To say that Sacré Bleu is historical fiction would be a disservice to what
Christopher Moore has accomplished here. It’s truly more a historical farce
with elements of fantasy, science fiction and a lot of sexual innuendo with
dashes of debauchery thrown in just to anger the purist. So, another word’s,
typical Moore.
Most of the novel is set in the
late 19th century -and I note this because he does, at various points
in the novel, it travels further back in time. It begins with the death of
Vincent van Gogh (who Moore proposes was murdered instead of killing himself.
And he has a point; I mean, who shoots themselves in the chest and then walk a
mile to the doctors?) and the spins a tale about Lucien Lessard, a young
baker/aspiring painter who is friends with Renoir, Toulouse-Lautrec, and Monet.
Together, they set out to solve the mystery surrounding van Gogh’s tragic
death, the involvement of a wizened old man known only as The Colorman and even
mysterious woman who seems capable –with aide of the ultramarine color of blue-
to stop time itself.
As a long-time reader of Moore,
his talent to balance farce with a serious subject (like his Jesus Christ novel
Lamb) matter is always impressive.
While I found his last novel, Fool, to be clever, in some respects his re-telling
of King Lear and other various Shakespeare motifs got boring after the one-note
joke wore off. Here Moore blends an art history lesson, along with the basic “what
if?” element along with a mystery and a love story with his ability to get off
some hilarious one-liners.
It’s compelling, it’s funny and
that made me happy.
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