General Information
===================

	Title  :                Fluke
	Author :                Christopher Moore
	Read by:			Bill Irwin
 
File Information
================

 	Number of MP3s:         7 plus PARS and info
 	Genre:		     	Non-fiction with a laugh	
 	Bit Rate:      		48 KB/s
	Sample Rate:		44 KHz mono
	Runtime:			09:43 h:m

Story
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In his entertaining adventure-in-whale-researching, Fluke, or, I Know Why the Winged Whale Sings, Nathan Quinn, a prominent marine biologist, has been conducting studies in Hawaii for years trying to unravel the secret of why humpback whales sing. During a typical day of data gathering, Nate believes his mind is failing: the subject whale has "Bite Me" scrawled across its tail. Events become even stranger as the self-proclaimed "action nerds," Nate, photographer Clay, their research assistant Amy, and Kona, a white Rasta (a Jewish kid from New Jersey), encounter sabotage to their data and equipment. They also observe increasingly bizarre whale behavior, including a phone call from the whale to their wealthy sponsor to ask that Nate bring it a hot pastrami and Swiss on rye, and discover both a thriving underwater city and the secret to what happened to Amelia Earhart.

Thoughtful, irreverent, and often hilarious, Moore has crafted a tale that contains a bit of the saga of declining whale populations due to hunting and habitat destruction, as well as his over-the-top, decadent wit as applied to scientific methodology and professional jealousies. Moore notes a pasty, rival scientist "looked like Death out for his after-dinner stroll before a busy night of e-mailing heart attacks and tumors to a few million lucky winners," and that killer whales (which are all named Kevin), are "just four tons of doofus dressed up like a police car." Smart, sincere, and a whale of a story, Fluke is terrific.

From AudioFile
Nate Quinn is an easy-going marine biologist studying the "music" of humpback whales. Through Bill Irwin's narration, listeners can fully imagine Nate's shock when he sees the words "Bite Me" on the underside of a whale's tail. But when the rest of novel's large cast is introduced, Irwin's narration becomes problematic. His unmodulated reading prevents the science humor and numerous asides common to Moore's writing from shining through. Further, his attempt to add individualized voices for a very few characters, such as Kona, the "spliff-smoking Rastaman," distracts from the story. While Moore's humor is decidedly thoughtful and irreverent, Irwin's inconsistent delivery disappoints.

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