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HomeShop at BookSurgeFictionBiographicalBobby the Divine: The Incredible Strangeness of Awakening |
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Fascinating. This took a lot of work to compose. Oct 23, 2008
I'm not a qualified reviewer. I am a medical scientist, not a literature expert. I restrict myself to two non-scientific books per year. Nevertheless, I am compelled to write a review of Bobby the Devine, due to my friendship with the author. I lost track of Wolfgang Behrens for the past 20 years, but for the 15 years before that 20 year span, I was privileged to work and socialize with Behrens.
Behrens is a most fascinating man. I think he was born to savor as many aspects of human existence as possible: riches and poverty, materialism and spirituality, and polarities of sexuality. Behrens is a kind, intelligent, gentle person, only being firm when justice demands being so or when another's well being needs a firm hand. He is generous to a fault. He is both modest and sophisticated. He has a universal accent when he wishes to use it.
Being practically illiterate in my aptitude to access literary works, I can only say with confidence that I enjoyed reading his book. It is a story of a life and of self-discovery.
I found the shifts from the third person storytelling to the `back and forth' asides between Behrens and Bobby to be startling (I have never seen that done). It offered Behrens an opportunity to comment upon the narrative and teach the reader principles as only Behrens can. As I continued to read, I became less startled and more comfortable with the changes in presentation style. I even began to anticipate what would come next.
To me, at some late point the story, everything exploded into uncountable fractional pieces, emotions, experiences and observations that moved away from their interconnectedness omni-directionally like supernova. And just when I thought that I couldn't possibly get my mind around Behrens and Bobby's life and this complex story, Behrens brought it all to a satisfying and understandable conclusion that reminded me of Voltaire's Candide ending, "Just work in the garden." The suddenness of the book's conclusion reminded me of the feeling I get when a super concentrated solution suddenly forms beautiful crystals upon scratching the inside of the beaker with a glass rod. It wasn't too abrupt. It was right. I felt contented.
Even though I am boring and conventional to a fault, and am, in so many ways, the opposite of my friend Behrens, I found this complex and unusual book strange, wonderful and enjoyable. For my reading effort I felt reconnected with my dear old friend and perhaps myself. As far as my opinion is concerned, I give Behrens an A+ for his achievement.
1 of 2 found the following review helpful:
Awesome story--funny, tragic, fascinating Sep 03, 2008
Gender Identity and Madness in the Nineteenth-Century Novel (Distinguished Dissertations)Recommended link.
This awesome biography of a spiritual journey of a troubled sometimes gay man is told by his identical twin brother. Many aspects of Bobby's life are explored in context of mysticism, Thornton Wilder, Evelyn Waugh, Jekyll and Hyde, The Invisible Man, court trials, metaphorical stories, and many other fascinating materials.
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