Rashmi bookmarks “Fool”

I am so glad I discovered Christopher Moore. In a world where I have finally reconciled myself to the fact that the greatest writers of all time belong to an era only to be found in the past, it is so heartening to have stumbled upon someone like Moore who takes his thorough knowledge and understanding of a topic and re-invents and re-creates with shocking freshness.

Although deriving characters and plot points from several plays, “Fool” is primarily based on Shakespeare's play King Lear. Narrated from the perspective of the character of the Fool, Pocket, this is the story of how the king's fool sets up the bastard Edmund of Gloucester to plot against his brother Edgar, who goes on to render the king powerless, who searches out the three mysterious witches and gets a love potion from them, and who, in the grand finale, starts off a civil war ... mm, all to basically prevent Lear from marrying off his daughter Cordelia, whom Pocket is in love with! Oh, and adding a crucial voice to all these proceedings is that of The Ghost (yes, "there's always a bloody ghost")!

I loved that this story was not just about the jokes or about being funny; it was such an amazing story that spanned decades and was about so many people and their past and their future. In a series of flashbacks, we get to see so many stories played out - as prophetic incidents involving children, and as final outcomes of adults. This story was an interesting wave that started out as sheer comedy and led to so much politics and plotting, drama and death.

What also fascinated me was the author's note in the end (reading "Lamb" taught me that this is one author, whose final say you do not want to miss) - and once again, I saw how much research Moore does and how knowledgeable he is. He hasn't just taken off on a generic view of a famous story and spoofed it. His story - bawdy wit and all - stems from great knowledge of the subject, to which of course, he adds his special magic.

Just for the sheer joy of reading - not with any great agenda or deep purpose in mind - but for a great, enjoyable read, I keep going back to Chris Moore.