ABOUT THIS BLOG

This blog contains the literature reviews, political rants, and literary doings of Steven Wittenberg Gordon, the Editor-in-Chief of Songs of Eretz Poetry Review.

Saturday, April 16, 2016

Review of Fool by Christopher Moore

It's Monty Python meets William Shakespeare in Fool, a novel by Christopher Moore (Harper Collins 2009).  Moore retells the story of Shakespeare's King Lear from the perspective of Lear's court Fool, Pocket.  In doing so, Moore takes certain liberties with the plot, making the erstwhile insignificant Fool into a scheming behind-the-scenes political conspiratorial starter of wars and maker of kings.

The narrative style chosen by the American-born Moore is filled with amusing pseudo-British slang and spoof in addition to over-the-top lewdness bordering on outright pornography.  Shakespeare would have had a good laugh, though, I am sure--he was equally bawdy if much more subtle and witty.  Moore also mixes in some hilarious anachronisms and parts of the plots of other Shakespeare plays.

If you chose to read Fool, do not skip the informative Author's Note at the end entitled "You Cheeky Git."  There is some fascinating reading there about the history of King "Leir" (as the name was historically spelled) and the anachronisms to be found in the Shakespeare version of the story.  The Note also may make some readers feel better about the happy (well, happier) ending of the Moore version, as apparently there are other extant versions of the Lear/Leir story that share that particular plot point.