Author: Christopher Moore
ISBN: 978-0060590284
Publisher: Harper Collins
Pub. Date: 2007
Source: Borrowed
Genre: Humor/ Fantasy/ Paranormal
Pages: 405Rating: 3 Kisses
Author's Website
Synopsis (from Goodreads): Charlie Asher is a pretty normal guy. A little hapless, somewhat neurotic, sort of a hypochondriac. He's what's known as a Beta Male: the kind of fellow who makes his way through life by being careful and constant -- you know, the one who's always there to pick up the pieces when the girl gets dumped by the bigger/taller/stronger Alpha Male. But Charlie's been lucky. He owns a building in the heart of San Francisco, and runs a secondhand store with the help of a couple of loyal, if marginally insane, employees. He's married to a bright and pretty woman who actually loves him for his normalcy. And she, Rachel, is about to have their first child. Yes, Charlie's doing okay for a Beta. That is, until the day his daughter, Sophie, is born. Just as Charlie -- exhausted from the birth -- turns to go home, he sees a strange man in mint-green golf wear at Rachel's hospital bedside, a man who claims that no one should be able to see him. But see him Charlie does, and from here on out, things get really weird. . . . People start dropping dead around him, giant ravens perch on his building, and it seems that everywhere he goes, a dark presence whispers to him from under the streets. Strange names start appearing on his nightstand notepad, and before he knows it, those people end up dead, too. Yup, it seems that Charlie Asher has been recruited for a new job, an unpleasant but utterly necessary one: Death. It's a dirty job. But hey, somebody's gotta do it. Christopher Moore, the man whose Lamb served up Jesus' "missing years" (with the funny parts left in), and whose Fluke found the deep humor in whale researchers' lives, now shines his comic light on the undiscovered country we all eventually explore -- death and dying -- and the results are hilarious, heartwarming, and a hell of a lot of fun.
My Reveries and Ramblings: A Dirty Job was so funny. Weird. But hilarious. My thoughts pretty much cycled through this: "This is really really weird.....OMG HAHAHAHAHAHAHA.....huh???What's going on???......HAHAHAHAHA.....OH SHIT!!! OMG!!! OMGOMGOMG!!!!" and would just continue like that through the whole book. Kind of like how Charlie felt during the book.
Besides the writing (which was phenomenal!), my favorite aspect of the book was the characters. They were all so quirky and interesting. Even the obscure characters were intriguing, and so much fun to read. My top three, aside from the zombie-frankenstein-animals, were Charlie, Minty Fresh, and Sophie. Sophie was adorable! I just wanted to pick her up and squeeze her the entire book. Minty Fresh was hilarious! Everything he said pretty much made me laugh. And Charlie, Charlie was so funny and cute. There were quite a few times when Charlie reminded me of my boyfriend (who actually recommended the book to me). Oh, and the ending? Epic. Epic and OMG-what-just-happened worthy.
I would definitely recommend this to anyone looking for a good laugh and a strange yet exciting story.
Playlist:
