Speaking two languages does not make a person stupider! The two characters in this book who have English as a second language appear simplistic in their thinking, not just their expression. I prefer, however, for the character who looks forward to eating dead goldfish, dead hamster and dead dog to be a monster, not a middle-aged Chinese-American woman. Moore’s humour usually works because his books are full of colourful characters. They are sketchy stereotypes with tag lines and yucky habits. The Chinese and Russian widows in A Dirty Job are often the brunt of jokes. Moore’s humour breaks down when he describes the minor characters in his latest book. Much of Moore’s humour plays with ‘type.’ There are surfer dudes, Alpha males, geeks and freaks. I have enjoyed several of his previous books about crazy people in small towns, about marine biologists, about vampires and monsters of various kinds. I am currently reading Christopher Moore’s, A Dirty Job. Often it is who gets hurt that decides which people are doing the laughing. It’s quick and dirty and aggressive – and those are just the things I like about it. We know that humour plays with language, touches on truth and finds ways of expressing things we can’t or won’t say ‘straight.’ Humour is built on recognition, that ‘aha’ moment in which we see ourselves. The reasons two people might not laugh at the same joke are poorly understood. Wordplay can trigger a laugh but the same pun may cause one listener to laugh, the other to groan.
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