Mr g

A Novel about the Creation

By: Alan Lightman

Narrated by: Ray Porter

Length: 4 hrs and 52 mins

Publisher's summary

With echoes of Calvino, Rushdie, and Saramago, this is a stunningly imaginative work that celebrates the tragic and joyous nature of existence on the grandest possible scale.

“As I remember, I had just woken up from a nap when I decided to create the universe.” So begins Alan Lightman’s playful and profound new novel, Mr. g, the story of Creation as narrated by God. Bored with living in the shimmering Void with his bickering Uncle Deva and Aunt Penelope, Mr. g creates time, space, and matter - then moves on to stars, planets, consciousness, and finally intelligent beings with moral dilemmas.

But even the best-laid plans can go awry, and Mr. g discovers that with his creation of space and time come unforeseen consequences - especially in the form of the mysterious Belhor, a clever and devious rival. An intellectual equal to Mr. g, Belhor delights in provocation: he demands an explanation for the inexplicable, requests that intelligent creatures not be subject to rational laws, and maintains the necessity of evil. As Mr. g watches his favorite universe grow into maturity, he begins to understand how the act of creation can change the Creator himself.

©2012 Alan Lightman (P)2012 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Critic reviews

“Here is the creation of the universe and the young creator who grapples with what he has made - and ultimately with responsibility and loss…A gem of a novel that is strange, witty, erudite, and alive with Lightman’s playful genius.” (Junot Díaz, New York Times best-selling author)

A one of a kind book

A unique book highly original and fanciful The author's imaginings about the meaning and value of life and existence. The creator describes the creation of the universe.

Damian Owls

A poignant piece of poetry, penned through physics and philosophy. Lightman gifts us with a glimpse of the immortal, the story of Mr. G creating Time, then Space, then Matter, and how the resulting baby Universe grows up, grows old, and dies. Aalam-104729, the name of this, our, Cosmos, becomes the focal point for Lightman's excursions into cosmology, ethics, relativism, and even the nature of consciousness, fueling the thought-provoking discussions between Mr. G and the pantheon of immortals that reside in the eternal Void. Clever, witty, and at times heart movingly sad, this is a book you'll go back to again and again to digest, bit by bit, Lightman's beautiful prose.

10000th Prime Number- a Universe only divisible by itself.

I’m currently still processing this book but as it is fresh in my head, I want to share my thoughts.
The author, Alan Lightman, has successfully described what “the void” and the “creation of the universe” could possibly be described as. With his way of hand selecting descriptions as they form together in My head, I have a good image of this dazzling picture.
I loved the book, a must read and I will reread this very soon as it is beautifully written. It almost jerked me to tears.

Pointless

The story is neither science nor fiction. Gods in this book are plain and unimaginative and humans are even more so.

If you like silly, you'll like this.

What would have made Mr g better?

Write about something else.

How did the narrator detract from the book?

The narrator did an admirable job with so little to work with.

Any additional comments?

Listen to this if you can get it for free.

Might work as a children's book

I was rather disappointed in this book. The concept seems to be the creation of the universe - though not necessarily ours - by a creator. It is written in what I'd consider a simplistic style, and to my mind was designed to possibly reconcile the controversy between creationism and evolution. It allows for both, but it doesn't work for me.

I found too many internal inconsistencies that wore on me. Maybe I'm just too analytical, but without time, I have to wonder how there ccould be "elders." Without substance, I have to wonder how once matter is created, it can be used by the inhabitants of "the void," where nothing actually exists. Yet those inhabitants are able to see and hear and interact with the other inhabitants of the void (then maybe it's NOT a void, because discrete beings DO inhabit it), as well as solid matter.

I didn't like the folksy interaction of inhabitants of the void, and found the dialog childish and tedious. And the repetitive counting of time got pretty old and very annoying pretty fast for me.

There was only one short segment of the book where relativity - the existence of good only in relationship to bad, for example - made part of the book interesting. Otherwise, unless I missed it, I didn't find anything in the story that had anything to say, or made the listen worthwhile at all.

If you have a hard time accepting evolution vs. creationism, maybe this book will give you a context within which to consider both as peacefully coexisting. But even there, I'm not sure it has a lot to say of any real substance.

Found it childish. Not one of my favored reads, I'm afraid.

I daydreamed all of the way through it....

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

If they book had followed the creations more. Just hearing the Creator talking with his annoying Aunt and Belhor was boring. I also found it very repetative. Way too much description at times. I just could not keep my mind on it!

Would you ever listen to anything by Alan Lightman again?

Probably not.

What aspect of Ray Porter’s performance would you have changed?

He was fine. He did the best he could with what he was given.

What character would you cut from Mr g?

The Aunt was insufferable.