Moist: A Novel

Rating:
Summary: A sure-to-please, zesty satire
Review: An original and deftly written novel by Mark Haskell Smith, Moist is an outrageously sexual, shocking, and sometimes ludicrous adventure in which minimum-wage mortuary worker named Bob is in search of true love only to find a most unusual severed arm, and become entangled with a one-armed murderer obsessed with Mexican soap opera, a band of mobsters who share certain character traits with LAPD's finest, and other messed-up, drugged-out, or terminally oversexed individuals. Moist is lively and recommended reading as a sure-to-please, zesty satire with a flair for skirting the raw edge of life and love.

Rating:
Summary: splendid multicultural omelette with capons
Review: I knew Smith in undergraduate school 25 years ago in Olympia. He was an excellent writer then, but nothing could have prepared me for this full-scale realization of his talent at one stroke. This book made me feel that I had discovered the best talent of my generation. Then it turned out he was my best friend in college. Kind of fun to realize this alligator is going to be a top novelist. There's no way to praise all the great things going on in this book. Just read it. It's going to be one of the most important books of the era. A high-water mark for the sort of humorous aesthetic cool that seems to wear well. Put him beside Edward Lear and Charles Willeford.

Kirby Olson, Author
Comedy after Postmodernism: Rereading Comedy from Edward Lear to Charles Willeford

Rating:
Summary: splendid multicultural omelette with capons
Review: I knew Smith in undergraduate school at Evergreen State 25 years ago in Olympia, WA. I remember his musical career, and his intense documentaries of Coke factories, and his relish for Fassbinder and The Talking Heads before I had heard of them. He was an excellent writer then, but nothing could have prepared me for this full-scale realization of his talent at one stroke. This book made me feel that I had discovered the best talent of my generation. Then it turned out he was my best friend in college. Kind of fun to realize this alligator is going to be a top novelist. There's no way to praise all the great things going on in this book. Mark was always twenty steps ahead of everybody else in his humor and style. He was drinking weird coffee conglomerations long before they became a fashion. Similarly, I think this book will represent a new international style: multicultural, and yet not pious, hip, but full of deep passion, humorous, but not silly. Just read it. It's going to be one of the most important books of the era. A high-water mark for the sort of humorous aesthetic cool that seems to wear well. I put Smith on my shelf between Edward Lear and Charles Willeford and am sure these former two feel they are in good company. Ha ha. Way to go, Mark H.!

Kirby Olson, Author
Comedy after Postmodernism: Rereading Comedy from Edward Lear to Charles Willeford

Rating:
Summary: Moist
Review: See book description above.

I was not at all disappointed with this somewhat dark comedy, which one author described as having "real machine gun narrative". As mentioned by other reviewers, Smith is comparable to Hiaasen (but not quite at his level) and also, I think, Fitzhugh. For a first novel, Smith has written one heck of an entertaining story with an assortment of unusual characters.

Recommended.

Rating:
Summary: Moist
Review: See book description above.

I was not at all disappointed with this somewhat dark comedy, which one author described as having "real machine gun narrative". As mentioned by other reviewers, Smith is comparable to Hiaasen (but not quite at his level) and also, I think, Fitzhugh. For a first novel, Smith has written one heck of an entertaining story with an assortment of unusual characters.

Recommended.

Rating:
Summary: FUN & WELL WRITTEN!
Review: What a great book! I had to take the recommendation of a friend who has rarely steered me wrong to get by the somewhat difficult to swallow premise of a "severed arm" being the focus of the book. But I'm glad I did! The author really pulls it off! One of the most fun, exciting and well written books I've read. The other nine "5 star" reviews before me said it well, and left little to add.

If you like this one, don't miss The "Psychoanalysis and Cure of Satan" by Jeremy Levin, my all-time favorite!

Rating:
Summary: FUN & WELL WRITTEN!
Review: What a great book! I had to take the recommendation of a friend who has rarely steered me wrong to get by the somewhat difficult to swallow premise of a "severed arm" being the focus of the book. But I'm glad I did! The author really pulls it off! One of the most fun, exciting and well written books I've read. The other nine "5 star" reviews before me said it well, and left little to add.

If you like this one, don't miss The "Psychoanalysis and Cure of Satan" by Jeremy Levin, my all-time favorite!

Rating:
Summary: A dark, gritty, sexy, outrageously hilarious story
Review: When I began reading Moist, I flipped to the back of the book, and in all capital letters
it read: WHY YOU WILL LOVE MOIST... and now that I have I must agree with those who read & commented before me. I am the kind of reader who doesn't get trapped by trying to figure out where the writer is taking me, ie Agatha Christie--- I don't care to figure out who killed Colonel Mustard in the library with a machete and twelve people must provide an alibi and if I am smart enough to figure out which one is lying. What I care about is the journey the writer takes me on. I like to get lost in what I am reading, to just kick back, so to speak, and just enjoy the ride. And Moist is one hell of a damn good ride.

Bob, our hero, who works at United Pathology Labs is kidnapped by the Mexican Mafia
in the form of crazy Esteban and his colorful band of merry men gringo advisor Martin, Norberto and Amado. There is Maura the masturbation therapist, Bob's soon to be ex-girlfriend, Don the detective, and a severed arm with explicit sensual acts of sex tattooed all over it. To say anymore would give away too much

It is definitely a dark gritty sexy outrageously hilarious story and Mark Haskell Smith is a wonderfully talented storyteller keeping the pace breakneck! I put this book in the "page turner" category. His characters came to life jumping off the page making me laugh, smile, even feel sad and most importantly propelling me to keep turning the page. I was not surprised in the least bit when I had heard Smith was a screenwriter nor that DreamWorks owned this piece of entertainment, because that is exactly what Smith does, he entertains you non-stop. Sit back and enjoy!