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Friday, September 28, 2007

Dirty Job

By Christopher Moore

Charlie Asher owns and operated a 2nd hand store in San Francisco. His wife dies shortly after giving birth to their only child, Sophie, and that's when things start to get weird. After a few struggles and mishaps he discovers that he is now a Death Merchant, as in he retrieves the souls of the recently dead or dying to give them safe passage to their next owner. As the years pass it becomes clear to Charlie that the forces of darkness are intending to rise up and lay claim to the world.
OK, laying it out like that, the book does not seem to be a barrel of laughs but I assure you it is written in Moore's usual delicious absurdity and the human quality that always seems to be present in his books is actually more pronounced than ever. Yes, it is a book about death and dying but it will still make you laugh. Moore writes gently and beautifully on the subject but still keeps his sense of humor. You can check out his others books and his blog at www.chrismoore.com.