"Sacré Bleu"!!! This Book is Tedious!

It's been ages since I've done a book review - April 22 to be exact. Mostly this is because I have almost no time to read for pleasure anymore.  The long Thanksgiving weekend gave me a chance to curl up on the couch and read. The book I decided to turn to was Sacré Bleu, written by an absurdist writer, Christopher Moore.  Even though Mr. Moore had 12 books published before Sacré Bleu, I had never heard of or read any of them, but a co-worker highly recommended this author - even though he had not yet read Sacré Bleu. 

I was eagerly anticipating reading this novel based on the following book description:  "Vincent Van Gogh killed himself in a cornfield. Or did he? Why seek out a doctor afterwards? Why claim a mysterious little “color man” is chasing him across France? Why speak in terrified tones of a shade of blue the color of the Virgin Mary’s cloak—a hue known as Sacré Bleu?" I couldn't imagine a better plot than a murder mystery based around the Impressionist/Post-Impressionist painters!  And then I read the novel.

Here's the basic premise: Set mostly in Paris, two of Van Gogh's friends, Toulouse-Lautrec and a lovesick Parisian baker/painter, a fictional character named Lucien Lessard, attempt to unravel the mystery of Van Gogh's apparent suicide.  The story follows these two characters through evenings of debauchery, mystery, and mayhem.

Again, the premise sounds promising but the delivery is less than satisfactory. Don't get me wrong there are a couple of good things about this novel.  Mr. Moore is definitely a talented writer. This novel is clearly well-researched and features many interesting historical facts which weave in and out of the fiction. Copies of some of the most famous paintings from that period are presented along with the story which makes a very nice touch. Additionally, being a huge aficionado of the Impressionist/Post-Impressionist movement, I appreciated all the artists who made appearances throughout the book, which included: Van Gogh (naturally), Renoir, Monet, Manet, Toulouse-Lautrec, Cezanne, Seurat, and others. But the story got bogged down in bizarre mysticism, which I found improbable and uninteresting, and low-brow 'penis' and 'booby' jokes, which unfortunately became unamusing and tedious. After slogging through 375 pages of a 400-page book, I had to quit reading.  I know I should have pushed through the last 25 pages, but I was just totally disinterested in anything that was happening. I think if this book had stayed as a murder mystery and not gotten off track into mysticism I probably would have enjoyed it a bit better.

Rating: 2 out of 5

Because I can tell that Mr. Moore is a talented writer, I would be willing to try reading some of his other novels.  Certainly, a book entitled Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal sounds completely irreverent and right up my alley. 

One of Van Gogh's final paintings before his suicide...
or was it murder??