However, rather than have Lear be the center of all the action, Moore places his fool, a dwarf aptly named Pocket, as the one who drives the narrative. True to all of Shakespeare’s plot devices, Moore’s Fool features intrigue, mistaken identities, dramatic irony, and more than a few bawdy jokes. In his novel Fool, Christopher Moore- infamous for his laugh-out-loud novels which explore demons, vampires, cargo cults, and other generally absurd and slightly macabre topics- (loosely) tells the Shakespearian story of King Lear from the point of view of the court fool. I love him with all of the part of my heart not devoted to Shakespeare), was a book I knew I absolutely had to read.

Fool, the hilariously inappropriate lovechild of darling Billy Shakespeare and another writer near and dear to my heart, Christopher Moore (I will wax poetic about Christopher Moore at a later date, I’m sure. Let’s put it this way: if I had a time machine, I would travel back in time and bonk the bajeezus out of that darling old Bard.Īm I getting too creepy and necrophiliac on you? Sorry…where were we?Īh yes. I love the mysterious Dark Lady sonnets, I love Helena’s whining iambs, I love conniving, deformed Richard the III- I even love the ending to Measure for Measure, and that takes some serious dedication. But I love the heck out of that man’s work. Pocket may be a fool.but he's definitely not an idiot.Confession time, word nerds: I am a huge Shakespeare freak (I know what you’re thinking, I know: a Lit major who loves Shakespeare? How mind-bogglingly original). Now he's going to have do some very fancy maneuvering: cast some spells, start a war or two - the usual stuff - to get Cordelia back into Daddy Lear's good graces, to derail the fiendish power plays of Cordelia's twisted sisters, and to shag every lusciously shaggable wench who's amenable to shagging along the way. And the only person who can possibly make things right. Well now the bangers and mash have really hit the fan. But Cordelia believes that her father's request is kind of.well.stupid, and her blunt honesty ends up costing her her rightful share of the kingdom and earns her a banishment to boot. Of course Goneril and Regan are only too happy to brownnose Dad. So naturally Pocket is at his brainless, elderly liege's side when Lear demands that his kids swear to him their undying love and devotion. Pocket has been Lear's cherished fool for years.

Christopher Moore, much beloved scrivener and peerless literary jester, now takes on no less than the legendary Bard himself (with the utmost humility and respect) with a twisted and insanely funny tale of a moronic monarch and his deceitful daughters, as seen through the eyes of a man wearing a codpiece and bells on his head.

Fool by christopher moore