2008 Woodie Awards
In My Book: The Stupidest Angel
Kerry Sullivan
Issue date: 12/4/04 Section: Arts & Entertainment
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With the holiday season rapidly approaching, who can help but remember all the memories of holidays past? You might recall Mom burning the turkey one year, forcing your family to eat a Christmas dinner of duck and lo mien at the local Chinese restaurant. Maybe you remember the time in high school when Grandma gave you that hideous sweater with a giant reindeer on the front, which your parents still make you wear every time she comes to visit. And who can forget the infamous passing-on of the fruitcake year after year, which never gets eaten, but also never seems to grow moldy?
If you cringe at the thought of your holidays past, consider the experience of little Joshua Barker in The Stupidest Angel. Having stayed at his friend's house too long playing a new PlayStation game, seven-year-old Josh worries that his careless behavior might buy him a spot on Santa's "naughty list" with just a few days to go until Christmas. As he hurries home through the cold, dark December night, Josh doesn't think his life could get any worse. He was wrong. His prayer soon changes from a self-serving plea for an X-Box on Christmas morning to a desperate appeal to a higher power to save the jolly old man in red himself. Now if that isn't a cautionary tale of the evils of video games, I don't know what is.
Clearly, The Stupidest Angel is not your typical Christmas story. This isn't surprising, considering that the author of this proclaimed "heartwarming tale of Christmas terror" is comedic genius Christopher Moore. Moore, who also wrote Fluke: Or, I Know Why the Winged Whale Sings and Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal, is known for his satirical novels on normally serious topics, such as religion.
In The Stupidest Angel, Moore gives us an intimate look at a small town harboring a giant secret during a busy Christmas season. As we are introduced to a myriad of eccentric personalities and learn how their lives are oddly intertwined, Moore effortlessly proves that in small-town life, things are not always as they seem. There's Lena Marquez, a beautiful Salvation Army volunteer, and her evil ex-husband, Dale Pearson, a developer in their town of Pine Cove, California and Santa during the annual Christmas Eve parade. There's Theophilus "Theo" Crowe, the town's aloof constable, and his wife, Molly Michon, a mentally-unstable, former B-movie "warrior babe." There's newcomer Tucker Case, a DEA pilot with a pet fruit bat named Roberto. And, of course, there's Joshua Barker, who witnesses an event so startling that only Theo will initially believe his story.
If you cringe at the thought of your holidays past, consider the experience of little Joshua Barker in The Stupidest Angel. Having stayed at his friend's house too long playing a new PlayStation game, seven-year-old Josh worries that his careless behavior might buy him a spot on Santa's "naughty list" with just a few days to go until Christmas. As he hurries home through the cold, dark December night, Josh doesn't think his life could get any worse. He was wrong. His prayer soon changes from a self-serving plea for an X-Box on Christmas morning to a desperate appeal to a higher power to save the jolly old man in red himself. Now if that isn't a cautionary tale of the evils of video games, I don't know what is.
Clearly, The Stupidest Angel is not your typical Christmas story. This isn't surprising, considering that the author of this proclaimed "heartwarming tale of Christmas terror" is comedic genius Christopher Moore. Moore, who also wrote Fluke: Or, I Know Why the Winged Whale Sings and Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal, is known for his satirical novels on normally serious topics, such as religion.
In The Stupidest Angel, Moore gives us an intimate look at a small town harboring a giant secret during a busy Christmas season. As we are introduced to a myriad of eccentric personalities and learn how their lives are oddly intertwined, Moore effortlessly proves that in small-town life, things are not always as they seem. There's Lena Marquez, a beautiful Salvation Army volunteer, and her evil ex-husband, Dale Pearson, a developer in their town of Pine Cove, California and Santa during the annual Christmas Eve parade. There's Theophilus "Theo" Crowe, the town's aloof constable, and his wife, Molly Michon, a mentally-unstable, former B-movie "warrior babe." There's newcomer Tucker Case, a DEA pilot with a pet fruit bat named Roberto. And, of course, there's Joshua Barker, who witnesses an event so startling that only Theo will initially believe his story.