Rating: 
Summary: What Rodin's "Thinker" is contemplating at the gates of hell
Review: One particular line from Nabokov's "Despair" comes to mind when I think about the Unfortunate Dr. Kassler, J.S.P.S.: "...and my will lay limp in an empty world..." This book will snuggle up into your psyche like a warm wet puppy and remain loyal all your miserable twisted life long. It is "A Confederacy of Dunces" or the "Hitchhiker's Guide" had they been written by Vonnegut. The characters are so well defined and so incredibly diverse that one feels increasingly guilty for prying into their long spirals down. If you don't know the basic plot, let me spill just enough to entice: a clinically psychotic (read, "absentminded") scientist dreams he's literally inside Einstein's brain mapping every synapse and neural connection. Upon awakening, he realizes that he can build a computer to match those pathways and when he finishes, he turns it on and says, "Hello. I'm Leo Szlyck." The machine answers, "Hello. I'm Satan." You will not be dissapointed with this book and if you were, then you've made it all the easier for me not to invite you to a party; I spurn you as I would spurn a rabid dog. Any author who can consistently top each successive massive character "pathos deconstruction" from chapter to chapter as Leven does throughout this remarkable book and still deliver an ending you couldn't possibly have guessed in your wildest hyperbole, deserves more kudoes than kudoes can bear. Buy this book and suggest it to others and DEMAND that they print a new version.
Rating:
Summary: Sympathy for the Devil
Review: Rarely does a comic novel so deftly epitomize the cultural tendencies of an age like "Satan" does. The back cover to my copy makes that horrible mistake of writing "If you liked Garp and Rabbit, you'll love...." But even such well-intended literary comparisons don't do Leven's book justice. Original in its playful satire of psychotherapy and its supposed cure-all for human (mis)behavior, "Satan" is a hearty chuckle at mankind's interminable need to dose all the trouble in the world with a panacea of Absolute Truth. And indeed, the delicious bait in this novel is that ever-elusive answer to the "meaning of it all" as offered by the Devil--our first and most lasting scapegoat for evil, misfortune and misery.Definitely a philosophy/worldview-changer like Kundera or Pirsig at their best....
Rating:
Summary: Sympathy for the Devil
Review: Rarely does a comic novel so deftly epitomize the cultural tendencies of an age like "Satan" does. The back cover to my copy makes that horrible mistake of writing "If you liked Garp and Rabbit, you'll love...." But even such well-intended literary comparisons don't do Leven's book justice. Original in its playful satire of psychotherapy and its supposed cure-all for human (mis)behavior, "Satan" is a hearty chuckle at mankind's interminable need to dose all the trouble in the world with a panacea of Absolute Truth. And indeed, the delicious bait in this novel is that ever-elusive answer to the "meaning of it all" as offered by the Devil--our first and most lasting scapegoat for evil, misfortune and misery. Definitely a philosophy/worldview-changer like Kundera or Pirsig at their best....
Rating: 
Summary: Scratch one night's worth of sleep.
Review: So there I was, browsing through some old paperbacks at a yard sale, and I spy an extremely beat-up looking one, sans cover no less, with an outlandish title and quite a bit of praise on the front cover. Calling it the best twenty-five cents I ever spent at a yard sale would be, ah, damning with faint praise. I foolishly opened it that night as I was going to bed. Several hours later the sun was rising and I was churning through the last few precious pages. Mind you, it's not quite so sui generis as some of the more effusive praise here makes it out to be, and bits of it are already starting to show their age a bit. And the ending will be a bit of a letdown to anybody who slogged through Sartre in their undergraduate haze. But gods, what a ride to get there.
Rating:
Summary: Clever, Intelligent, Original and Very Funny
Review: This book is a blend of computers, Florence,, religion, sex, Albert Einstein and pyschology (and that's just Chapter One) that is not only highly original, but very entertaining. I rarely re-read a book, but I've often thought about this book since I first read it about 15 years. The hardcover is long out of print so I was glad to find this recent paperback.
Most "humourous" books are only amusing, but this one is actually humorous. In fact, this is a very funny book. It is also very clever.
Rating:
Summary: Diamond in the Rough
Review: This book is a true gem! Leven's indictment of the history of religion, morality, and the contentious practice of psychotherapy is incisive, original, and utterly engrossing. "Satan" reads with the urgency of attention of a great mystery novel, the humor of a piercing satire, and the depth of veracity the likes of which the objects of its examination could only hope to approximate. Why this book is not more well-known is beyond me, but, suffice to say, I cannot recommend it more highly.
Rating:
Summary: Leven defies words
Review: This book should be required reading in higher education Literature dourses. Right after Dante and Milton, leven has his niche. Nothing more can be said to further the value of this book.
Rating: 
Summary: Pretty Good In A 1970s Guy Kinda Way
Review: This book was interesting in that it was unusual. The female characters were very unsympathetic and dull, but there are many amusing and deep moments if you don't mind channeling your entire experience through guys.
Rating:
Summary: Sex, psychology, everything!
Review: This is a modern version of The Book of Job, except for the fact that it is funny as hell. If I were to recommend a book that mixed humour with intellectual dialogues and a marvellous plot, the book of choice would definitely be "Satan". Another similar, but not as sexy and witty, text is Luke Rhineheart's "The Dice Man". Those who like "The Dice man" will love "Satan". I've read it three times, and I will read it again.
Rating:
Summary: A weird, intense, compelling novel
Review: This is a weird, intense, and compelling novel. One of my absolute favorites. I'm sure SATAN will be back in print sooner or later. I see there are already many laudatory reviews here, so I'll just add two facts: First, the book is dedicated to "those who lack the freedom to choose their own suffering". Second, this comment by the great Robert Heinlein: "SATAN is terrific! I could not put it down. However, Jeremy Leven will be lynched if they ever catch him."
|
