Review: Exciting, gripping feelgood book
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 05 13, 2013
Imagine a world where delicate, tiny, kind hearted women can crush concrete in their fingers, then pulverise several huge bad guys without missing a beat, and even fly through the air like superman.  It sounds a strange scenario, but Gary Henry has achieved this convincingly in his excellent book American Goddesses.  The book is a celebration of the victory of good over evil, and there are plenty of side issues, not least the Goddess women's personal lives, their husbands and boyfriends, their personal problems, relationships, life in Soviet Russia, the manipulation of the essential 'goodness' of the powerful women by unscrupulous forces, as well as the possibilities of psychic transportation.It's a feelgood book in the best sense, in that there are lovely heroines you can like, and who, unfettered by any kind of physical weakness, can literally do anything they like, but, because they are basically kind well intentioned individuals, they never abuse their power.  If the idea of bad men beating up and abusing women just because they're stronger makes you angry, then this is a book for you.  If you're intrigued by the idea of a sexy, interesting and likeable women who care about painting their nails, yet can bash a bad man's head through the wall without blinking, you'll also love it.  It's clear that Gary Henry appreciates the intuitive kindness and decency of women, likes them, and posits the interesting idea that this goodness should be magnified and harnessed in a positive way for the benefit of mankind, by giving them superlative physical powers.  I'd say that this book would appeal equally to men and to women.American Goddesses is a brave book, advancing pretty drastic ideas that might seem hard to get away with, but Gary has a skill of making the unbelievable believable in a very entertaining way.  Also, it isn't just 'American' Goddesses: these magnificent ladies of power are also all over the globe, rescuing countless people from amazing disasters: the British one is a lovable cockney from London.  The book tackles some pretty deep questions, such as if you had ultimate physical power to do anything in the world you wanted to, would you necessarily use that power for good?  Or would you be tempted to use it for evil?Like all good books you wonder how it would go on after the last page.  Would the Goddesses have a few rogues amongst them, who committed terrible carnage just for the fun of it, or for personal gain?  Would there be huge battles between Goddesses who decided they hated each other?  What if men within a generation, lost the will to be physically stronger than women, and became like worker bees, subservient to the dominant female in a matriarchal society, where they no longer matter?  A brave new World?  Or a bit of a nightmare?Gary Henry has lit a fire of possibilities, and it just goes on burning in your imagination.  Read this book - it'll really make you think in a whole new way.  What's more it's a lot of fun, and a good entertaining read.