All of us from time to time wish for Godlike powers that would enable us to escape toil or tribulation . . . or even painful embarrassment. Robert Burns’ To A Louse springs to mind: “Ah wad some pow’r the giftie gie us to see ourselves as ithers see us . . .”
Well thanks to Steve LeBel, a first-time novelist, I’ve gained both comic and cosmic insight into what it actually might be like to have god-like powers.
And, thanks to the hassle, I’m not so sure I’ll wish for such powers again.
Yes, there’ve been forgettable films such as “Oh, God” or “Bruce Almighty,” But LeBel, a first-time writer, has done a delightful job of portraying a god, a fumbling beginner. Bernie is a fresh graduate and a probie whose first task is to create a universe.
He has an enemy and doesn’t know it. And he has an ally, this chick that digs him, but he doesn’t have the sense to know that either.
See, Bernie’s a nerd of a god, so terribly earnest he forgets to tie his shoes, comb his hair or button all his buttons.
He’s also fundamentally decent, too decent in fact by community standards, and that’s the wellspring of Bernie and the Putty’s conflict and droll resolution.
J. Scott Payne, Author of A Corporal No More
