I AM GOD

In Italian author Sartori's English-language debut, a jaded God fixates on a female geneticist down on Earth while commenting in diary form on the sad state of humanity.

"The reason human beings are in such a bad way is because they think," the self-described "Big Poobah" declares in his opening salvo. Why is thinking bad? Because it is "by definition sketchy and imperfect—and misleading." For God, who himself deals in paradoxes and circular reasoning, the Bible is an “unreliable and delusional" fiction. But for all his superiority and ability for "perfecting perfection," the Almighty can't avoid mortal feelings. What will he do with his growing infatuation with the geneticist Daphne, to whom he is attracted despite the fact that she's a militant atheist who burns crucifixes and hacks the Vatican's website? Like the angel in the Wim Wenders film Wings of Desire, God finds himself considering what it would be like if he experienced life as a human. While Sartori surfs breezily enough on a tide of deep thoughts, the book lacks the sharpness or real sense of risk that would make it resonate. Sartori might also want to reconsider having God say things like, "I have nothing against homosexuals, but if I created men and women, it was for some purpose, if you know what I mean."

Sartori's philosophical fantasy succeeds in getting us to ponder life's big questions from fresh angles but is short on fresh insight.