Dave's Reviews > More Than Human

Theodore Sturgeon's "More Than Human" is one of the strangest and, at the same time, most fascinating novels (or group of three connected novellas) that you will read. It is written in beautiful, otherworldly prose that sets it apart in time and space and begins as if it were a narration of an ancient legend. It jumps a bit between plot lines and the reader may have to read some parts, especially in the beginning, more than once. What is amazing about it is that it was written in 1953 and it explored concepts well ahead of its time such as gestalt or group consciousness, communal living, outcasts banding together, people feeling alone because they were different even when the differences were things ordinary people could not do. It is a story of power and absolute power and of loneliness and disconnectedness. Its about adolescent rebellion.

Sturgeon wrote science fiction, but I am not sure if you could consider this to be of that genre. Despite the telekinesis, the mind reading, the hypnotic trances, the body asportations, the flying car, and the baby with a mind like a giant computer, it is not a future world or a parallel universe story, but one of unusual people with unusual abilities. It is about the geniuses who seem odd and don't fit in. It is about people who appear to be monsters because they can't understand human morality.

This book is not an adventure book. It is not a mystery. It is not a life event novel. It is a concept piece, pure and simple, and it is filled with all kinds of concepts and ideas. It is a rich tapestry about a possible leap in human evolution. Murder, assault, suicide, and the like all appear in here, but are merely side notes in the great symphony that Sturgeon conducts.

There are some that may find this hard to read as it is very untraditional in structure and lacks a normal plot development. It simply may not be for everyone.