God Is Dead

God has decided to see the suffering in Darfur for himself, and to do so, he takes on the form of a young Dinka woman, who is caught up in the war. In assuming this form, God has also to take on the mortality and frailties of humans, and is killed in the conflict. When his real identity is uncovered, the news that God is dead spreads throughout the globe, causing civil unrest, anarchy, wars and the breakdown of society.

This book is less a novel, and more a series of vaguely interlinked stories about how the world reacts to God’s death. Certain parts tell what life was like after the initial hysteria following the news died down, but all of the tales tell a story of how ordinary lives were affected.

The writing is imaginative, and the show more stories which unfold in this tale are disturbing, satirical, ironic and at times very amusing. The author seems to shine a light on human flaws and strengths and shows the sort of behaviour that people will display in times of terror and uncertainty.

The book flowed easily, and although the stories within it are only loosely linked, it never felt disjointed – I realised that I was reading big chunks in almost no time at all.

I would definitely recommend this book, especially to fans of dystopian fiction. show less

This is a strange book of interconnected short stories. The first tale describes God taking human form as a refugee in Darfur and his death when the human body is killed. The rest of the stories answer some questions, such as how the world finds out God is dead, and describe how humanity reacts (quite poorly) and then how civilization recovers and what form it takes. Not a pretty picture. There's a very funny portrayal of Colin Powell, and a priceless one-sided interview with the lone survivor of the feral dogs who ate God's dead body and could then speak and think and feel as a human and had all-encompassing knowledge. Entertaining, interesting, odd.

An odd little novel, which I suppose could be described as post-apocalyptic. The story begins with the guilt-ridden God wandering through war-torn Sudan in the guise of a young African woman, before being killed by the Janjaweed. When word gets around that God really is dead, all hell breaks loose, with the formerly ultra-conservative Christians in America turning to worship of their own children, mass suicide of nuns and priests, and, once society gets back on its feet, a war between Evolutionary Psychologists and Post-Modern Anthropologists. And Colin Powell makes an appearance at the beginning in what was apparently a misguided attempt by the (white) author to tap into the guilt felt by assimilationist African-Americans, or show more something. I'm not sure what that had to do with the rest of the book, but whatever.

Anyway, if all of that sounds interesting and potentially amusing (which is what I thought), I hate to say that something goes moderately wrong in the execution. It's not terrible, but it just doesn't really make sense--I don't mean the part where God dies, but everything that follows. I mean, it's amusing to think of the followers of deterministic Evolutionary Psychology warring with the supposedly liberally open-minded PoMo Anthropologists, but I couldn't suspend my disbelief enough to find any sort of real-world implications, and there's very little humor that I could detect in the writing to suggest that it wasn't meant to be taken at least somewhat seriously. I also thought it was a shortcoming of the book that it only looked at the aftermath as it occurred in parts of Africa and particularly the United States. What about the rest of the world? And why did God put himself into such a life-threatening situation anyway? Overall, I would say that God is Dead isn't bad, but it is fairly unsatisfying in its treatment of a really interesting idea and probably would have benefited from some more humor. I wouldn't write Ron Currie off though, and I'll be keeping an eye out for his sophomore effort. show less

God comes to Earth in Darfur in the form of a refugee woman, but gets killed, and this changes the world. Lawlessness, panic, and suicide pacts take over for a while - then people now with nothing to do on a Sunday start to worship their children - which leads a to a (further) dumming down of Western civilisation. Meanwhile, factions develop into worldwide war - the Post Modern Anthropologists versus the Evolutionary Psychologists - different sides of the same coin, and of course now God's not there, what was all that fuss about intelligent design about!!! But most people it seems, still need something to hang their faith upon.

The novel does not have a coherent plot, instead it reads as a linked series of episodes each exploring a facet show more of the impact of God's death on humanity, highlighting all our failings - 'twas ever thus ... Provocative, irreverent, pessimistic, yet poignant in many parts, I found myself trying to place the author on a scale from religious nutter to atheist nutter. I had to conclude that he is probably a fence-sitter who enjoys stirring things up a bit occasionally.

An interesting, well-written and thought-provoking read. show less

fascinating, grim, funny and hard to forget. One of the best short story collections masquerading as a novel I have read. Not every piece is perfect on its own, but as an arc they manage to create a post-God world that is real and frightening without resorting to the same dystopian nonsense we've seen before. A great companion piece to Coupland's Life After God, but more powerful.

The first story sets the stage. God comes back to Earth in the form of a Dinka woman in war-torn Sudan, and ends up killed in a battle. The stories that follow are in the world that is post-God, and not only is the theme linked, some of the characters reoccur.

This is one of the best new writers I've read in ages. He is simultaneously reverent and irreverent.

God is Dead is a biting satire about humanity's dependence on faith, following the literal death of God - disguised as a starving and diseased woman caught in the violence of Darfur.

In the absence of religion, people turn to alternate outlets to hang their faith upon. America exaggerates its "cult of the child" status into literally worshipping children. Others take solace in romantic connections, or the talking dogs who ate the flesh of God. A worldwide war has broken out, with philosophical ideologies replacing the traditional conflict of faiths in battle. It's a very grim but thoughtful book, and an excellent read.