Pam's Book 19: Bloodsucking Fiends

Everywhere you look, there are vampires. At least, the fictional kind of vampires. (As far as I know, anyway.) My introduction to vampire fiction was in the mid-nineties with the Anne Rice books (I'm pretty sure it was Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise who inspired me to read them). The pop world embraced vampires then, and they do so even more now. Bloodsucking Fiends was written at the height of the Anne Rice craze, a hilarious, rollicking satire of a vampire story.

I've come to realize through this blog that what makes a book for me isn't nearly so much the storyline as the characters. If the story's great, but the characters aren't lifelike and lovable, I probably won't have enjoyed the book very much; on the other hand, great characters can cover a multitude of plot sins. The first character we meet in this book is the Emperor of San Francisco and his "men," dogs Bummer and Lazarus. The Emperor may in actuality be a homeless near-lunatic, but he is beloved and accepted by those he reigns over. He realizes something funny's going on from the get-go, while it takes the police most of the book to figure it out. The next person we meet is Jody, who has just become a vampire. My favorite part of her reaction to becoming a vampire is when she realizes that now she can never lose that last five pounds. This, to her, is far more tragic than anything else about her transformation. I get that.

Jody soon finds herself a minion, C. Thomas Flood, Tommy for short. Tommy has recently moved to San Francisco from Indiana to pursue his career as a writer. He gets a job as night manager at a local Safeway where he soon floors the Animals (the night crew) with his superior turkey bowling abilities. Bloodsucking Fiends is their love story, as well as a sort of murder mystery, as well as a tale of survival and adventure as Jody, Tommy, the Emperor, the Animals, and some cops fight to overcome the ancient vampire who turned Jody.

The story is fantastic escapism. If you like vampires, it's a great read with tons of allusions to most pre-1997 stories of the undead. If you don't like vampires, it's a great read that totally makes fun of vampire stories. Jody and Tommy could not be more unlike Bella and Edward. I enjoyed it so much I read the sequel the next day (not going to blog about it because it's more of the same, with the addition of some more zany characters). Christopher Moore is funny, really funny. And although this book is definitely tongue in cheek, I have a feeling that the character's reactions are far more realistic than those in the books whose authors take the subject far more seriously.