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A review by aust1nz
Gods Without Men by Hari Kunzru
3.0
I was prepared to really like Gods Without Men, a novel built of interconnected stories focusing on a somewhat mystical Southwestern US desert, but I'm left dissatisfied now that the final chapter has ended.
The novel follows an assorted group of yearners and wishers as their travels bring them to the desert landscape, marked by a set of three buttes, pushing out of the desert. Kunzru's characters are various and compelling, but all searching. We're introduced to a strung-out English rocker, a cult-like group of UFO seekers, 19th century missionaries and -- the novel's biggest narrative -- a frustrated New York couple who are struggling to raise their young autistic son.
As Kunzru rotates through the stories, he builds to a mystery at the heart of his story: his searchers believe they're close to finding God, or UFOs, or a view of the afterlife. In the end, each story, like the book itself, sort of fades away or trickles off, rather than concluding. Kunzru is committed to avoiding a cheesy revelation, but as a reader I'm not quite sure what to bring from the story, other than a tenuous conclusion that seekers rarely find the answers they're looking for in external sources.
The novel follows an assorted group of yearners and wishers as their travels bring them to the desert landscape, marked by a set of three buttes, pushing out of the desert. Kunzru's characters are various and compelling, but all searching. We're introduced to a strung-out English rocker, a cult-like group of UFO seekers, 19th century missionaries and -- the novel's biggest narrative -- a frustrated New York couple who are struggling to raise their young autistic son.
As Kunzru rotates through the stories, he builds to a mystery at the heart of his story: his searchers believe they're close to finding God, or UFOs, or a view of the afterlife. In the end, each story, like the book itself, sort of fades away or trickles off, rather than concluding. Kunzru is committed to avoiding a cheesy revelation, but as a reader I'm not quite sure what to bring from the story, other than a tenuous conclusion that seekers rarely find the answers they're looking for in external sources.