Christ lives on his own island where the dead souls are welcomed to the afterworld. The other God, Krishna, lives in the harsh real world as a humble pantry boy employed in a hospital – easing the final journey of the people who are dying. Buddy Roy, the Buddha, sends his calming waves to the world from afar. Ati, the God of Atheists, lives on his island with his own set of followers. While Gods go about their tasks they connect on Facebook to ‘chat up’ God things.
The Gods travel between the imagined worlds – Clacton-on-Sea, Jaywick, Frinton-on-Sea, the underwater World of Mermaids and the real world. Human stories of mortals are woven within the fabric of the main story of Gods. Sunderaman is the meanness in man that Gods must confront. Nick, the God of Evil, contrives to use Sunderaman as a pawn to oust the Gods. Somdev, the Godman, wants his share of the Gods’ world. Gods watch over as human characters live out their destinies.
This is a book that brings together fantasy and reality.
The premise of the book is that Gods are on the earth in human form and they are present online too. They interact with others over Facebook and puts in too much time to carefully consider their profile picture. It deals with the lives of various Gods in their human avatars and their daily interactions. It all begins when Chris (read Lord Christ) decides to open a Facebook account and discovers that most Gods are already online, like for instance Krishna (Read Lord Krishna). Then comes Buddy Roy (read Lord Buddha) and Ati (God of Atheists). Their interactions often take a philosophical turn and together they ‘wonder’ about the human nature.
Though the blurb comes across as funny, at the same time it also cautions us to expect the unexpected and frankly, the book turned out quite different from what I initially expected. While the authors maintained a humorous edge, they also included a heavy dose of what I can only term as human psychology. For instance, they wonder why we are comfortable befriending stranger on the virtual world yet uncomfortable connecting with people in our real lives. Or why a lady who so deeply believed in Gods, yet failed to see their presence in her life. Or why a man with Arthritis chooses to curse the Gods instead of exercising. I will freely admit that the book had me laughing quite a few times and also I did like the concept that the God of Atheists worked on. But at the same time, I kept feeling as if something was missing in the book. For me it was the narration style and the overall presentation that lacked the lure. Plus there were certain characters that just didn’t reach out to me.
I will give you this – it is different. It will be difficult to find a grey area with this book and you will either like or dislike it. It didn’t strike a chord with me – but I will leave the choice of whether to pick up this one or not – up to you.
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I found your great blog through the WLC Blog Follows on the World Literary Cafe! Great to connect!
ReplyDeleteWonderful to find you!
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