I love the work of American humorist Christopher Moore. His work often plays all kinds of supernatural and sci-fi stuff for laughs. I may not always like it when he does a sequel (really, one vampire romance book was enough), but since I count William Shakespeare as my favorite author, I will always make an exception when Moore brings back Pocket the Fool. Pocket first appeared in Fool, a comedic retelling of the events of King Lear that mostly follows the plot of the original play with a few elements from Macbeth. Moore followed that up with The Serpent of Venice which combined elements from Othello, The Merchant of Venice, and for some reason Poe’s “Cask of Amontilado” and a sea serpent. It is far less faithful to the source plays but still a lot of fun.
Now comes the third in the series, Shakespeare for Squirrels, and this time around, the source is a single play in the form of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. What happens when Pocket ends up in Athens?
Pocket ended his last book with his apprentice Drool and monkey Jeff as a member of a pirate crew, in a relationship with Shylock’s daughter Jessica. He starts this book adrift at sea with Drool and Jeff, mostly trying to make sure the big ninny (as Pocket thinks of him) doesn’t eat the monkey. Jessica went back to Venice without him at some point and the pirates eventually got tired of him themselves and sent the trio off in a small boat. Fortunately, the group manages to get ashore in Athens. And that’s where the trouble begins.
Athens is a strange place. Duke Theseus, if he is the real thing, would be over a thousand years old. Amazon queen Hippolyta can barely tolerate him. And there are some working class men trying to rehearse a play while a bunch of young tossers try to figure who is in love with whom in a manner Pocket finds most annoying. But then there’s the Puck, Robin Goodfellow. A jester like Pocket, he seems to come and go as he pleases. Plus, there are fairies, and while Fairy Queen Titania and Shadow King Oberon aren’t exactly getting along lately, they both allow Puck to enter their respective kingdoms while Theseus and Hippolyta grant him access to their respective domains as well.
It’s therefore only a matter of time before someone ends up dead. Pocket is suspected, but Drool ends up locked up. Multiple members of the ruling class, each wanting something different, want Pocket to solve the crime before Theseus and Hippolyta get married in three days, and if he fails, Drool will be the one to get it. Pocket’s going to need some help. Fortunately, there are a few helpful fairies out there as well as the donkey-headed Nick Bottom.
By this point, Moore is using the original Shakespeare as a rough outline and not much more. The original play is a light romantic comedy while this is, well, a dark comedy where Pocket swears heavily, there’s a good deal of shagging and snogging, and characters end up dead rather than theoretically happily married. There’s some creative work here on fairies and other magical creatures in the forest while characters inspired by other Shakespearean works (notably Dogberry renamed to someone else while the entity Rumor keeps showing up to offer cryptic clues that make him more annoying to Pocket than helpful) cause other problems, and the whole thing is just a fun book. I don’t ask much more than that sometimes, and Moore, for the most part, tends to deliver that much.
Grade: A-
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