Victoria Silverwolf
Vegetarian Werewolf
The Whole Man by John Brunner (1964)
This novel tells the life story of a telepath, from birth to maturity. Gerald Howson is born a cripple, the illegitimate child of a terrorist and a woman who became pregnant only in a failed attempt to get the man to marry her. The setting, although not given explicitly, would seem to be London in the near future, when some sort of serious political crisis has caused the United Kingdom to be occupied by United Nations peacekeepers. Among the UN forces are the very rare telepaths, who are vital to keeping order.
Howson grows up with a stunted body, in poverty and without love. It is only after a risky attempt to make himself important by acting as an informer for a local crime boss than he realizes that he has developed powerful telepathy. On the run from the police, he finds a companion in the form of a girl born deaf and dumb, with whom he is able to communicate mentally.
Howson's powerful mental output is detected immediately by the UN, who enlist him in their telepath training program. He eventually becomes a healer of damaged minds. Despite this success, his life feels incomplete. He returns to London in an attempt to become a "whole man."
This is a fine novel, despite a few minor flaws. The story is episodic, probably because parts of it are based on stories published in the late 1950's. One major plot point is the fact that Howson's body cannot be healed surgically, because the part of his brain which controls his healing and body image has been damaged by the extensive growth of the part of his brain which makes him a telepath. Even accepting the premise of telepathy, I found this hard to believe. Overall, however, this is one of the best novels about ESP that I have ever read.
This novel tells the life story of a telepath, from birth to maturity. Gerald Howson is born a cripple, the illegitimate child of a terrorist and a woman who became pregnant only in a failed attempt to get the man to marry her. The setting, although not given explicitly, would seem to be London in the near future, when some sort of serious political crisis has caused the United Kingdom to be occupied by United Nations peacekeepers. Among the UN forces are the very rare telepaths, who are vital to keeping order.
Howson grows up with a stunted body, in poverty and without love. It is only after a risky attempt to make himself important by acting as an informer for a local crime boss than he realizes that he has developed powerful telepathy. On the run from the police, he finds a companion in the form of a girl born deaf and dumb, with whom he is able to communicate mentally.
Howson's powerful mental output is detected immediately by the UN, who enlist him in their telepath training program. He eventually becomes a healer of damaged minds. Despite this success, his life feels incomplete. He returns to London in an attempt to become a "whole man."
This is a fine novel, despite a few minor flaws. The story is episodic, probably because parts of it are based on stories published in the late 1950's. One major plot point is the fact that Howson's body cannot be healed surgically, because the part of his brain which controls his healing and body image has been damaged by the extensive growth of the part of his brain which makes him a telepath. Even accepting the premise of telepathy, I found this hard to believe. Overall, however, this is one of the best novels about ESP that I have ever read.
