accordingly if you like the idea of people being swallowed by whale without ending up any worse for the wear, read on!
Nathan Quinn is the protagonist of our story. He spends his days on the island of Maui and the surrounding water observing whales and examining their song in the hopes of deciphering what function it serves for the cetaceans. Nate serves as the level headed skeptic and grizzled veteran for the insane tale that unfolds throughout the course of the book. His donor for the funds facilitating his work is a kind-hearted but seemingly out-to-lunch New Ager who listens to whale songs, not for the mystical effects but supposedly because she hears messages. Nate figures a donor is a donor and tries not to lose patience. One day, while out with his attractive young lab assistant, Amy, he spots a fluke (whale tail, to you and me) that he swears up-and-down to say "Bite Me" in big letters across the underside. Frantically scrambling for his camera, he manages to capture a single shot of said fluke. When the developers claim they have no photos he chalks it up to his burn-out lab assistant Kona, your typical white-boy surfer who is perpetually baked. However when his lab is tossed and the research vessel scuttled, Nate begins to expect sinister things are afoot. Obviously, he's on to something, but what? Unable to secure more funding from his benefactor, Nate resolves to borrow a friend's boat. As he heads out to the open sea Nate ends up getting knocked overboard by the very same whale. Reading about it looming up behind him in the open water, jaws agape, gave me the willies.
Gulp.
Nate gets swallowed whole and the book subsequently gets weird. He survives the the trauma only to find himself tumbling down a rabbit hole of divergent evolution and ocean madness, or what Turunga Leela calls "The Wet Willies" or "The Screaming Moist". Nate is presumed lost at sea and his friends and colleagues assume the worst. Amy and Kona dig in to the remaining research that had been left untouched by the mysterious vandals, determined to press on with their cause. The crazy old benefactor calls from her mansion, high up on the mountain side, to say she's heard him and they need to speak right away.
To say more about what exactly ensues would be to spoil the excellent but wholly bizarre tale of a man's quest to save himself from stranger and stranger circumstances. This book is, for lack of a better summation, utterly insane in the best way possible. If your predilection allows for some weird and wacky stuff, by all means, dig in. You will not be disappointed.
