Island of the Sequined Love Nun

Another outstandingly entertaining and enjoyable book from this author. I just love the way he weaves in actual history, science, companies, and culture into his stories. His writing style also just flows and makes for a very relaxing easy read. The humor he adds to his stories is a nice bonus. Any of his books are well worth a reader’s time, but this one was exceptionally good.

"Love nun" has a totally off the wall plot that amuses and at the same time tell a great story. Moore has a writing style where he is able to be very descriptive, set the tone, and build characters, but spin a funny yarn while doing it. There is a certain illogical logic that permeates the majority of the story. The deeper down the rabbit hole you go, the crazier the book seems to get. But when you look at everything as a whole, everything flows together well. You just have to suspend your sense of disbelief. Rarely will a chapter go by without you saying something like "did that just happen?" or "did he just say that?" There isn't much that can be said about the plot of the book without giving anything away as you know just about nothing from the get go, and are slowly spoon fed bits and pieces. Not to say the story is slow, but as you need information, it is given to you. The characters are a wholly different story. Tucker, the main character has a great sense of oversexed, slightly skewed morality contrasted with a slightly selfish streak. Even the more minor characters, are fleshed out reasonably well. I wholeheartedly recommend this novel if you are looking for a good story that will leave you with a smirk on your face during the entire read.

This book takes off like a learjet. You will soar above a landscape peppered with a spunky transvestite, a ruined pilot, a ghost or two, an isolated micronesian culture, black market organ brokers and a charming old cannibal. Moore does not disappoint.

Delightfully irreverent, featuring pilot Tucker Case, a "geek in a cool guy's body...but under that gin-painted exterior is a guy who sniffs his shorts to check their wearability." Through a series of errors, he becomes imprisoned on a Pacific island that is "little more than a coral cupcake with a guano frosting...covering the news there is akin to taking a penguin census on the Mojave desert." The island's natives are a left over cargo cult from WWII. They worship Vincent, an American pilot and the painted girl on his bomber. Tucker doesn't understand religion. "It was like heroin. He knew a lot of people did it, but he didn't understand why...spiritually, he was a hamster." Except for cannibal Sarapul, who claims people taste like spam, the islanders pay homage to Vincent's self-appointed missionaries, including a stand-in for the painted Sky Priestess - Beth, a former stripper. Whenever the emergency call comes from Japan, our "sequined love nun" performs a ritual strip tease for the worshippers as part of the ceremony where the "chosen" is officially selected for kidney donation. Tucker's job is to fly the Lear jet (along with Beth and her goons) to Japan - the organ in the cooler gets half a million dollars in American cash. On this island, missionary work pays well. Unbelievably, minor and major characters reappear, and Moore weaves the diverse, schizophrenic parts of his story into a seamless conclusion. Rollicking, entertaining, and humorous; you will like it. Highly recommended.

While this book is certainly not Moore's best, it does not lack his creativity and hilarity. The story is about the complex relationships between god and follower, science and humanity, and American and native island cultures. Moore especially explores how individuals can use religion and faith to control other people with the Sky Priestess and her followers. The book is a little bit of a slow read at first but it really gets going after you get past some of the exposition. My only complaint is that some beloved characters seem to disappear for long periods of time and it would have been nice to see more of them (like Kimi and Roberto). If you like this novel, and want to read more of Christopher Moore's work, I recommend Lamb and A Dirty Job. I feel that those two represent his best work.

I want to trumpet that "Christopher Moore has done it again!" but that would be somewhat out of place since this book was released a while ago so the technical explanation of the quality of this book would be more like "Christopher Moore does it for the first or second time!". I have to say, after reading this book, that I am finally unashamed to say that I am a Christopher Moore fan. I suppose I should be, since this is the fifth or sixth book of his that I have absolutely devoured in the way that is hard to do after having the fun sucked out of a lot of reading because of graduate studies in English. It was this past and my own literary snobbish that didn't want to be a Christopher Moore fan. His books are marketed so that his audience is the same kind of clever woman that reads Tom Robbins books (another author I have an fraught relationship with). I mean, this book has a bright pink cover, one that screams "The man reading this has obvious feminine qualities. When he watches the Harry Potter movies he wants to be Granger, not Potter," and things of the sort. But I have no shame. Moore makes me want more. I'll gloss on the plot: Tucker Case is a pilot with a past, and a future. After burning out as the personal air chauffeur of a Mary Kay stand-in, he is engaged as a jet pilot for a missionary couple on a Pacific island with a suspiciously large amount of money. Mysteries are solved, laughs are had, and freedom is sought. We also get to have a look at cargo cults and shark hunts. I won't be able to do it justice: you should probably just read the book.

Ce livre est impossible à poser une fois entamé. Drôlissime, avec du suspense, des rebondissements, des personnages bien costauds. Du rire à chaque page, et du bon! Je n'avais rien lu sur l'intrigue en le commençant, et c'est un excellent point de départ, car on est captivé sans aucune idée de l'endroit où l'auteur a décidé de nous emmener. J'avais déjà lu Lamb du même auteur, celui-ci est encore meilleur...

As I read, I appreciated this book more and more. I found it impossible to predict what was going to happen next and I really enjoy the twists and turns and whimsical creativity of Mr. Moore's writing. I read Lamb (also highly recommended) and went straight on to read this tome. And as I said after Lamb, this will not be my last book by this author. Very entertaining :D

A fun read - as usual with Moore.

Book came early. Great service. Was a little older than I expected but in great shape. Would do business again.

Moved along nicely and intriguingly - Kept my interest and had varying characters and interwoven situations - overall I liked the style - would definitely try another 👍😀