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Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN: 9780060735425
ISBN: 0060735422
Label: Harper Paperbacks
Manufacturer: Harper Paperbacks
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 256
Publication Date: June 01, 2004
Publisher: Harper Paperbacks
Release Date: May 25, 2004
Studio: Harper Paperbacks
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Editorial Review:
Product Description:
In Christopher Moore's ingenious debut novel, we meet one of the most memorably mismatched pairs in the annals of literature. The good-looking one is one-hundred-year-old ex-seminarian and "roads" scholar Travis O'Hearn. The green one is Catch, a demon with a nasty habit of eating most of the people he meets. Behind the fake Tudor façade of Pine Cove, California, Catch sees a four-star buffet. Travis, on the other hand, thinks he sees a way of ridding himself of his toothy traveling companion. The winos, neo-pagans, and deadbeat Lotharios of Pine Cove, meanwhile, have other ideas. And none of them is quite prepared when all hell breaks loose.
Average Rating: 
Rating: -
I love this book. I was skeptical about the plot at first, but soon fell in love with the author's originality and sense of humor. Excellent story and excellent writing.
Rating:  -
Moore's writing is quite good and laugh-out-loud funny at times. I enjoyed his many references to other literature (H.P.'s diner? Squeal!) and his lighthearted, jaunty style makes for a quick and enjoyable read.
Essentially, Moore creates characters we like and identify with, sends them off on a romantic epic quest, and then ends the novel with the heroes raping and pillaging the very thing valued. I loved his writing, hated his ending.
SPOILER ALERT
When the grandfather dies trying to save his loved ones, his wife has his body turned into stone and then placed into a cave filled with bats that have essentially cursed the place and driven out all human endeavors. What does this mean? Moore talks about the cave and its great destiny a number of times, but is this really it? A dumping ground for loved ones lost? Less than 24 hours after sending her husband of 50-or so years to the underworld dumpster, his wife embraces a "happily ever after" love affair with a young man she'd met before she was married (though already engaged), even though he'd spent the night and morning prior having sex every which way with her (married) granddaughter. Is this love? If we identify with these "heroes" at the end, who are the real monsters in this story?
Rating:  -
This is my first book of his that I have read, and I became an instant fan. A clever story that draws you in, easy light reading that anyone should be able to enjoy. I am hooked.
Rating: -
A demon is terrorizing a small community on the California coast. PRACTICAL DEMONKEEPING opens with Catch, a lower fiend from Satan's realm, eating a small-time drug dealer known as The Breeze. Other authors would revel in the horror of it all. Christopher Moore makes this an occasion for chuckles.
This is the debut novel of a very funny writer. Moore writes with verve and energy, juggling a large cast of characters on a small canvas. Besides the demon Catch, there's Gian Hen Gian, a Djinn with a taste for salt; Augustus Brine, a Zen practitioner who runs the general store; a dishonest mechanic named Virgil Long; a waitress called Jenny who has finally gotten the nerve to toss her drunken photographer husband Robert out of the trailer; a nice old couple of Effron and Amanda; Mavis Sand, owner of the Slug Head Saloon and Travis, the practical demon keeper of the title who wouldn't have had anything to do with Catch except for an accident with a hollow candlestick seventy years ago.
Because of Catch, many characters in this book appear only briefly. Generally speaking, Travis tries not to let Catch eat anyone nice and he's trying to track down the hollow candlesticks to find the spell that will send Catch back to where he belongs. If that seems a bit thin to hang a plot on, it is. If most of the characters seem about as dimensional as a sheet of paper, they are. Nonetheless, they are recognizable American types and this is a heck of a lot of fun to read.
Rating: -
Imagine, if you will, you are a good, decent man in your twenties and frustrated at work. You lash out at your boss and, in the course of your tirade, you unleash a demon from hell. Sure, he kills your boss for you, makes you immortal, and is under your control, but you have to let him eat from time to time and his chosen diet is people.
Such is the life of Travis, burdened with custodial authority over Catch the Demon.
Madcap author Christopher Moore made his debut with this storyline in "Practical Demonkeeping." This is a funny, insightful - if convoluted - novel. Travis and Catch would be funny enough by themselves, but Moore does himself proud with his creation of Pine Bluff, California - a semi-bucolic coastal town near Big Sur. Some of the book's most hilarious passages involve this quirky town and the flawed folks who populate it. Whether its the description of Pine Bluff's efforts to market whale "leavings" or an elderly man's secret attraction to aerobics videos, Moore brings the funny in a big way.
Be careful if you read this book on the bus or in another public venue - you're likely to startle your neighbors as you laugh out loud at several different points, quite possibly encouraging people sitting near you to find other arrangements. After letting go a burst of laughter, I recommend holding up the book for a couple of seconds for all to see - the distinctive cover art for the book is usually enough for people to figure out that you're laughing at the book and not listening to the voices in your head.
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