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A Dirty Job

A Novel

By Christopher Moore

(59)

| Hardcover | 9780060590277

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Book Description

Charlie Asher is a pretty normal guy. A little hapless, somewhat neurotic, sort of a hypochondriac. He's what's known as a Beta Male: the kind of fellow who makes his way through life by being careful and constant -- you know, the one who's always there to pick up the pieces when the girl gets dContinue

Charlie Asher is a pretty normal guy. A little hapless, somewhat neurotic, sort of a hypochondriac. He's what's known as a Beta Male: the kind of fellow who makes his way through life by being careful and constant -- you know, the one who's always there to pick up the pieces when the girl gets dumped by the bigger/taller/stronger Alpha Male.

But Charlie's been lucky. He owns a building in the heart of San Francisco, and runs a secondhand store with the help of a couple of loyal, if marginally insane, employees. He's married to a bright and pretty woman who actually loves him for his normalcy. And she, Rachel, is about to have their first child.

Yes, Charlie's doing okay for a Beta. That is, until the day his daughter, Sophie, is born. Just as Charlie -- exhausted from the birth -- turns to go home, he sees a strange man in mint-green golf wear at Rachel's hospital bedside, a man who claims that no one should be able to see him. But see him Charlie does, and from here on out, things get really weird. . . .

People start dropping dead around him, giant ravens perch on his building, and it seems that everywhere he goes, a dark presence whispers to him from under the streets. Strange names start appearing on his nightstand notepad, and before he knows it, those people end up dead, too. Yup, it seems that Charlie Asher has been recruited for a new job, an unpleasant but utterly necessary one: Death. It's a dirty job. But hey, somebody's gotta do it.

Christopher Moore, the man whose Lamb served up Jesus' "missing years" (with the funny parts left in), and whose Fluke found the deep humor in whale researchers' lives, now shines his comic light on the undiscovered country we all eventually explore -- death and dying -- and the results are hilarious, heartwarming, and a hell of a lot of fun.

Critics

  • A Dirty Job By Christopher Moore

    San Francisco thrift shop owner Charlie Asher is in first-time-father fluster when his ever-so-patient wife Rachel shoos him from the recovery room so she and baby Sophie can catch a break from his obsessive TLC. He gets no farther than the minivan w ... (read full critics)

    bookpage published on Thu, 16 Sep 2010

  • A Dirty Job

    Christopher Moore is one of those writers who is constantly turning in his best performance. You read his latest book, in this case, 'A Dirty Job' and you can't help but think, "This is his best yet!" Then you remember that his last book was his best ... (read full critics)

    bookotron published on Tue, 14 Sep 2010

8 Reviews

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  • 1 person find this helpful

    A darkly humorous look at death, good and evil. I did not really get the whole alpha/beta male thing, but it was not such a big part of the novel that I couldn't get past it. The rest of this novel is so enormously amusing and quirky that you won't want to put it down! I can not wait to read more ... (continue)

    A darkly humorous look at death, good and evil. I did not really get the whole alpha/beta male thing, but it was not such a big part of the novel that I couldn't get past it. The rest of this novel is so enormously amusing and quirky that you won't want to put it down! I can not wait to read more of his work!!

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    Jamie Gemuend767 said on Nov 18, 2008 | Add your feedback

  • Hmm.. did I miss something? It was okay but not that great...

    Well, maybe my expectations were too high for this after hearing so many good things about the author. It was funny sometimes.. but not so much that I was laughing out loud very often (while I've had that with other books - just can't remember them at the moment). I just felt he was trying a bit too ... (continue)

    Well, maybe my expectations were too high for this after hearing so many good things about the author. It was funny sometimes.. but not so much that I was laughing out loud very often (while I've had that with other books - just can't remember them at the moment). I just felt he was trying a bit too hard to be funny. And the reviews mentioned him being really bizarre and not right in the head or something (to write something that crazy).. okay, some bits were a bit weird, but not that weird. I did like the squirrel people (though the idea seemed vaguely familiar), and the Emperor of San Francisco. The book took me quite a while to read, at first I had to get used to the writing style, not sure why but I found it hard to get into. And the middle was a bit too long - actually I can't remember much of what happened there (it was rather boring). Oh, and the bit about the Luminatus was quite obvious, you could see it coming from the beginning.. not sure why Charlie didn't.

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    Tsjara said on Dec 7, 2011 about the Paperback edition | Add your feedback

  • Okay, I will confess that there were a few laugh-out-loud moments for me (and it takes a lot to get that out of me), but on the whole, I think that maybe this author just isn't my cup of tea. I can see why he is popular, but you really have to have a dark sense of humor to appreciate him. Those ea ... (continue)

    Okay, I will confess that there were a few laugh-out-loud moments for me (and it takes a lot to get that out of me), but on the whole, I think that maybe this author just isn't my cup of tea. I can see why he is popular, but you really have to have a dark sense of humor to appreciate him. Those easily offended should probably pass this one up. But if you can find humor in the macabre, then it's probably worth a try. It's a fairly "easy" read, and I'm glad I gave it a try.

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    Bashful said on Mar 21, 2009 | Add your feedback

  • Alternately sad, hysterically funny, and just plain bizarre. I loved it. LOL Especially the ending. Wow.

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    Heather Landry said on Feb 12, 2009 | Add your feedback

  • The Death Merchants retrieve sould vessels when people die and hang onto them until the right person comes along needing a soul. Very funny!

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    Missmath144 said on Sep 22, 2008 | Add your feedback

  • Excellent! Fantastic! So funny! I really, really enjoyed this book tons. I am going to run out and get all the other books by Christopher Moore because this one was just awesome. Grabbed my attention and didn't let go. This goes on my short list of favorites from this year.

    There are 2 sma ... (continue)

    Excellent! Fantastic! So funny! I really, really enjoyed this book tons. I am going to run out and get all the other books by Christopher Moore because this one was just awesome. Grabbed my attention and didn't let go. This goes on my short list of favorites from this year.

    There are 2 small issues with this book and one is that a lot of animals die. Generally I have a HUGE problem with this, but in this book the author was so flip about it that it didn't bother me too much, but if I stop to think about it it will bother me. The other is that he constantly harps on about beta males and I didn't feel like it added anything to the story line. If you can get past these 2 small things, it's a great read.

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    Deanna Kyre said on Aug 23, 2008 | Add your feedback

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9780060590277 Hardcover $24.95 $21.33 bn.com
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