Fool: A Novel

Christopher Moore

Oct 2009 · Sold by Harper Collins

About this ebook

“Hilarious, always inventive, this is a book for all, especially uptight English teachers, bardolaters, and ministerial students.”
—Dallas Morning News

Fool—the bawdy and outrageous New York Times bestseller from the unstoppable Christopher Moore—is a hilarious new take on William Shakespeare’s King Lear…as seen through the eyes of the foolish liege’s clownish jester, Pocket. A rousing tale of “gratuitous shagging, murder, spanking, maiming, treason, and heretofore unexplored heights of vulgarity and profanity,” Fool joins Moore’s own Lamb, Fluke, The Stupidest Angel, and You Suck! as modern masterworks of satiric wit and sublimely twisted genius, prompting Carl Hiassen to declare Christopher Moore “a very sick man, in the very best sense of the word.”

Ratings and reviews

It was an excellent retelling of King Leer. Perfectly fit my pallet of crude dark humor with a liberal dosage of cynicism. It is a fantastic story, that I found difficult to put down. Definitely one of my top favorites ever written. The story told from the point of view of the Kings Jester, who pulls more strings than most could ever realize. The story takes many twists and turns that while predictable enough, keep you cheering for the protagonist the whole way.

It's incredibly full of allusions to sex ("shagging") - as are most of Christopher Moore's writings - but Fool is by far my favorite of his novels (the rest are okay) because it's so brilliant in it's tying in the elements of the play itself. King Lear is one of my favorite Shakespeare plays, and it's told from the perspective of my favorite character (the Fool) so I am probably very biased, but it makes everyone believable and at least understandable, which is more than most books can say. If you think it's a sacrilege, I mean, I don't know, maybe? But it's a retelling, and it's a very compelling one, that, in my opinion, pays a great deal of homage to the original work.

This is my favorite book by Christopher Moore. The crassness and plain outrageous antics in this book gets me laughing every time. Moore is by far my favorite author, if y outline this one you will for sure love his others. Adult easy reads with tons of witty humor along with epic battles between the most unlikely of characters.

About the author

Christopher Moore is the author of seventeen previous novels, including Shakespeare for Squirrels, Noir, Secondhand Souls, Sacré Bleu, Fool, and Lamb. He lives in San Francisco, California.