Sacre bleu
Ratings13
Average rating3.5
As usual, Christopher Moore got me to giggle and learn about things at the same time.
The most willing I've ever been to learn about art.
I picked this up cause it's just so damn pretty but this tome personifies “don't judge a book by its cover” with how boring it is. DNF.
I love me some Chris Moore. I still re-read Lamb once a year. I also have my Masters in Art History so I was very excited to read Sacre Bleu. Vintage Moore but for some reason did not have the freshness of some of his other books. Still a good read.
Made me think of Tom Robbins “Jitterbug Perfume” crossed with the film of “Moulin Rouge”. Started off pale by comparison to these two, but I grew to like it in it's own right.
It's a mash note for the Impressionists. A long form love letter to Vincent Van Gogh, Toulouse-Lautrec, Monet, Seurat and more with cameos from Oscar Wilde and Whistler's Mother.
And while Moore states he could “pretty much find out what each of the Impressionists had for breakfast on any given day”, it's still a Moore book with an emphasis on the Fiction in Historical Fiction. Still, I want the 19th century Paris he writes about to be true. These artists chumming around with their outsized personalities and passion for the paint.
Lamb still holds the top spot as far as Moore goes, but if you pick this up, do yourself a favor and follow along with the online chapter guide where Moore provides a ton of additional paintings.