The Astrological Diary of God Book

A review should summarise and evaluate: give the potential reader a sense of what the book is about and whether it is any good. The Astrological Diary of God baffles both these modest aims. To say that it is about an enormously overweight Japanese ex- Kamikaze fighter pilot who believes himself to be the Supreme Being and who has founded a new religion based on astrology--a character who is kept under lock and key by the American Government in Fort Knox and put on trial for the "murder of time"--to say this does not convey one tenth of the riches of this hilarious, philosophical and deeply strange book. Evaluation is difficult too: for stretches Fowler does achieve something of the superb brain-burned intensity of his mentor, Kurt Vonnegut (and in particular Vonnegut's brilliant Breakfast of Champions which this novel most closely resembles). Just as often, though, the mixture of spaced-out prose, astrological diagrams, drawings and photographs (including a striking picture of the genitalia of God, a picture which turns out to be something else by the end) can leave the reader not quite knowing how to react. This novel is challenging, strange, funny and extremely readable. Fiction doesn't come much hipper. --Adam RobertsRead More