God Game

by Andrew M. Greeley

In God Game, Father Greeley takes a new and fascinating twist on an old What if you really could play God? This is the dilemma that faces our hero, who quickly finds that being given the kingdom, the power, and the glory is dangerousand addictive. The troubles of the people he sees flashing on his computer screen are all too realand his troubles are just beginning.

Genres: Fantasy, Science Fiction, Fiction, Mystery, Romance, Religion, Science Fiction Fantasy

Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1986

About the author

Andrew Greeley was a Roman Catholic priest, sociologist, journalist, and author of 50 best-selling novels and more than 100 works of nonfiction. For decades, Greeley entertained readers with such popular characters as the mystery-solving priest Blackie Ryan and the fey, amateur sleuth Nuala Anne McGrail. His books typically center on Irish-American Roman Catholics living or working in Chicago.

http://us.macmillan.com/author/andrew...

Reviews

[James Hogan · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book had a super fun premise. A man is playing a computer game and soon discovers his characters may be more real than he first suspected. The protagonist is playing God in these peoples' lives and what does that mean? There are some heavy philosophical questions that can be considered here, and the author to his credit, does attempt to engage with these questions of the power of God, free will, grace, etc. Sadly, the execution is a bit lacking. Honestly, I just didn't enjoy this book all that much and so I hesitate to even write a long review of this book. Some of the ideas spark, yet I really just had a bad taste in my mouth when I finished this book. Majority of that probably had to do with the narrator (who yes, I can fully admit is separate from the author - as the author took such pains to point out!). I didn't like how the narrator thought about women. I didn't like how the narrator thought about God. Frankly I just didn't appreciate being in the narrator's head at all. It wasn't a pleasant experience. He was pretentious, proud and uncomfortable to be around. The story was half-decent, but the narrator's rambling and full-of-himself writing style was just too much. Would not recommend.

[kari · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is my favorite book from one of my favorite authors. I've read most of Andrew Greeley's fiction as you can see from my book list.
This story is unique, I've never read one like it.
The narrator, while trying to hook up his computer during a thunderstorm, somehow in a lightning strike, on his screen he can view another world, a world in which he is God. This sounds very religious but it isn't. It's more about what it's like to be God, how even though he is telling a person what he wants them to do, because they have free will, they will not neccessarily do it. There is romance, action, humor and great story-telling as always with one of Greeley's books.
A very satisfying and thought-provoking read.

[Linda Branham · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is not your typical Andrew Greeley mystery.
In this book Greeley presents us with the unusual scenario of a priest (not unlike the author) spending an evening playing a computer adventure game. His home is struck by lightening, something is scrambled, and suddenly the images on his screen are real -- and the real characters think that he is God. The lives of the people are dependent on his ability to control their actions. Which is not an easy task, because of that little thing called free-will. He tries to convince them to stop fighting and behave nicely to each other, but because they are human they do not always follow advice. So our hero learns a great deal more of what God's role in our lives could really be.
Quiet an interesting approach. Sci-fi with a philosophical bent

[Kaytlyn Keshick · Rating 3 out of 5]

The fantasy aspect was intricate with fun characters . Some of the characters felt a little left behind , wish I would have seen more of them . I couldn't picture some of the characters very well. The amount of words that I didn't know when I opened this book was astounding. I liked learning new words but it did slow me down considerably. He probably didn't have to try so hard . I liked the overall dynamic he played with the main character and the game. Rest in Peace Andrew. Thanks for brightening up some of my days !

[Xavier Fitzgerald · Rating 2 out of 5]

Using the occasional she/her pronouns when referring to god won't make me let the vile misogynistic tone and language of this book slide.

Very frustrating as the plot and themes of the book are good but is completely held back by any time the author mentions a female character.

I reckon this could be adapted into a banger screenplay with a few overhauls

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this many years ago. I was involved in selling computers and computer games. I didn't realize how close to what we can do now technology wise, Greeley was. If nothing else I will remember how trying to do good can lead to bad results, and how deep certain religious concepts can be. While I enjoyed the book, I don't know if I could recommend it without warnings. There are very dark spots that will bother people now. I also can see how it could be done differently and still get the points across. This is totally out of Father Greeley's normal output that I don't know if it really had much of a chance.
If you are ok with knowing that bad things can happen, I would recommend reading the book.

[Lynne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book. If Father Greeley had left out the references to specific computer technology, it could have occurred in today's world as easily as in the 1980s. I really enjoyed the story within a story within a story framework, and the 1st person point of view of the narrator, really both narrators, is entertaining even as it introduces unreliability. I accepted that the narrator was the author until the "Author's Note" intruded, at which point I realized that both the narrator was essentially fictional, even if he somewhat resembled the author, and even the author-narrator who writes the "Author's Note" isn't authentically the author's voice. I enjoyed the thoroughly modern way he slides back and forth between referring to God as He and She, even within the same sentence, expressing the doubt that many of us have that it is appropriate to assume God is male, which is a very animal feature for God to have. I enjoyed the peppermint-candy-adorned ilel, even though I experienced some squick thinking of this priest taking a boatload of teens skiing nearly every day.

[Styleygeek · Rating 1 out of 5]

Horrible. Horrible. Horrible. Every second of this book made me cringe. The plot was stupid, the characters unlikeable, and I could not get past how much I disliked the misogynistic narrator, whom the author, probably deliberately, did not always keep separate from his own voice.

I stopped reading half way through, and a book has to be really awful before I do that.

[Evan Þ. · Rating 4 out of 5]

It turns out there're real people in the new computer game our protagonist's beta-testing, and (within the ill-explained limits of the game) he's playing god to them.

You might think you've seen this before, but this time Protagonist actually thinks about it and philosophizes about it repeatedly at length, with self-aware references to real theology. Like Heinlein rambles about society, Greeley here rambles about theology. The actual plot of the game is forgettable - two enemy duchies are making peace, with a presumed marriage between the principles and some subplots with the other negotiators - but that merely accentuates the main questions of the book as events are governed by character and personal choices rather than by solving a mystery or persevering on a quest.

This book has its flaws - it was written in the 80's, but it reads like 60's sci-fi. But 60's sci-fi can be fun. And, I would've pardoned far more flaws than this because I really like these self-aware theological digressions.

[Adrianne · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really am not too much into fiction, but I really enjoyed reading this book and couldn't put it down. It's an older book so some of the newer generations might not understand the old tech in it, but it's a really good read.

[Aighmi* · Rating 2 out of 5]

Great concept, fascinating insights...ruined by relationships in which strong women become indecisive, giggling dependents & men are wishy-washy, remote, and violent. What a disappointment.

[Peggi Warner-Lalonde · Rating 3 out of 5]

A philosophical fantasy - to be honest, not as enjoyable as I had hoped.

[Marko]

I have the german edition: Der Mann, der Gott spielen durfte

[Patricia Gallant · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this book. The whole concept was amazing for back when it was written, now it's more of a reality in today's computer games world.

[Dudley Stadler · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. It asks a lot of questions which pertain to real life. Shakespeare actually stated something which relates to this story. We are all actors and the world is a stage.

[Michelle H · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not my favorite Greeley book.

[Guy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Good concept worth examining but the narrative style is annoying and immature.
Also very much based on outdated computer technology and makes for tedious reading.

[Jonathan Palfrey · Rating 1 out of 5]

I found the style irritating and the book lazy: it must have been relatively easy to write. Having read it, I resolved to read no more from this author.

[Margo Lynn]

Meh. I finished more because I am stubborn than because it is an enjoyable story - maybe because it is SOOOOO dated.

[Lynn Howard · Rating 2 out of 5]

Disliked this book.

[Diana · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a fun read.

[Mike · Rating 1 out of 5]

I picked up my copy from a used bookstore, so i don't regret buying the book. The fact is it's a fantasy novel from 1987 based on a playtest of a pc game, and of course something goes wrong (or right). The game is a simulation of a world where the player is the god, made me think of Black & White until i read the book. So the technology being talked about is obsolete by today's standards which you can't blame the author for since i knew the story was older, but it does affect the experience if you know anything about computers. But that's not why i gave it one star.

The story is being told to you in the present(1987) by the author, where he talks about how the experience changed his life along with trying to explain what had happened to him, which breaks up the story. You then get parts where he is in the world he inhabits where he is interacting with friends discussing the game with them, you also get the actual story of what is happening in the game world and his interactions with it.

Now that could all work except the timing for the changes from each time break the story at points that make it hard to stay with it. So right when the game world is getting good he starts talking about a conversation he had with someone else or of some new view on life that event has given him. All of this would have been easy to fix by turning this book into fake research or science study paper.

The kicker though is that at times the author will start saying things and commenting on the narrator and what he is saying. So besides the tech being old the author jumped time and space far to much. If the story was being told as it unfurled i think it would have been much better.

If you find a copy I hope you like it. To many voices going on at the same time for me.

[Nev Percy · Rating 3 out of 5]

God Game has enjoyed a high profile on my bookshelves in various homes since I first read it circa 1990, because it was a phenomenon.
Oddly, the impression I had from reading the blurb -- that it was going to be like a game of Populous only with named characters -- lasted more strongly than the actual content of the book once I'd read it.

The actual book uses a science fictional lighting-strike as the device to bring the narrator into a god-like (or God-like) relationship with the Fantasy-ish characters in a game, but there the science fiction and fantasy end.
The book is about the relationship between an author and the characters in his work who take on a life of their own, and how this might relate to a monotheistic God's relationship with His/Her free-willed creations. It's immensely, name-dropfully, erudite in the philosophical and literary spheres (esp. John Fowles for Mantissa and Flann O'Brien (sp?)) and probably just as sophisticated on Christian theology, though it keeps that more under a bushel. It reads affably, albeit with a rather self-indulgent authorial voice, plus interjections from the author that the narrator of this piece of fiction is another character, and not him himself. But with all the thought-provoking reflections and the possibilities that he science-fictionally set up for himself, the actual story he ultimately wrote was itself only so-so.
And the central importance of a Shakespearean fool, cast as a puckish nubile teenage girl often gambolling in a swimsuit, is just discomforting.

[Deb Omnivorous Reader · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this one, I had never heard of the author but it was the nearest thing to science fiction I could find in the Kalgoorlie hospital library.

Very soft core sci-fi, more like fantasy and a little bit clumsy in the writing department. It is a basic retelling of the storyline where a person becomes the “God” of a world through machine intervention (in this case a computer struck by lightning – in the manner of the movie ‘Electric Dreams’). I have read stories dealing with this concept before but the focus has been different, this book focus on the feelings of the ‘god’ who is attempting to make people do ‘the right thing’ and encountering resistance. The feelings of lack of control over his creation are the main focus of the story.

The storyline does suffer from a few stops and starts, as though the author put the manuscript aside for a while before getting back to it, or maybe lost control of the plot for a while. The characters, well, a couple really came to life for me but two of the major characters were somewhat two dimensional and I am still not sure if the author intended that they remain almost prototypes or if it was lack of skill.

Overall the three stars are for the amount I enjoyed the novel, not for the literary level. I am pretty sure that if I had encountered it under other circumstances it would be a two star.

[Johannes Herrmann · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've read this a few times, and will no doubt read it again due to the amusement factor. It's relatively well written, and fans of cross-over series (interactions between out world and fantasy ones) may well enjoy it. It makes quite a few literary references, but since I've never read into deconstructionism they go right over my head.

[Scurra · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's always hard to read a book based around technology which is so clearly dated; you find yourself pausing to consider how silly it sounds today. When I first read it twenty years ago it was a little ahead of the game and still sounded slightly old-fashioned; now it clearly isn't even that!
But in the end that doesn't matter. What matters is whether the story is good, whether the characters are engaging, whether the writing works. And in all of those respects, it is still as good today as it was when I first read it. Sure, it is self-indulgent (which keeps it from a 5-star rating) and some of the plotting is a bit of a stretch, but the conceit is wonderful and the occasional twist catches you by surprise.
It's also a fine meditation on theology - what it might truly mean to be God, what "all-powerful" and "all-knowing" might actually mean, and why those who try to limit God to the size of a human imagination are missing the whole point.

[Anita · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of Greeley's best - but I can say that about several of his novels. The emotional investment of God in each human's life is played out with humor, drama and insight in this novel. Greeley's fascination with teenage girls and their sometimes surprising feminine wisdom is present in this novel as well. I'll be honest, I've never played any sort of computer game like the one in this story - but my daughter has. She loves The Sims, and I've been nagging her to read this book now that she's in her mid-teens. I found the story drew me closer to God in a way that my church had been unable to do. Greeley's descriptions of the computer game are remarkable to me, because what he describes in 1987 has become more and more accurate as these games have improved and progressed. I adore Andrew Greeley, and this book is one of the reasons. I highly recommend it for anyone who enjoys finding spiritual truth in a novel.

[Adrian Brown · Rating 3 out of 5]

Premise of the book is that lightning strikes while someone is playing a computer role playing game and suddenly the game is a portal to another world and the player is now the being called God for this world. Andrew Greeley is a Catholic author so it's a deliberate attempt to draw religious parallels, but it is interesting to consider the interplay between free will and God's commands, as the narrator experiences something similar to what it must be like for God as he deals with us.

Warning: don't give this book to your tech-savvy significant other, as they will laugh their heads off at the computer setup described here. I think this book is probably at least 20 years old.

[Anna · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was written in the 80’s so the technology is outdated, however that doesn’t make it any less of an enjoyable read. The characters are memorable, flawed, and all too ‘real.’ The story does take a twisting and winding way to get to the action, which can make it feel slow. I took breaks from the book, but was always pulled back into its world by the nagging voice in the back of my head that kept wondering about these ‘Sims’ lives.

This is not a book for everyone, but if (like me) you are interested in Sci-Fi, alternate dimensions, and the question of what is real, you might enjoy this read.

[Amy Qualls · Rating 3 out of 5]

Oh, how lusciously dated this book has become, thanks to advancing PC technology. Greeley is a guilty pleasure for me. Never the greatest writer, but always a lovely sentimentalist, I keep coming back to his books even though I really don't understand why. This one I've reread a couple of times and boggled at how quickly his details dated it.

It's cyberpunk written by a priest. It's not quite punky and it's not quite religious. Yet I have a strange affection for it anyway. Perhaps I'm the one that needs medication.