Relax from the normal reading pattern you’ve developed, and take a look at Christopher Moore’s hilarious novel, The Stupidest Angel. The plot is the most off-the-wall concept I’ve ever experienced in fiction, and I think it brings a great message: During the holiday season, relax, you could have an archangel trying to grant a Christmas wish with the competency level of a slug, a horde of zombies trying to eat your brains, and a talking fruit bat that has a Spanish accent pestering you. If that’s not enough to warrant a cursory glance at this novel, add these elements: a stoned police officer, think Andy Griffith and Bozo the Clown’s love child; an actress that once starred in B-movies; who thinks she is still the Warrior Babe; and enough bizarre relationships to be thankful you are either happily married or happily single. Each page is guaranteed at least one smile, if not a silent chuckle to yourself. This title is currently available in our library, so check it out; I promise you won’t be sorry. Happy Reading! ( )

Thoroughly funny. I admit I had a bit of an issue adapting to the manner in which it was written at first, but once I got used to it, the story became just adorably funny. I'm definitely eager to read more from [author: Christopher Moore]. ( )

The Stupidest Angel unites many of the characters from previous novels in the coastal town of Pine Cove for what can only be described as chaos. Moore scores with his off-kilter approach to relationships, his quirky take on American life and his devilish delight in taking modern comedic fiction over the edge. The story is short and punchy, the characters absorbing and goofy, however the actual plot is wafer thin. Smiles abound in The Stupidest Angel, it's a great story of a Christmas gone bad, yet it's not Moore on top form. ( )

Summary: It's Christmas in Pine Cove, and the festivities are just getting started. Little Joshua Barker is coming home when he sees Santa (really a local real-estate developer) beheaded by a shovel and hastily buried in the woods. Enter the angel Raziel, who has been sent to Earth to provide an annual Yuletide miracle. So when Joshua wishes for Santa to be alive again, Raziel raises him... as well as all of the other bodies in the nearby church cemetery, much to the dismay of all of the partygoers at the Lonely Hearts Christmas party happening inside the church.

Review: Really, The Stupidest Angel is a pretty typical Christmas story: zombies with a penchant for Scandinavian pre-fab furniture, a gift-of-the-magi scenario involving the town sheriff who's struggling to kick his pot habit and his wife, an aging B-movie star who's gone off her meds, a talking fruit bat, and the kind of mayhem that only Christopher Moore can provide. "Madcap" doesn't quite do it justice, and there are bits sprinkled throughout that will infallibly make me laugh out loud. ("First we feast, then IKEA.")

When I first read this book in 2005, it was my first encounter with Christopher Moore, and I loved it, and was immediately hooked. Now, having read through most of the rest of his bibliography, I'm a little less impressed. It feels as though a lot of the jokes have been made before (which isn't a fair criticism of a book on a re-read, I realize), and I also noticed threads of the misogyny that I've picked up in Moore's other books - it's not enough to make me throw the book aside, but it does get under my skin after a while. I still enjoyed it, and still found most of it hilariously funny, but it wasn't quite the revelation it was when reading it the first time.

Re-reading after having read the rest of his books did make me catch several jokes that I missed the first time - characters from many of his other novels (including Practical Demonkeeping, The Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove, Fluke, Island of the Sequined Love Nun, and Lamb) show up in this one, and references to previous events become funnier for actually knowing the history. These books certainly don't need to be read in order - I certainly didn't, and still enjoyed them all - but I enjoyed picking up on the details that I'd missed previously. 4 out of 5 stars.

Recommendation: If you don't mind some crude humor, The Stupidest Angel is a wonderful, funny, goofball antidote to the typical treacly Christmas spirit, and can easily be read in an afternoon. ( )

Another great one set in Pine Cove. It is a Christmas story, and involves a confused angel and the Talking Fruit Bat from the Island of the Sequined Love Nun book, and zombies. Very funny. ( )