Commander Pants

I wasn't sure what to expect when I started reading this after reading the summary. It could go ANYWHERE, and be either really great or really awful.

I'm SO glad it turned out to be the former. There's just way too many hilarious scenes in here, and Commander Pants does a hell of a job of writing them, he has a good writing style. I laughed out loud at the scene where Abbey is talking about pretending about having guys in her apartment, and Dr. Kermit's 'revenge' on his patient, among others. show more I did notice a couple of typos in here - typos that are small and easy to miss - and absolutely no major mistakes or anything like that.

The conclusions/epilogues are rather fitting and well-placed. I have no real complaints about this book - it makes you THINK and there's a lot to contemplate, about mental health, religion, philosophy, sex, McDonalds, etc. I'm happy to give this book 5 stars - it truly deserves it and hats off to Commander Pants! show less

Welcome to another book I'm having a hard time reviewing. Whom God Would Destroy does not fit easily into the traditional good/bad categories.

Let me start here, I really enjoyed reading Whom God Would Destroy. But, here's a little secret, I read for characters, not action. And Commander Pants is really good with characters. This book is filled with interesting, entertaining characters. People who feel real. Given how strange some of these characters are, it would be very easy to go off the show more rails and end up with farcically drawn comic book characters. But, even at their most insane, Pants' characters still feel real.

Of course, a book is not just a collection of characters. There also needs to be a plot. And this is where the problem is. Whom God Would Destroy doesn't so much have a plot as a collection of themes. The Vagaries Of Mental Health: it's in there. The Nature of God To Man: yep, got that, too. The Dissatisfaction That Comes From Looking For a Perfect Experience: in spades, my friends. Reality Is a Collection Of Layers, One More Complex Than the Next, and In The Whole Scheme Of Things Humans Understand Just As Much About The Universe As Bacteria Understand Quantum Physics: of course. One Man's Crazy Is Another Man's Truth: do I even need to mention it?

Instead of a plot, let us say there are two main themes. The Nature of God to Man, and One Man's Crazy is Another Man's Truth. Interestingly enough both involve aliens. Theme A is illustrated by the story of Jeremy, an alien playing God for kicks and giggles. (He gave the Jews the Shema, He did the Christ routine, and this time around He's apparently been reading some Heinlein, 'cause He sounds an awful lot like Valentine Michael Smith, you grok?) He's messing with humanity again because He enjoys it. He finds Oliver, an outreach counselor for a local mental health facility, and decides Oliver would be a perfect disciple. A modern day Paul if you will. So, in line A we watch as Jeremy manipulates Oliver into Discipleship. For Theme B we follow Doc, one of Oliver's clients, and learn about how Doc is being used by an alien race in search of the PERFECT experience. (The Ultimate Orgasm, they term it so mere humans can understand the idea.) They find said experience in Big Macs (why not?) and Doc is part of the team of humans being used to make sure they get their Big Mac fix.

As themes these two lines have similar focuses and illustrate different aspects of the same concepts (the levels of reality, for example). But as a story, they just don't have a whole lot to do with each other. What the book is missing is an overarching plot to tie these themes together.

Let me be clear here, Whom God Would Destroy is worth reading. It's five or so hours well spent. But if you want to examine it critically, there's a huge hole in the middle of it, and that's the plot. Whom God Would Destroy meanders from one character to the next, spending time in their interesting worlds, getting to know them, but it's lacking in direction.

Take Greg for example. He's my favorite character in the book. His purpose in the book is to illustrate how psychology isn't all that precise and with great ego comes the ability for a great fall. I really like his story line and think it's quite clever. But if you cut every scene with him as the main character out, it would have absolutely no bearing on the story. He's not vital or even tangentially related to either of the main themes. On his own and developed more fully he'd be a wicked cool novel or novella. As a part of this story, he's just there. Greg is a microcosm for what's right and wrong with Whom God Would Destroy. He's well written, he's fascinating, as a reader you want to get to know him better, and he's totally divorced from any plot the book may have.

So, how does a reviewer rank a book that was enjoyable, with well drawn characters and no real plot? Pants knows how to use words. His writing is clear and, if not poetic, well crafted for the purpose of the book. His themes and the way he treats them is not precisely new (see Heinlein comment above) but well done. His characters really are excellent. But plot is a major issue, and it's a writing 101 level skill. The whole purpose of a novel is to have something happen that ties all the elements of the story (characters, setting, writing style) together. And that's just not in this story.

I'll call Whom God Would Destroy a well recommended 3 stars. show less

Oliver is an outreach counselor for the mentally ill, which mainly involves making sure they get to their doctor appointments. His clients include Abbey, who may or may not have multiple personalities; Greg, who may or may not be turning into his therapist; and Doc, who may or may not be communicating with aliens who demand Big Macs. Meanwhile, the ultra-charismatic Jeremy, who may or may not be Jesus, has opened a new age shop and started a television show on public access to spread his show more message of selfishness. Confused? Believe it or not, the story wasn't so difficult to follow as long as you just went with it, accepting whatever bizarre new twist was thrown at you. (I've found a similar approach is helpful when reading Douglas Adams novels.) This is a bizarre tale of religion, drugs, sex, extraterrestrials, mental illness, and fast food, full of cynical humor and truly strange characters. I would suggest that anyone who is very sensitive about any of these issues (most especially religion) give this one a miss, but if you're more cynical and/or apathetic, you might find the insanity rather enjoyable. I'll be curious to see if Commander Pants writes anything else, or if he chooses a different pen name for each novel. show less

Whom God Would Destroy by Commander Pants is a satirical novel that makes fun of both religion and the mental health industry. In this story a mental health caseworker named Oliver meets Jeremy, the owner of a new age shop, through one of his clients. Oliver quickly becomes enamored with the extremely charismatic shop owner, and begins to rethink his life while Jeremy does everything in his power to recruit Oliver as his first follower. In addition to Jeremy trying to bring about a new show more religious movement, this novel also follows the stories of multiple mental health patients who aren't quite as ill as they appear. I thought this book was hilarious and I highly recommend it. Please don't read it though if you think you will be easily offended by the subject matter, which includes explicit sex as well as the religious and mental health satire. show less