Quién Fuera Dios

by Tibor Fischer

"Intenté ser una persona honrada. Lo intenté durante mucho tiempo..., pero no funcionó", asegura Tyndale Corbett, un agente comercial en paro, cuarentón divorciado y sin dinero que suplanta por unos días a un amigo en una convención de agentes comerciales en Miami. Tras viajar a esta ciudad y salir airoso del encuentro, Tyndale, deslumbrado por los hoteles de lujo, la diversión fácil y unas vagas intuiciones de enriquecimiento rápido, decide acabar con su cochambrosa mediocridad y aspirar alto, muy alto: de hecho, decide ser Dios... o, al menos, tratar de convencer a la ciudad de que lo es. Para ello necesita una parroquia y la encuentra en la Iglesia del Cristo Fuertemente Armado. Pero su apostolado no acaba de cuajar y Tyndale se jugará el todo por el todo con un milagro pasmoso: morirá y resucitará a las pocas horas. Para ello, urde un plan infalible con el empleado de una funeraria; pero ¿acaso existen los planes infalibles?

Genres: Fiction, Modern, Novels, British Literature, Unfinished

289 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2008

About the author

Tibor Fischer is a British novelist and short story writer. In 1993 he was selected by the influential literary magazine Granta as one of the 20 best young British writers.

Fischer's parents were Hungarian basketball players, who fled Hungary in 1956. The bloody 1956 revolution, and his father's background, informed Fischer's debut novel Under the Frog, a Rabelaisian yarn about a Hungarian basketball player surviving Communism. The title is derived from a Hungarian saying, that the worst possible place to be is under a frog's arse down a coal mine.

In 2009 Fischer became the Royal Literary Fund writing fellow at City and Guilds of London Art School.

Reviews

[Baba]

Tyndale Corbett arrives in Miami and sees success and luxury first hand, and despite his terrible entrepreneurial track record, he sets out to make it in Miami. He decides on a religion-based money making scheme, but skips the 'preacher' role and sets out to set himself up as a supreme being. A darkly comedic novel with a lot of clever insights and funny moments and characters, but somewhat lacking in any real coherent direction... maybe purposefully so? 5 out of 12 Three Star effort from my point of view, although reading this review in 2022, makes me want to give this another go. :)

2012 read

[James]

For someone who criticized Martin Amis for recycling old junk Tibor Fischer`s book feels like a rehash of his previous novels. If you enjoyed his previous books like I did this is enjoyable enough. If you are reading this author for the first time than I would recommend his earlier books as much fresher and funnier.

[Melanie Peake]

Excellent book - unusual plot, and unusual characters. Not the kind of book you think it's going to be, more quirky and humorous than synopses might suggest. Quick and easy to read.

[Ray]

I didn't really get into this one. It has streaks of Fischer's unique use of language but not enough to suck me in.

Loser goes to the good ol USA.Joins a church and aspires to be top man. Loses some more.

[Altbaslik]

Öncelikle lafa şuradan başlayabilirim. Konumuzun dinle, diyanetle bir ilgisi bulunmamaktadır. Bazı insanlar vardır, hayattaki olasılık teorilerine meydan okurlar. Her 36 zar atışımızdan birinde düşeş atmayı bekleriz ya, bazı insanlar 360 kere denerler, bi düşeş bulduramazlar. Kahramanımız bu çeşit bir insan evladı. Olasılık teorisine geri dönersek, düşeşi 361. denemede tutturmayacağın ne malum? Kitabın konusu tam da bununla ilgili. Başkasının pasaportu ile, başkasının işlerini yapmak için Miami’ye yerleşip, orada her türlü pislik işe bulaşan bir avantüristin hikayesi. - Devamı için: http://altbaslik.com/#sthash.9uk0hhgk...

[Essie]

A truly engaging book about an average man known as a professional failure who is on the search for success and decides to take the identity of his friend who is handcuff salesman. He takes a trip to Miami only to discover the wonderful sordid world of money, coke, Guns, violence, sex, girls and...... GOD? Very humorous!

[Marc Nash]

Video review https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sX_nt...

[Jason Edwards]

If you’ve seen the movie Slacker then you know it’s not about a bunch of lazy people sitting around in puddles of their own apathy; everyone in the film is more or less actively engaged in some pursuit or interest. Maybe none of them are trying to cure cancer, but the film’s title forces you to reconsider the context of your assumptions. I only mention this after meditating on the title of Tibor Fischer’s Good to be God for a week after reading it.

Tyndale Corbett decides, after giving up on hope, to become God. Fair enough; it’s as good a scam as any, and not unprecedented: Buddha didn’t just wake up one day to enlightenment, but had to suffer from some extremes before he deduced that extremisms just wasn’t where it was at. But what kind of God will Tyndale become? What is his understanding of God?

That’s what this book is about: taking a fish out of water (dirty polluted water) and seeing how it flops. Tyndale flops just fine, and finally discovers his true God-given gift: the gift of failure. It’s mediocrity, that curse of the middle class, taken to the extreme. Tyndale is no Job, suffering, nor is he a Christ figure, self-sacrificing. He’s almost, but not quite, a cooler, a guy who’s very good at making sure nothing very good ever happens.

And that’s Godlike, if your God is a God of mediocrity, middle-class hopelessness. What would the God of faithlessness be like? Tyndale is surrounded by slackers (in the sense of the film I mentioned above), apostles and witnesses to his ascension through inertia.

And (here’s the review part, finally) it’s all told via Fischer’s wit, his flowing style, his playfulness with the written word that at times keeps you guessing (was that really a monkey spinning discs) and other times punches you right in your soul. He gives you enough stuff that you can read into the story if you want and hang symbols all over the place; or if you just want to read a mildly amusing tale about a fat Britisher living in Miami, there’s that too.

Too often rich people say money isn’t everything, or beautiful people say beauty is only skin deep. A middle-class guy telling us that struggling for happiness is depressing can come across as “don’t know how good you got it.” But feeling sorry for oneself, here, is balanced by just the right amount of thankfulness. Angels can have tattoos too, you see.

[Danni The Girl]

I found this in a charity shop, saw it had a low rating on GoodReads but thought I would give it a second chance. It started off interesting and then I just lost the thread for this. When he went to….. wherever it was he went, Florida? I just lost my thread of the story, and it didn’t flow like I thought it might. It didn’t reel me in, it didn’t have a gradual build up like I thought it would, just didn’t flow how I thought it would. Not for me thanks

[Diego Narvaez]

Lo mejor de este libro es el sarcasmo y la ironía con los que el autor trata temas que a todos nos atañen como: el amor, la suerte, la muerte, la inseguridad, la sociedad de consumo, la amistad y la religión. Además, me identifico con muchos de los planteamientos que hace, que pese al tono jocoso son muy profundos. Por ejemplo este par: “cuando alguien te llama amigo es precisamente porque no es tu amigo, sino un sujeto que te está timando, o te va a timar, o a quitarte de en medio”. “Uno siempre se pregunta por esos caminos que nunca llegó a tomar. ¿Qué habría pasado si...? Pero ahora me consuelo pensando que seguramente esos caminos serían tan desastrosos como los que acabe tomando”.
Un libro interesante, lleno de humor, cuyo protagonista es tan común y tan humano que es imposible dejar de identificarse con él de una u otra forma...

[Thevioletmaniac]

Мне безумно понравилось как Фишер рассказывает читателю историю. Как будто он сидит перед тобой в кафе и рассказывает тебе непринужденно на понятном языке одну большую историю с десятками маленьких. Сюжет ни капельки не сложный, нет каких-то резких внезапных событий, но это не делает книгу плохой, а даже наоборот. Единственный минус абсолютной всей истории - абсолютно не верится, что человек, описанный в начале книги как неудачник, серый человек из толпы без возможностей и без воли, умудряется так легко слинять в другую страну и ему так легко и с такой уверенностью удается делать то, что он делает.

А еще после прочтения ко мне привязалось слово "слямзить". Заслуга не Фишера, а, скорее всего, переводчика, но всё же.

Не в любимые, но 5/5.

[Akeiisa]

What the book jacket suggested this story is: a down on his luck Englishman steals an identity and decides to pretend to be God in order to make lots of money. In the process of convincing people in Miami he's God, hilarity ensues.

What it really is: a down on his luck Englishman borrows a friends identity to get away from his woes and decides to make a fresh start in Miami. Part of this fresh start includes conning people into believing he's God, except he doesn't really try that hard. He spends the bulk of his time running around Miami meeting "interesting" people, having a series of close calls, complaining about an "embarrassing medical condition" which is never described, and none of it is really funny.

[Tom]

What an utterly JOYOUS book. Sort of about a man with a midlife crisis, a discovery that his entire life (and for that matter, everything that has ever happened in the world) has been completely pointless, who then accepts that, and rolls with it.

And the book becomes a hymn of praise to the awesome power of BAD LUCK.

Like so much of Tibor Fischer, the characters are endlessly readable (my favourites in this one the two utterly inept criminal DJs who think they are being tested for a major crime organisation), and some of the scenes and the one-liners laugh-out-loud funny.

I do hope that hasn't included any spoilers. Just go with the joy.

[Simon Clare]

The most boring contemporary novel I have ever read. Nothing happens except a sequence of scenes that exist solely so that the author can flex his "quirky character" muscle. I got about two thirds of the way through before I realised that all this background stuff, all these inconsequential scenes, were going nowhere.

With some authors, you want them to introduce more and more minor characters as you just love hearing them described, but in this book the descriptions were so flat and devoid of spark that I found the whole thing irritating and tedious. A chore.

[James Ward]

This was my first Tibor Fischer. It was an easy read, humerous characters and sharp observations along the way. Hard to be very interested in the slightly meandering plot development. I'd be tempted to read some of his others.

[Adrian]

I really like his narrative style - it has a (rather worrying) familiarity to it.
The only downside I have with all his stuff is that the first book of his that I read was The Thought Gang - and that was so good it makes everything else seem a bit weak by comparison - but it's still a good book.

[Jason]

BPT got this from the Princeton library, and, since it doesn't seem to have been published in the US, I took the opportunity to read it. It doesn't really go anywhere, but it has a great character and some comic semi-profound recurring catchphrases. Mostly a train-read.

[Mairi Cameron]

It was really nice to read a book that was simply a story, a passage of time in one man's life, albeit a slightly odd, unusual life! It's years since I read Tibor Fischer, glad to have found him again!

[Andy Payne]

Utterly magnificent.

Extraordinary wisdom, conveyed through the sharpest wit, topped off with the greatest punchline since Catch-22. Reminded me of The Sellout. My book of the year so far...

[GooseReadsBooks]

Fisher's book is surreal, imaginative and very funny. Tynedale experiences a midlife crisis that compels him to have a go at being god. Over the course of the story we are introduced to a wide array of characters in Miami.

The book shines best in it's humour, Fischer has packed many great observations or scenarios that are sure to elicit a chuckle. I also think that the characters are eccentric but not completely unrelatable. There are some really human moments in the book and Fischer should be commended for that.

I found that the plot was okay, I had bought the book hoping the story might go a bit further and explore cults, rather it is a reflection on a wide variety of topics. This is an excellent read for anyone looking for a witty and sharp book.

[Marcos]

Francamente, decepcionante. Es una disertación infinita y sin objetivo concreta en formato monocapítulo sobre un tipo bastante tonto y poco gracioso. En una pretendida senda de JK Toole, el libro narra las pericipecias de un fracasado de la vida, gafe, calvo y feo que emigra a Miami con un pasaporte falso. Allí decide, tras estar sumido en el aburrimiento, que quiere hacerse dios para que le veneren. Si bien se dan algunos episodios rocambolescos, lo cierto es que lo único que llama positivamente la atención es la traducción. El libro es un poco frustrante. Quiere pero no logra ser el libro que quiso ser.

[Rick]

Years ago, Tibor Fischer wrote what I consider to be one of the funniest books I have ever read 'The Thought Gang'. I would strongly encourage you to find yourself a copy of that and laugh the hours away. This latest bit though, I'm afraid to say does not measure up to that high standard, despite having a brilliant idea to hang it on. It just seems very much mean spirited and sort of nasty, and that's coming from a crusty old misanthrope like myself.

[Eren]

Kitabın konusu çok sıradandı,anlatım oldukça sıkıcı ve karışıktı.Asıl konuya sadece sonlarda yoğunlaşmak ne derece akıllıcaydı bilmiyorum ama kitabı okurken tek bir dakikam bile sıkılmadan geçmedi.Bu sene içinde okuduğum en kötü kitaptı. İlk ve son 5-6 sayfası dışında hiçbir şekilde önermediğim bir kitap. Zaman kaybıydı benim için.

[Alice]

A book about a guy named Tyndale who’s trying to escape his life in the UK, going to the USA pretending to be a friend and then stays on. He joins a church which he is in charge of while the Hierophant is away, pretending to be God. He gets mixed up in criminal activities. It was ok, but not the most gripping book I’ve read. I laughed a few times.

[Roksana]

Honestly, the only good thing about this book was the writing style. Both the plot (boring) and the views of the character (although here you could argue they were purposefully unagreeable) weren’t worth the read.

[Alex Clare]

If I wanted to be pretentious, I'd call it picaresque. It's a stream of consciousness, with no point or destination and you go with the flow.

[Ashli Hughes]

Really couldn't get into this book.

[Luis Villa]

Una forma de vida , crear una iglesia, tal como
los grupos de AA

[Henry]

Finished this the other week. Funny book. Was like reading a GTA campaign mission.

[Helen the Bassist]

"When I was growing up I had many dreams but I never had one where I was sitting in an ailing church, vainly trying to be mistaken for God, surrounded by stacks of firearms while an oxygen thief crushes a scorpion with his backside in an attempt to be recruited by a non-existent multinational criminal organisation".

Yep. This book is that weird...and more so. I liked Tyndale and Dishonest Dave and I liked this book. 3 5*