Bloodsucking Fiends and Stuff

Yep, you can tell I'm trying really hard with the creativity ;)

Jay pinned my exact problem with this book. The ending.

I loved these characters. Jody and Tommy are not your average characters. They are not looking to be heroes and neither has had much luck in relationships but then, they are young. Tommy is nineteen for heaven's sake!

Okay, there are reviews at Bam's (wow, Bam finished her review and it definitely has spoilers so just read the opening if you don't like that kind of stuff) and AAR which will do better at telling you anything than I will. Except that the characters in this book are people you have met or feared you'd become. Okay, except for the vampire stuff. Quirky is definitely a good way to describe this book. Tommy is a dear and yet he would be one scary dude to live with and not in a 'boo' scary way but in a 'are you kidding me?' sort of way. I mean, you would be dead inside a week. Good thing Jody is already dead.

Another thing I really liked about this book was that none of the characters had the answers. All were messed up in their own way and they were allowed to have doubts. Their doubts alone are cause for some serious laughter. In the end, you know these people are going to be the same throughout life except, you hope they will grow. We, of course, don't get to know that.

Okay, problems. I didn't read the backblurb, that's my excuse but, c'mon. Do you need to read a back blurb to know where a story is set? First line:

"Sundown painted purple across the great Pyramid while the Emperor enjoyed a steaming whiz against a dumpster in the alley below."

Guess where we are. No one who has read the book is allowed to guess. Go to this site (use the search inside feature) and read the opening pages. Where are these people? Do you know what year it is? I figured out what city we were in at about page 32 because they finally told me! Now maybe I not traveled enough and maybe everyone knows what the Pyramid is. At first I thought it was the real pyramids but I got a grip pretty fast. Then I decided I was in Los Vegas where there is a pyramid. Yeah, I had no clue. Makes me mad when I have no reference point for where the characters are stationed on the planet! Now, you are probably wondering what rock I just crawled out from under.

Not being a great fiction reader (I only really read romances and a few others) it took me a while to get the rhythm of the author, Christopher Moore. I think there were too many assumptions made and maybe I should have paid more attention to the chapter headings, apparently they give you clues to what is about to take place. Should have used that when I got to the chapter about The Animals only, it says The Animals. By page 60, I knew where I was and who the characters were and the reading became easy.

You're probably thinking I didn't really like this book which is not true at all. I loved everything in the middle (the middle lasts up to almost the last page). There is wonderful humour in this book but I don't want to spoil it for anyone so I'll quote one of my fav. line of description ever!

"The clothes jumped and played and dived over each other like fabric dolphins. Jody sat on a folding table across from the dryer watching the show and thinking about the Emperor's warning."

Dolphins! Perfect description. I actually marked the page.

Yeah, so the book is going great and then, WAM. It ends. I swear it was like the author decided he was bored and wrote THE END. Remember I said that the characters don't know the answers? Well one of the characters gets all the answers at the end of the book. Only they are not sharing with the reader. Nope. Sorry about your luck. The end.

I waited a few hours before writing anything about this book because I wondered if it was the romance reader in me that objected to the ending. Ah, no. I don't think so.

Let's take the story of the Three Little Pigs into account. Okay, the wolf has blown down the straw house and the wood house. You know all the huffing and puffing and drama. The wolf is walking to the brick house where the third little pig lives and then you read 'the third pig thwarts him, the end'. Hmm, it doesn't quite work with this story because deductive reasoning can bring you to the solution only it turns out there was more to the story. I mean, the wolf was persistant. Maybe I'm just supposed to know what vampires really are and I never needed to know the end. Weird.

I'm glad that Jay commented on my earlier post because she mentioned that she didn't like the ending of Bloodsucking Fiends. It's good to know that I wasn't the only one who wondered what the hell was going on. Jay also mentioned a few other titles Fluke and Lamb. I'm trying to decide if I am game for them or not. I'm going to go read the blurbs.

As for the romance reader in me, she wants a sequel with the baddie having a HEA but, I don't expect that to happen. Too bad.

Oh, I'm trying to grade books now, so I'm thinking a B- and I mentioned 'stuff' in the title of the blog but I can talk about stuff later.