Anima Rising - by Christopher Moore (Hardcover)

About the Book

"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"--

Book Synopsis

"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. In this work of historical fantasy comedy, 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 the fathers of psychoanalysis, 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.

Review Quotes

"Smart and funny and all sorts of raunchy in the best way. . . Dazzles, entertains and squeezes in more than a few laughs. . . Razzmatazz is another success for Christopher Moore." - San Francisco Chronicle on Razzmatazz

"Moore and his merry band of miscreants are firmly on the right side of history--and they will make you laugh until it hurts." - BookPage (starred review) on Razzmatazz

"It takes a certain amount of guts and wild abandon to recast a Shakespeare comedy as a hard-boiled detective story, but if anyone can pull it off, it's master satirist Moore, whose gift for funny business apparently knows no bounds. . . . A welcome return of a fan-favorite character in a romp of a tale that will delight not only mystery buffs but also fantasy fanatics, and, of course, Bard lovers." - Booklist (starred review) on Shakespeare for Squirrels

"Hilarious . . . [Moore's] imagination swings into overdrive. He contemplates the sex lives of Klimt and Egon Schiele, writes pastiches derived from Frankenstein and the Freud-Jung correspondence, and even finds room to include a grating failed artist named Hitler. . . Plenty of fun to be had." - Publishers Weekly

"Moore offers an absurdist and sardonic sequel, of sorts, to Frankenstein. . . This is a wild adventure through history, art, and literature for Moore's many fans and those who enjoy historical fiction with a side of fantasy and wry humor." - Library Journal (starred review)

"I sincerely doubt whether I will encounter another novel as sheerly enjoyable as Anima Rising over the rest of my reading days during 2025. . . Beneath its nonstop but never overdone gonzo humor (which would provoke envy among the Marx Brothers, Firesign Theatre and Monty Python) lies a real beating heart of empathy for all humanity, an unabashed sensibility that reserves and allocates a tender mercy for those innocent humans most afflicted by life. . . Anima Rising is a small masterpiece." - Locus

"A brilliant amalgamation of history, literature, horror, humor and humanity, unfolding with page-turning energy, decorously infused with a delightful stream of ingeniously smutty, sweetly obscene words and situations." - Petulama Argus-Courier

"Outstanding. . . Anima Rising is another example of why we need both the humanities and the humanity of Moore." - Washington Independent Review of Books