Gods Without Men by Hari Kunzru

Gods Without Men

Hari Kunzru

Combining many of the big news stories of our time with a distinctly New Age feel, think recurring themes rather than developing plot. Writing at a conceptual level, this is a postmodern novel in fragments in which the author tries to show the inscrutable interconnectedness of everything around us. It is an outlandish book with lots of good social comedy and satire and despite the constant changing of gears is diverting and eminently readable.

Extract
As the crowd surged forward she tried to stop herself from grinning, to adopt the stern expression of someone who understood the epochal changes about to take place on earth, who was prepared to play a part in the tumult which would inevitably follow the first moment of mass contact. It was so difficult! She was too excited. The desert floor had turned a soft peach color, with hints of cool watery blue, as if the sand were turning to sea before her eyes. She wondered whether the fluttery feeling in her chest heralded another visitation. Could it be that the Command would choose this moment to make themselves known to their terrestrial helpers? Oh, that would be too wonderful!
Parallels
  • Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell
  • Slaughterhouse 5 by Kurt Vonnegut
  • The Stone Gods by Jeanette Winterson