Sacre Bleu: A Comedy d'Art

I like impressionist painters, Van Gogh in particular, and the cover of this book was so enticing I asked for a hard cover copy for Xmas and ended up getting it myself with a giftcard. Held onto the book for awhile-- saving it, I guess. When I finally started it the first 20pp or so were a bit of a slog, but the story really picked up after.Moore is a satirist who's played with science, vampires, and religion. He also had a really fantastic retelling of Lear that shows he has a great attention to detail and an affection for good literature. Here, he demonstrates his ability to really dig into characters, create mythos, and celebrate art in a way that is totally new. Further, he creates a really engaging character in Bleu and her 'handler' and sets up an interesting premise for them to 'play' in. I wish I could relive the experience of reading this book for the first time because it was just that good.Very much looking forward to where his imagination takes me next!

I adore the writing style of Christopher Moore & have read/own many of his titles. A number of them tie as far as my Christopher Moore favorites list goes, but this book is by far, one of my most favorite books of all of the books I own! (I hoard books, so that's saying something. Book addiction.) Being an artist and art history major, I found this extra funny, probably too funny. Moore weaves a wonderfully researched tale that could very well have been plausible - while filled with magic. The story contains fantastic elements of intrigue, suspense, mystery, sorrow, endearing love, of course, Moore's unique, colorful sense of humor, & quite frankly, one of the creepiest, weasle-y-est villains I've ever read. You definitely do not have to be an art nerd to appreciate & fall in love with Christopher Moore's "Sacre Bleu". The core of inspiration, the tragedy and beauty of the artist & his relationship with his art is described in the most creative, passionate fashion. I keep this book on my nightstand and also have a copy for my kindle. Enjoy!

Vincent van Gogh is murdered right at the beginning of this story. Instead of suicide, his death being presented as murder isn't hard to believe, since in reality he shot himself in the stomach, only to walk a mile to the doctor for help. What man does that? Exactly.What a wonderful treat this book was! Being both a painter AND an author of a series that starts out during the same bohemian art era as this book takes place in, I long for fiction that uses the era of Impressionism as its backdrop - and that is extremely difficult to find. When a good friend of mine told me she had just read this book it took me about 2 seconds to download it. I wasn't disappoined, not even for one minute.All of the famous painters that were mentioned and had roles in this story came to clear life and immersed me into my favorite period in history. I have often wished I could go back to that era and for awhile Mr. Moore allowed me to live there. Readers who are expecting stuffy history will be greatly disappointed. These artists were anything but stuffy! Their dialog is rough, sexual, and funny, also he didn't try to make them "sound" nineteenth century, which I appreciated, since the artists WERE ahead of their time.Lucien and his family were so well developed and funny that every day on my treadmill found me laughing out loud at times. What a pleasure it was to read their interactions! Poopstick (The Colorman) and the muse (most often Juliette) became so real that by the time I was finished I was almost convinced they actually existed. And who's to say they didn't? And, by the way, Lucien was so likable that he soon felt like my best friend.Henri Toulouse-Lautrec (who most of us know was a real person) had a main role in the story and I loved the artistic freedom the author took with this artist, making him a funny,interesting man that brought a smile to my lips with every encounter. (One of the revviewers was offended with his portrayal, saying because of his deformed body it was a fact that he couldn't perform sexually. She would do well do relearn her art history, as Henri died of syphillis.It was also a well known rumor that he had enlarged sexual organs.)So many other famous artists, along with Theo van Gogh, Vincent's brother and art dealer, Tanguey (the art supply dealer) have brief parts in this story. As a painter I just can't say enough wonderful things about this all too brief jounrey into the great decadent bohemian Montmarte during the late nineteenth century.Very cool. Thank you for this fabulous story. I didn't want it to end!

The opening of this book was so boring I lost all interest and abandoned it less than 20% of the way through. And I love Christopher Moore's writing normally. It's full of wit and humor and absurd fantastical situations--a dragon that disguises itself as a trailer home, Biff the childhood friend of Jesus (just two examples)--that this book was a complete anomaly and I sincerely hope not a sign of things to comefrom this otherwise truly great and entertaining author.

Its difficult to review this as a Christopher Moore work as its so different from anything else of his that I have read. Yes, it involves the supernatural, but otherwise its very different. First of all it involves art, and impressionist art at that. You don't have to know much about that genre, but it does help if you know the names of the artists of the period. These are the greats of the late 19th century and created some wonderful work. To find them now at the centre of a Christopher Moore book is slightly bizarre - bit then bizarre is what Moore does.I won't try to describe the plot, all I will say is that it involves the colour blue, a mysterious woman, a sort of demon, some murder, a lot of syphillis and some painting. Christopher Moore manages to recreate the atmosphere of Montmartre in the late 19th century. It might even be said that he recreates it too well. I doubt I'll ever be able to look at my print of Le Chat Noir again without visualising Toulouse Lautrec sans pantalons. Not a pretty image to be left with.The book is perhaps a little long, especially if you aren't into the art, but for fans its a great read and probbaly the best iof Moore's that I have aver read - and not a vampire or zombie in sight.

I have read pretty much every novel by Christopher Moore, but somehow I missed "Sacré Bleu: A Comedy d'Art" the first time around. A mistake that has been rectified.To put it simply: I love this book - all caps and three exclamation marks.It now ranks aside, if not atop Fluke, Lamb and A Dirty Job, my favourite Moores.I love everything about this book: His style, plotting, characters and first and foremost the setting - the wonderful city of Paris during the birth of Modernism in French art, the days of Toulouse-Lautrec, Monet, Manet, Renoir, Gauguin and even Seurat, the first pointillist. Moore flawlessly incorporates a large number of these artists and historical events into the story.Though this book is available for the Kindle (and I made the mistake of starting on same), you NEED to read this is as a hardcover, because it is liberally sprinkled with full colour reproductions of paintings from those days, most of which are nicely incorporated into the story!Highest possible recommendation.PS: Fool, the only Moore I've not read yet, has jumped up some 372 spots on my 'to read'-list. (less)

Not slapstick comedy like “fool” or “lamb” which are very funny, but engaging nonetheless with a few funny lines. Not the easiest book to get into and like “fluke” it gets pretty daft half way through but I’m glad I read it.

Suffice it to say that I'm a fan of Mr. Moore and read Noir last December and Sacre Bleu this January. Planning to get Shakespeare for Squirrels in a week or two. He never disappoints.

I will now look at Mr. Lautrec in a different light. The usual Christopher Moore hilarity but set in an impressionist landscape - oh how I wish I was there..