Anima Rising

A Novel

By: Christopher Moore

Narrated by: Mary Jane Wells

“A brilliant amalgamation of history, literature, horror, humor and humanity, unfolding with page-turning energy.” — Petalama Argus-Courier

From New York Times bestselling author Christopher Moore comes a hilariously deranged tale of a mad scientist, a famous painter, and an undead woman’s electrifying journey of self-discovery.

Vienna, 1911. Gustav Klimt, the most famous painter in the Austrian Empire, the darling of Viennese society, spots a woman’s nude body in the Danube canal. He knows he should summon a policeman, but he can’t resist stopping to make a sketch first. And as he draws, the woman coughs. She’s alive!

Back at his studio, Klimt and his model-turned-muse Wally tend to the formerly-drowned girl. She’s nearly feral and doesn’t remember who she is, or how she came to be floating in the canal. Klimt names her Judith, after one of his most famous paintings, and resolves to help her find her memory.

With a little help from Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung, Judith recalls being stranded in the arctic one hundred years ago, locked in a crate by a man named Victor Frankenstein, and visiting the Underworld.

So how did she get here? And why are so many people chasing her, including Geoff, the giant croissant-eating devil dog of the North?

Poor Things meets Bride of Frankenstein in Anima Rising, Christopher Moore’s most ingenious (and probably most hilarious) novel yet.

Moore and Mary Jane Wells—more please!

Christopher Moore has been a favorite of mine for ages. What MJWells does here to bring Moore’s story to life is a tour-de-force (so effing French) that stands out as one of the top three audiobook performances I’ve heard, EVER! Extraordinarily lovely work from both.

A+ story and A+++ Performance

There is so much to say about this book and the story, but I’d like to start by screaming from the rooftops about Mary Jane Wells performance. I am a big fan of historical romance novels and have heard her narrate many novels of that genre beautifully. Never before, though, have I had the absolute pleasure of hearing her narrate so many characters so incredibly, sometimes switching back and forth between 3-5 characters in the course of a single page and doing each voice so uniquely that you know exactly who each person is. Many times I find myself forgetting this is bot a full cast.

Now the story, as always Christopher Moore is a genius at taking classical sources and stories and weaving them into something new, witty, and hilarious. His characters are always vividly imagines and easy to love (or hate) and I can always count on him for a good laugh. Having read Frankenstein many years ago and having once visited Vienna, this story and its historical figures was even more intriguing than I expected. I will absolutely be listening to this book again sometime in the future and will recommend it to everyone I know who loves a good laugh alongside an homage to history and older works.

Like Sacre Blue on steroids

Gruesome witty humor, with a shake of fantasy and a dash of history, as a fan of Christopher Moore I highly recommend.

More Moore, please!

Great interweaving of historical characters and historical fiction. Enchanting dialogue and tasty bits of mayhem, myth, murder and nudity.

The story is great, but I may have to read the book because the narrator was often hard to understand.

I feel like the narrator was often difficult to understand because the different accents were too think and sometimes read too fast.