How Like God

Brenda Clough calls her "Gilgamesh" books, _How Like a God_ (1997), and _Doors of Death and Life_ (2000), "suburban fantasy", and indeed they depict suburban life pretty well: home improvement, day care, commuting, minivans, even believable contemporary American Christians (a rarity in SF!). For that alone these are refreshing books._How Like a God_ concerns Washington area software developer Rob Lewis, the father of 18 month old twins, and the loving husband of Julianne, who works in the fashion industry. One day he suddenly realizes that he has an unusual power: he can read minds, the minds of anybody on the planet, and he can control people. After a few mild experiments, he tells his wife, and her response appals him. She wants him to influence her employers to help her career, and then she wants him to look for great personal power: run for President, perhaps. Horrified, he makes Julianne forget everything, but soon her realizes that he can't control his power, and that he is altering his twins unconcsiously, making them act extra mature without even knowing it. In despair, he runs away to New York City and spends months as a homeless man, using his power occasionally to cadge meals and housing. His humanity begins to slip away from him, and suddenly he realizes that he is becoming a monster. When he finds himself about to rape a teenage girl (by making her want it), he starts to break out, and looks for help. His only help is from a chance encounter with an NIH microbiologist, Edwin Barbarossa, a fundamentally good man at a very deep level. The rest of the book follows Rob's gradual return to humanity with Edwin's guidance, and also Rob's eventual encounter with the mysterious and surprising source of his power.This is a very fine book, quite original in conception, and dealing pretty unflinchingly with the issue of personal responsibility, and how important and difficult that is when you have immense power. The book's only real weakness is the character of Julianne, who is neither terribly likeable, nor particularly three-dimensional, but she's a fairly minor character and that doesn't really hurt the book too much.

The author has done an excellent job at providing deep, thoughful and yet creative characterizations. I am an avid reader and I find very few books of this genre that have characterizations this deep! And, the book was a joy to read!

I'm not a science fiction fan. At least, I didn't think I was until I read Brenda Clough's book, How Like A God. The cover made me want to pick it up and once I started it, I couldn't put it down. My husband picked it up next and felt the same. I hope Brenda Clough is well on her way to the next title. We'll be looking for it!

I am an avid reader of both science fiction and general literature. It is rare that I find a science fiction book that has elements in common with classic literature, and I am not simply referring to the Gilgamesh theme. Do not mistake what I mean, I am a scifi fan, but scifi by its nature tends to defeat itself on some fundamental levels of literature. So I was surprised when I pulled this from the scifi/fantasy section of my local bookstore. This novel is not only a good smooth read that moves fluidly, it also covers themes ranging from the terror and tragedy of sudden godhood to both macrocosmic and microcosmic views of humanity to the pleasant insanity of parenthood. This will go into my pile of books to re-read along with things like 'Franny and Zooey' by Salinger.