Fluke

Fluke: Or, I Know Why the Winged Whale Sings by Christopher Moore
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Note that 2 stars means "It was ok."

And, yes, this book was ok. Not sure I actually liked it (3 stars), but I did finish it, and it was mildly entertaining. It had come highly recommended by a friend, and I was expecting something akin to The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, but it just wasn't that funny or that good.

It is very creative and inventive, however. I can't go into too many details about this, without spoilers, but the ideas are pretty wild and original. The characters are not quite so original, though the author tries really hard to be cute - we have a surfer/rasta boi, we have the older scientist attracted to the cute grad assistant, we have the cute grad assistant (pixie girl trope), the lesbian ex-wife, etc. I never connected with any of the characters, which is one reason I didn't enjoy the book more. If I were a guy, perhaps I would have done so, as the lead character is the older male scientist and the pixie girl grad assistant might have piqued my interest. While I didn't actively dislike any character, the plot was intriguing enough that I wanted to keep reading. But it never really clicked for me, as a whole.

So, 4 stars for creativity, but it loses a lot in the execution, especially due to stereotypical characters.