Book Review: "Bite Me: A Love Story" by Christopher Moore

Christopher Moore courtesy of Cody Harris
"Bite Me: A Love Story" by Christopher Moore is the story of a teenage gothic/emo/punk girl who calls herself Abby Normal. Abby Normal has become the minion of two young vampires who she calls the Countess and Floods. She has also become the girlfriend of a 'nerd' that she calls 'Foo Dog.' All of this occurs before she begins relaying her strange story. Her story is that of her clique of vampires, nerds and a rat lover fighting off a group of elder vampires and a horde of vampire cats led by a huge vampire, cat, human hybrid with the help of a group of stoner stock boys and two undercover cops. Just what one would expect of a Christopher Moore novel.

Anyone who has read Christopher Moore can tell you that he is very humorous, but that is never the full extent of his bag of tricks. Nonetheless, his brand of sarcastic, silly humor is what his readers have come to expect from him. Unfortunately, this novel is not as funny as many of his others. Do not get me wrong, the pansy Jared and his rat-loving weirdness is rather funny, as are his spats with a gay homicide detective. However, it seems like Moore tried too hard with the angry emo/peppy teenager dialogue on this one. It just got redundant after a while.

For those of you who are not familiar with Christopher Moore's earlier novels, "Bite Me" is the third in a trilogy. However, it is fine as a stand-alone novel. Many of the old characters are back and there are some new ones. For me, it was the characters that made the novel bearable, save Abby. I found her to be lacking in many departments. Luckily, characters like the Chinese grandmother, the sword dude and Jared made up for it.


Overall, I am sorry to say that "Bite Me" fell flat for me. That is saying a lot considering how much I have enjoyed many of Christopher Moore's novels. In fact, "Lamb" is one of my favorite books. That is not an easy feat for any author considering that most of my favorite books have names like Dickens, Austen, Dostoevsky, King and Steinbeck on them. Therefore, with that in mind, I will continue to read Moore's novels. I just won't be suggesting "Bite Me" to anyone soon and I will not be picking it up again.

Shelly Barclay

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