Coyote Blue: A Novel (Paperback)

~ (Author)
Key Phrases: cheating medicine, kitchen pals, black buckskins, Christopher Moore, Old Man Coyote, Minty Fresh (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

This is an accelerating comedy with shadows setting off the wry, polished humor. Trickster deities thrive on contrariety, which is why one finds them bringing life into dead landscapes and disorder into order. A Santa Barbara insurance salesman's too-tidily-contained lifestyle, far from the Crow reservation he grew up on, is an irresistible target for Coyote, who wants to make sure his chosen people don't forget him. Coyote descends on Sam Hunter like one of Job's plagues, albeit a charmingly disingenuous one. "Why me? Why not someone who believes?" asks Sam, suffering from god-induced chaos. "This is more fun," says Coyote. He's right. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly

A lonely Crow Indian turned yuppie insurance salesman seeks the power of an ancient Indian god to give him enough courage to approach the woman of his dreams.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster (March 18, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1416558470
• ISBN-13: 978-1416558477
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.4 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (86 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #18,138 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

39 of 44 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Coyote Blue will leave you "howling" for more Moore!, March 13, 2002

By	David J. Gannon (San Antonio, TX USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Coyote Blue (Paperback)

Christopher Moore's novels have an underlying theme to them. They are vehicles that poke fun at various "legends" of the paranormal-vampires (Bloodsucking Fiends), Godzilla (Lust Lizzard) and so on-while concomitantly poking fun at the "California Lifestyle" of type-a personalities espousing New Age psychobabble.

In Coyote Blue the legendary figure being skewered is Trickster, an ancient Native American god know generally for bollixing up the works in whatever situation he inserts himself. The "works" targeted by Trickster here is the life of Sam Hunter, the Southern California makeover of the former reservation baby known as Samson Hunts Alone of the Crow reservation in Montana.

The plot involves Sam's involvement/Tricksters interference with Calliope, a classic, comic version of the hippie child of hippie syndrome so common in LA, the setting for this farcical tale.

The book continues in the vein of Moore's works in general--looping, fantastic flights of fancy, complex yet entertaining plots, and frequent wise guy humor that leaves the reader laughing out loud.

This book differs from his other efforts only in that the story line is more controlled and more thoroughly constructed than is usual. It gives the book the feel of an actual, complete novel in the traditional sense.

However, one does not read Moore to experience novelistic integrity-one reads Moore to laugh one's head off. This novel, like all his others, scores a bull's-eye on that score.

If what you are looking for is a lot of laughs and a rollicking good time, Moore is your guy and this book will satisfy those cravings in droves.

29 of 33 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars mostly fun, August 1, 2000

By	K. Mohnkern (Pittsburgh, PA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Coyote Blue (Paperback)

Amazon.com has been recommending Coyote Blue to me for some time now, presumably due to my generally high ratings for Tom Robbins. This book is sort of a Robbins-Lite. We've got an enjoyable puree of natural and supernatural, without Robbins' mastery of the metaphor. Now, Moore's writing is clever and funny, but Robbins' makes me smile at least once per page.

In Coyote Blue we get a man facing up to his past (at the insistence of an ancient Native American god) and falling in real love for the first time. The best bits were the Native American myths told from a 20th Century point of view. The worst bits came at the end of the book. I won't give it away, but I will say that it's too much deus ex machina, even for a book about gods. Everything up to that point had made sense in its own way, but this was too much.

I will read more Moore, but I won't expect brilliance - just fun.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Self help is great, but sometimes we need Coyote., November 5, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Coyote Blue (Paperback)

Before I encountered this book, I thought I already knew all about Coyote, the trickster god of the Native Americans. He's the one who sticks out his foot and trips you once you've hit your stride. He's the one who turns up the heat in your comfort zone until he blasts you out. Moore puts a spin on him, however, that gave me a lot of fresh material to think about. There is something in this book that will appeal to everyone--satire, humor galore, love of all sorts, Las Vegas, bikers, a traveling miracle salesman, a Crow shaman who wonders himself if his visions are in fact now actually the D.T.'s--and last but not least, Sam Hunter (nee Samson Hunts Alone)who thought he'd already found himself until Coyote came along. In a rut? Read this book. You'll find yourself looking forward to having your world turned upside down.