1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Good God it's average!, May 17, 2010
This review is from: Good to Be God (Paperback)
The book is something of a mix. It starts out with a guy with no job and no life who's given a chance to go to Miami and while there figures out that he's been aiming low all his life and that's why hes failed - now he wants to aim higher, in fact highest: he will become God. Or at least that's what hes going to tell people and endeavour to become.
So far so good. But the story never really takes off. Initially he tries to figure it out by becoming a sort of assistant preacher (sub-Heirophant is the title) in a church wonderfully titled The Church of the Heavily Armed Christ. Then after the leader of the church goes to take care of his ailing mum, our hero steps in and becomes leader of this church.
I'll stop there because the story branches out into too many sub stories and the review'll go on forever. Suffice it to say each aspect of our hero's life is explored fully. He needs a place to sleep, we meet a new character and we meet the others who live there and their stories. He needs some money, we meet a new character and he becomes a drug dealer and we find out about that world. He gets sidetracked by slapstick goons, caricatures of "low lifes", a high class prostitute, a creepy flatmate, a slacker undertaker, some evil old women running a corrupt church, an immigrant with a heart of gold, a millionaire who pretended to be poor, I'm only remembering part of it but there are many more characters here usually with single names like Napalm and Sixto. Hmm.
You're probably thinking "what's wrong with that, sounds like a ripping yarn!" and you're sort of right. Only, Fischer's style is skewed. Sometimes its trying too hard to be funny, sometimes its being too preachy for its own good ("life isnt worth trying, doing things is basically waiting speeded up, you never get anywhere planning" - I'm paraphrasing but the repetitiveness of some of our hero's thoughts are a bit dull), sometimes its being too kooky, sometimes its being too "noir". The whole becoming God thing is touched on toward the end but for the most of the book it's about a bloke who knocks around Miami meeting eccentrics and having an alright time of it while commenting heavily on "life".
It's an alright book, I enjoyed it, it passes the time, and it's much better written and far more interesting than the average novel available today. But is it a classic or something I'd even remember 10 years, maybe even 1 year from now? Probably not. It had the potential to be more than it ended up being really. "Survivor" by Chuck Palahniuk is a better book if you're looking for a bloke who becomes a messiah story.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Not Tibor's Best, January 24, 2010
This review is from: Good to Be God (Paperback)
It wasn't bad, but I think it's my least favorite of Tibor Fischer's novels (I would put Thought Gang at the top, fyi.) Without going into an in-depth analysis of giving much away: It is an interesting, tongue-in-cheek perspective on the modern immigrant experience as it relates to American consumerism and faith (doesn't that sound like the germ of a last-minute thesis statement?) It takes place in Miami, which threw me off, but it's hero is an on-the-run British lightbulb salesman, which seemed to be par for course. Good to be God lacks the weird, eyebrow-lifting happenings of most Fischer books despite dealing mostly with nogoodniks and religion (or creating religions) and I think this is part of what makes the book a tad flat. It is rather tame compared to his other books, lacking the delightful quirk.
I read Thought Gang many years ago, have reread it many times, have indeed bought probably a dozen copies to give to people. So suffice to say I buy everything Tibor Fischer writes and I read it eagerly, but I will not re-read this. I will say that the book, which I read over a series of breakfasts, with its bright-blue cover and provocative title, brought more random "hey what's that is it good?" questions than any breakfasr-book to date. Not necessarily a selling point but you should know in case you dislike interruptions.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
