What do you think?
Rate this book
Touched
Intergalactic visions, deadly threats, and explosive standoffs between mostly good and nearly completely evil converge in an alternative fiction novel that could only be conceived by the inimitable Walter Mosley, one of the country’s most beloved and acclaimed writers
Martin Just wakes up one morning after what feels like, and might actually be, a centuries-long sleep with two new innate pieces of knowledge: Humanity is a virus destined to destroy all existence. And that he is the Cure.
Martin, his wife, and his two children are the only Black family on their neighborhood block in the Hollywood hills of Los Angeles. Suddenly, Martin is both father and Antibody, husband and Cure, occasionally slipping into an alternate consciousness – equipped with unprecedented physical strength – to violently defend them.
The family is stalked by Tor Waxman – the pale, white-haired embodiment of death who wears a dapper suit, carries a cane, and seeks to destroy all life with his fatal touch. Martin must convince his family of the danger and get them to engage with him in a battle beyond all imagining. Mosley effortlessly marries the sublime and the pedestrian: from monumental battles with truly universal stakes to the banality of standoffs with neighborhood police patrols, and the quotidian yet joyfully intimate conversations the family shares at home while gathered for dinner.
With his boundless talent and skilled range, Walter Mosley brings an ethereal, incisive look at a primal struggle driven by the spirit of the universe, in the vein of masters Octavia Butler, N.K. Jemisin, and Jeff VanderMeer. Expansive and innovative, sexy and satirical, Touched brilliantly imagines the ways in which human life and technological innovation threaten existence itself.
Martin Just wakes up one morning after what feels like, and might actually be, a centuries-long sleep with two new innate pieces of knowledge: Humanity is a virus destined to destroy all existence. And that he is the Cure.
Martin, his wife, and his two children are the only Black family on their neighborhood block in the Hollywood hills of Los Angeles. Suddenly, Martin is both father and Antibody, husband and Cure, occasionally slipping into an alternate consciousness – equipped with unprecedented physical strength – to violently defend them.
The family is stalked by Tor Waxman – the pale, white-haired embodiment of death who wears a dapper suit, carries a cane, and seeks to destroy all life with his fatal touch. Martin must convince his family of the danger and get them to engage with him in a battle beyond all imagining. Mosley effortlessly marries the sublime and the pedestrian: from monumental battles with truly universal stakes to the banality of standoffs with neighborhood police patrols, and the quotidian yet joyfully intimate conversations the family shares at home while gathered for dinner.
With his boundless talent and skilled range, Walter Mosley brings an ethereal, incisive look at a primal struggle driven by the spirit of the universe, in the vein of masters Octavia Butler, N.K. Jemisin, and Jeff VanderMeer. Expansive and innovative, sexy and satirical, Touched brilliantly imagines the ways in which human life and technological innovation threaten existence itself.
105 pages, Kindle Edition
First published October 10, 2023
About the author
Walter Mosley
168 books3,578 followersWalter Mosley (b. 1952) is the author of the bestselling mystery series featuring Easy Rawlins, as well as numerous other works, from literary fiction and science fiction to a young adult novel and political monographs. His short fiction has been widely published, and his nonfiction has appeared in the New York Times Magazine and the Nation, among other publications. Mosley is the winner of numerous awards, including an O. Henry Award, the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award, a Grammy, and PEN America’s Lifetime Achievement Award. He lives in New York City.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 227 reviews
September 15, 2023
Reading this novel was like I'm sitting in the lobby of the only downtown luxury hotel in a second-tier city, like Cleveland or San Jose, and an internationally famous jazz pianist--I'm thinking Herbie Hancock, myself, but you may have another internationally famous jazz pianist in mind, and that's quite ok with me--happens to sit down at the baby grand over there, pushed into a corner, and he begins to riff, casually, magnificently, and seven minutes later he stands up and then walks on.
February 4, 2024
One of the strangest books I’ve read in quite a while!
Martin Just awakes one morning feeling like he’s been asleep for a hundred years. Wondering naked on to his balcony, he quickly finds himself accosted by police. Martin is a black man living in the affluent Hollywood hills of Los Angeles - is he being picked out, victimised? Worse is to come, as he’s thrown into a cell to be joined sometime later by a huge white supremacist intent on doing him serious harm.
What happens next is a little hard to fathom, but Martin is concious that he’s on a mission, that he’s been chosen. He’s not the only one, he's aware that there are others too. This discovery has emerged, he knows, from the long sleep. Now he’s two people, a Jekyll and Hyde, a man who is a stranger to violence and also a man who embraces it. He’s not sure how events will manifest but he understands that if he is ‘life’, then he must face down he who is ‘death’.
At times I found the narrative incomprehensible. It lurches from one strange scene to the next, piling one surreal event on top of another. The action scenes are straight out of a Marvel comic book, but the language and and the writing is that of a serious wordsmith. It’s incongruous. I'm afraid it's just too much for me.
I’ve enjoyed Mosley’s writing in the past, The Awkward Black Man is one of the finest collection of short stories I’ve read, and I’ve always been impressed by the way refuses to be locked into one particular style (compare Cinnamon Kiss to John Woman, for example). With this book he’s moving into John Boyne territory in terms of expanding his range, but I'm afraid it just didn’t work for me. On the plus side, it’s a short piece so I was able to complete it in one sitting.
My thanks to Grove Atlantic for providing an ARC of this book via NetGalley in return for an honest review.
Martin Just awakes one morning feeling like he’s been asleep for a hundred years. Wondering naked on to his balcony, he quickly finds himself accosted by police. Martin is a black man living in the affluent Hollywood hills of Los Angeles - is he being picked out, victimised? Worse is to come, as he’s thrown into a cell to be joined sometime later by a huge white supremacist intent on doing him serious harm.
What happens next is a little hard to fathom, but Martin is concious that he’s on a mission, that he’s been chosen. He’s not the only one, he's aware that there are others too. This discovery has emerged, he knows, from the long sleep. Now he’s two people, a Jekyll and Hyde, a man who is a stranger to violence and also a man who embraces it. He’s not sure how events will manifest but he understands that if he is ‘life’, then he must face down he who is ‘death’.
At times I found the narrative incomprehensible. It lurches from one strange scene to the next, piling one surreal event on top of another. The action scenes are straight out of a Marvel comic book, but the language and and the writing is that of a serious wordsmith. It’s incongruous. I'm afraid it's just too much for me.
I’ve enjoyed Mosley’s writing in the past, The Awkward Black Man is one of the finest collection of short stories I’ve read, and I’ve always been impressed by the way refuses to be locked into one particular style (compare Cinnamon Kiss to John Woman, for example). With this book he’s moving into John Boyne territory in terms of expanding his range, but I'm afraid it just didn’t work for me. On the plus side, it’s a short piece so I was able to complete it in one sitting.
My thanks to Grove Atlantic for providing an ARC of this book via NetGalley in return for an honest review.
July 14, 2023
Short and Crazy
A good start to my first Mosley. He did leave me a bit high and dry and I don't know if that is because he wants me to continue the story on my own or he is going to write more. We'll see, I'm able to do both, I can continue the story on my own and I can read more.
I liked Mosley strain of sci-fi, it's timely and raises questions. How he played with worldview by instantaneously changing the worldview of white supremacists to nature loving guys is superb. Here have some blood, it helps.......
An ARC kindly provided by author/publisher via Netgalley
A good start to my first Mosley. He did leave me a bit high and dry and I don't know if that is because he wants me to continue the story on my own or he is going to write more. We'll see, I'm able to do both, I can continue the story on my own and I can read more.
I liked Mosley strain of sci-fi, it's timely and raises questions. How he played with worldview by instantaneously changing the worldview of white supremacists to nature loving guys is superb. Here have some blood, it helps.......
An ARC kindly provided by author/publisher via Netgalley
March 26, 2024
3 Stars for Touched (audiobook) by Walter Mosley read by Leon Nixon.
The premise sounded interesting but ultimately this was an odd book.
The premise sounded interesting but ultimately this was an odd book.
December 25, 2023
A man wakes up with a new aggressive alter ego as the Cure. His wife readily goes along with this, because he is also turned into a sex machine. I don’t believe that this incoherent nonsense would have been published if Mosley had not written it. Fortunately, it is very short. I received a free copy of this book from the publisher.
May 8, 2023
Have you ever woken up from a bizarre dream that you just can't shake?
That's what happens to Martin 'Marty' Just, a mild-mannered, middle aged family man who is transformed upon waking one day.
He now has another entity existing in him- Temple- who is aggressive, supernaturally strong and everything Marty isn't. This entity has a mission, one he can't quite recall, but that will change the course of all life in the universe.
This short-ish novel has a lot packed into it-with a lot for longtime Mosely fans to enjoy, as well as those picking up one of his books for the first time.
In addition to the main sci-fi storyline, Mosely writes in his signature style on race, class, the criminal justice system, marriage and infidelity.
This book reminded me 'The City We Became' by N. K. Jemisin.
Thank you to Grove Atlantic and the Atlantic Monthly Press Imprint for providing me an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.
That's what happens to Martin 'Marty' Just, a mild-mannered, middle aged family man who is transformed upon waking one day.
He now has another entity existing in him- Temple- who is aggressive, supernaturally strong and everything Marty isn't. This entity has a mission, one he can't quite recall, but that will change the course of all life in the universe.
This short-ish novel has a lot packed into it-with a lot for longtime Mosely fans to enjoy, as well as those picking up one of his books for the first time.
In addition to the main sci-fi storyline, Mosely writes in his signature style on race, class, the criminal justice system, marriage and infidelity.
This book reminded me 'The City We Became' by N. K. Jemisin.
Thank you to Grove Atlantic and the Atlantic Monthly Press Imprint for providing me an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.
January 7, 2024
Reading this book was like playing monopoly with a 6-year old who keeps changing the rules and inventing new ones as you play.
Read
December 3, 2023DNF'ing this sucker at 35ish%
This is a typically non-SF genre author writing a story cloaked in its trappings. Guy wakes up and realizes he is the Cure to the virus that is Humanity. Ok - sounds good. Then he immediately gets arrested for being naked (and Black) and there's a whole lot of "Was I being arrested for my erection?" and an almost rape in prison and then a death by beating followed by returning to home where we get an erection scene and then there's multiple bitings and beatings and - I'm out before the next erection scene.
I also thought these two lines were so bad I had to put the book down for a bit: "We are innately a self-mutilating race," I said. "It starts out with tattoos and scarification, pacemakers and false limbs." What?
If this is Walter Mosley, then I say No Thank You.
This is a typically non-SF genre author writing a story cloaked in its trappings. Guy wakes up and realizes he is the Cure to the virus that is Humanity. Ok - sounds good. Then he immediately gets arrested for being naked (and Black) and there's a whole lot of "Was I being arrested for my erection?" and an almost rape in prison and then a death by beating followed by returning to home where we get an erection scene and then there's multiple bitings and beatings and - I'm out before the next erection scene.
I also thought these two lines were so bad I had to put the book down for a bit: "We are innately a self-mutilating race," I said. "It starts out with tattoos and scarification, pacemakers and false limbs." What?
If this is Walter Mosley, then I say No Thank You.
October 22, 2023
One morning a family man awakens, believing he has slept for centuries and during those centuries he was given a plan, along with 106 other recipients, by the power of the universe to alter humanity. Deep in thought, pondering his mission, he stepped out on his second floor deck, unaware he’s nude with a morning erection. Seen by passersby, including a child, the police are summoned, and he is arrested by angry police and tossed in a system that has already judged him and set out to punish him as a pedophile before he’s had contact with an attorney. During his time in a holding cell, he uses supernatural powers, given him as part of his mission, he did not know he possessed. Released and back home, the story unfolds, pulling his family into the dangers associated with his apocalyptic mission.
With each new novel, Mosley’s writing becomes more visibly philosophical. His later novels go beyond his commentaries on race and social justice. The appeal in this one, for the reader of such texts, is Mosley’s takes on pseudo-philosophies, cosmology, and science fictions based on worldviews of prophecy, set against classical philosophies which propound a history of strange worldviews found in the works of philosophers from Plato to Hegel, a famous philosopher mentioned in this book. This, however, is sub-textual, not intended for every reader. For that particular reader, this is one of his best.
For everyone else, Mosley’s popularity and readability rests on his ability to take a popular genre and write a story recognizable to the average reader who enjoys a good sci-fi story or detective story or whatever genre in which Mosley is working at the time. In this one, he doesn’t disappoint his readers.
My thanks to NetGalley and Grove Atlantic for an advanced readers' copy.
With each new novel, Mosley’s writing becomes more visibly philosophical. His later novels go beyond his commentaries on race and social justice. The appeal in this one, for the reader of such texts, is Mosley’s takes on pseudo-philosophies, cosmology, and science fictions based on worldviews of prophecy, set against classical philosophies which propound a history of strange worldviews found in the works of philosophers from Plato to Hegel, a famous philosopher mentioned in this book. This, however, is sub-textual, not intended for every reader. For that particular reader, this is one of his best.
For everyone else, Mosley’s popularity and readability rests on his ability to take a popular genre and write a story recognizable to the average reader who enjoys a good sci-fi story or detective story or whatever genre in which Mosley is working at the time. In this one, he doesn’t disappoint his readers.
My thanks to NetGalley and Grove Atlantic for an advanced readers' copy.
July 31, 2023
A sci-fi novella dealing with an enhanced human designated as the cure against another enhanced human designated as death. Will good be the victor or will evil win out?
Thought provoking read.
#Touched #NetGalley
Thought provoking read.
#Touched #NetGalley
October 16, 2023
Definitely different. Mosley writes. A really short and unique blending of social commentary and science fiction with a black man in Los Angeles being persecuted by a racist prosecutor while trying to save the world. Is he crazy? Is it all a dream? It’s entertaining. It’s deep. Really evocative cover art too.
June 13, 2024
TOUCHED by Walter Mosley: sci-fi that cuts like a razor, in the vein of Mickey Spillane’s Mike Hammer and Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-Five.
I do not say that lightly.
Combine Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler, Ernest Hemingway, Jordan Peele, Ray Bradbury, and you will have an iota of an idea of what the impactful fiction Mosley has put forth is like in TOUCHED.
Not only is this gripping, thrilling science fiction, but TOUCHED also invokes strong philosophical arguments and commentaries on 21st Century America and the earth as a whole.
The tale of Martin Just – who has been abducted by aliens and thrust back into the tumultuous world – pays homage to one of the greatest novels of all time, Slaughterhouse-Five, and its unreliable narrator and fellow alien abductee, Billy Pilgrim.
Read the rest of the review here: https://theforgottenfiction.com/touch...
I do not say that lightly.
Combine Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler, Ernest Hemingway, Jordan Peele, Ray Bradbury, and you will have an iota of an idea of what the impactful fiction Mosley has put forth is like in TOUCHED.
Not only is this gripping, thrilling science fiction, but TOUCHED also invokes strong philosophical arguments and commentaries on 21st Century America and the earth as a whole.
The tale of Martin Just – who has been abducted by aliens and thrust back into the tumultuous world – pays homage to one of the greatest novels of all time, Slaughterhouse-Five, and its unreliable narrator and fellow alien abductee, Billy Pilgrim.
Read the rest of the review here: https://theforgottenfiction.com/touch...
October 1, 2023
Disclaimer: I didn’t get it but went along for the ride.
It started out great - an affluent Black man, Martin Just, wakes with an ethereal mission that is paramount to humanity’s continued existence. Immediately, he is thrown into the legal/penal system and discovers a latent (and rather violent) alter-ego, Temple, that surfaces when he’s threatened that further exacerbates the charges levied against him.
In this short novel, the scenarios that Martin finds himself thrown into come fast and furiously. As he knows his mission is life-affirming, he recognizes another who seemingly personifies death and their encounters dabble into modern day philosophical arguments, social injustices, along with commentary on the ‘isms’ - racism, classism, realism, etc. For me, those aspects were recognizable and relatable – other parts, not so much.
While I enjoyed this offering well enough, I know I missed a lot of what the author intended. Perhaps others can and will embrace it to appreciate all it entails.
Thanks to Grove Atlantic and NetGalley for the opportunity to read in advance for an honest review.
It started out great - an affluent Black man, Martin Just, wakes with an ethereal mission that is paramount to humanity’s continued existence. Immediately, he is thrown into the legal/penal system and discovers a latent (and rather violent) alter-ego, Temple, that surfaces when he’s threatened that further exacerbates the charges levied against him.
In this short novel, the scenarios that Martin finds himself thrown into come fast and furiously. As he knows his mission is life-affirming, he recognizes another who seemingly personifies death and their encounters dabble into modern day philosophical arguments, social injustices, along with commentary on the ‘isms’ - racism, classism, realism, etc. For me, those aspects were recognizable and relatable – other parts, not so much.
While I enjoyed this offering well enough, I know I missed a lot of what the author intended. Perhaps others can and will embrace it to appreciate all it entails.
Thanks to Grove Atlantic and NetGalley for the opportunity to read in advance for an honest review.
May 4, 2023
I really enjoy Walter Mosley’s books, and jumped at the chance to read an advance copy of his new book. Unfortunately, I didn’t like Touched at all.
Martin wakes up one morning as a dual personality, Martin and another “being” who is super strong and believes he’s the antibody the the virus that is the human race. Is Martin schizophrenic or is there really an inter dimensional being cohabiting with him? Martin is opposed by Waxman, who may or may not be Death. Narrated in a confusing manner, with New Age philosophies abounding, I just could not connect to this book. While sorely tempted to DNF Touched, I managed to finish it. Others may enjoy Touched, but it wasn’t at all for me.
My thanks to the publisher and to Netgalley for providing an ARC of the book.
Martin wakes up one morning as a dual personality, Martin and another “being” who is super strong and believes he’s the antibody the the virus that is the human race. Is Martin schizophrenic or is there really an inter dimensional being cohabiting with him? Martin is opposed by Waxman, who may or may not be Death. Narrated in a confusing manner, with New Age philosophies abounding, I just could not connect to this book. While sorely tempted to DNF Touched, I managed to finish it. Others may enjoy Touched, but it wasn’t at all for me.
My thanks to the publisher and to Netgalley for providing an ARC of the book.
April 23, 2023
This body of work was definitely different from what I've read by Walter Mosley in the past. In reading this book, I have feelings and thoughts like I don't know what to feel or what to think.
The story was definitely interesting. At the forefront, it seems as if Martin/Temple may have a mental disorder (it was hinted of Schizophrenia). However, in hindsight, it was about life and death and how there is constantly a war going on between the two.
This book falls into a genre that I'm not accustomed to but I am happy that I finished it.
The story was definitely interesting. At the forefront, it seems as if Martin/Temple may have a mental disorder (it was hinted of Schizophrenia). However, in hindsight, it was about life and death and how there is constantly a war going on between the two.
This book falls into a genre that I'm not accustomed to but I am happy that I finished it.
September 21, 2023
This little slip of a book packs a punch! I was immediately drawn into the story and I could not stop asking myself, "What the fu*k is going on here?!" While the ending had me wondering, it left me completely satisfied. The social commentary is superb. I have not stopped thinking about this book.
June 7, 2024
I really liked Debbie Doesn't Do It Anymore, so I was hoping for more of the same here with a science fiction twist - another improbable Black hero who was strong and clever and able to transcend prejudice with ju jitsu moves that turn the tools of oppression back on their creators. It did have a lot of those elements, but it just wasn't as funny and smart as Debbie. It could have been longer to allow for more character development and more explanation of the mission to save humanity. Maybe Mr. Mosley will write a sequel. If he does, I'll read it.
January 12, 2024
A very Walter Mosley sci-fi novel. Hits many themes that feature in Mosley's sci-fi: a Black everyman protagonist who is suddenly imbued by aliens or higher powers with incredible abilities (most commonly perception), a quest (usually to save life on earth), breaking away from everyday life (to go on the quest), a team assembled by the protagonist (often composed of people he wronged, or who wronged him), & some weird sex stuff. You can kind of say that most of Mosley's sci-fi writing is about the power and necessity of seeing through the everyday routine to know what must be done. Touched also features the criminal justice system, SoCal's white supremacists, & some transhumanist speculation. In many ways Touched & other Mosley sci-fi are similar to some 70s weird sci-fi I've read, or maybe Stranger in a Strange Land if it was written by a Black socialist instead of a cranky right-libertarian.
June 10, 2023
This is a book that I simply don’t know how to respond to. the idea in itself is quite interesting (life & death, good & evil only then in human form). But, and it’s a big but,it was written too haphazerdly, as if the writer didn’t know where he wanted to go with this story. Or he might have known where he wanted to go but wasn’t sure how to get there.
After reading some other reviews on his other works I found that Mosley is a beloved writer however Sci-Fi isn’t his regular theme. This is felt throughout the book. Fortunately this read was short and the writing style in and of itself wasn’t too hard to get through so I did finish the read. However even after finishing I am left with more questions then answers. Some fans hinted on this being the first novel in a series and if that is the case I might think about reading the next in line in hopes of getting some answers. If it turns out that this won’t be a series I would not recommend this read to people who don’t want to be left with existential questions after reading a work of fiction. Nor is this a recommendation to anyone who hasn’t already read some of Mosley’s work since after it you might not want to reach for any of his other novels either, although reviews might sugest these will definately be worth your time.
Read the entire review on www.booksandfabrics.nl
After reading some other reviews on his other works I found that Mosley is a beloved writer however Sci-Fi isn’t his regular theme. This is felt throughout the book. Fortunately this read was short and the writing style in and of itself wasn’t too hard to get through so I did finish the read. However even after finishing I am left with more questions then answers. Some fans hinted on this being the first novel in a series and if that is the case I might think about reading the next in line in hopes of getting some answers. If it turns out that this won’t be a series I would not recommend this read to people who don’t want to be left with existential questions after reading a work of fiction. Nor is this a recommendation to anyone who hasn’t already read some of Mosley’s work since after it you might not want to reach for any of his other novels either, although reviews might sugest these will definately be worth your time.
Read the entire review on www.booksandfabrics.nl
November 25, 2023
I finished this speculative fiction a few weeks back, had no idea what to make of it at the time, and the extra time for percolating since has not helped. It’s Walter Mosley, whose smooth writing drives his usual crime writing (chiefly mysteries featuring Los Angeles P.I. Easy Rawlins), and that same style kept me turning pages with this one even though I was completely at sea. It seems to be a battle over the fate of the world, or at least humankind, between a menacing figure whose touch means death and our hero, whose touch cures. Or something.
June 15, 2023
Also enjoy books about Walter Mosley. First SF book of his I read, and definitely like the mysteries better, but this was also enjoyable. Will read more of his science fiction. #Touched #NetGalley
March 2, 2024
I have mixed feelings. I don't know what I just read but I didn't hate it. The writing was well put together but I had trouble holding on to the story.
November 21, 2023
I like Walter Mosley a lot. His new book, Touched, is a quick and wild ride into some alternate state of mind. I didn't know what to make of it during the first few pages, didn't know if the main theme was going to be racist in nature (definitely undercurrents impacting the happenings throughout the novella, but not affecting the final outcome), or just straight-up science fiction. Happy is the reader who is looking for both.
Mosley's main character, a black man who is destined to be "The Cure," discovers some truths about himself and his newfound "powers," as well as some truths about life and death and all things that matter most in life along the way.
A short read - a mere 159 pages - that I was able to devour in a day, Touched received 4 stars from me only because I wanted to know more. And it took me a day because, like, I have to work and stuff. :)
Mosley's main character, a black man who is destined to be "The Cure," discovers some truths about himself and his newfound "powers," as well as some truths about life and death and all things that matter most in life along the way.
A short read - a mere 159 pages - that I was able to devour in a day, Touched received 4 stars from me only because I wanted to know more. And it took me a day because, like, I have to work and stuff. :)
January 21, 2024
Overall, a very creative story with some philosophical undertones that kept me engaged and thinking. However, there’s a lot packed into 159 pages, without enough dedication to the main characters story and unfortunately by the end of the book I had way more questions than answers (this could be intentional) 🥲.
October 29, 2023
Science fiction? Or Reality in a world of discrimination? The audiobook really made me think of our world today-extreme racism, above the fringe, head strong, curiously different and thought provoking! This reader loved Blood Grove and many more of his books.
May 6, 2024
This was weird! Picked it up on a whim at the library (always a sucker for those staff recommendation shelves). Fairly short. Science fiction. Way too abrupt of an ending. But also kind of liked the intensity of it.
January 14, 2024
Mosley is a gifted writer, but I don’t think this novella accomplished what it set out to do.
July 1, 2024
Sooo, this was not what I expected and it left me high and dry. I feel like I need to reread it but I’m so exhausted from it I just rather not ..
February 15, 2024
I went into this book blindly, knowing nothing about the author, Walter Mosley. This is one of the strangest books I’ve read in some time. The story has an interesting premise with a strong start but then it veers into wacky territory. The plot has potential but I think Mosley tried to do too much & missed the mark. Or maybe I just don’t get it.
Martin Just wakes up one morning after what feels like, and might actually be, a centuries-long sleep with two new innate pieces of knowledge: Humanity is a virus destined to destroy all existence. And that he is the Cure. Martin begins slipping into an alternate consciousness, with new physical strengths, to violently defend his family—the only Black family in their neighborhood in the Hollywood Hills of Los Angeles—against pure evil. If you’re into sci- fi, crime fiction, & such, you might enjoy it.
Martin Just wakes up one morning after what feels like, and might actually be, a centuries-long sleep with two new innate pieces of knowledge: Humanity is a virus destined to destroy all existence. And that he is the Cure. Martin begins slipping into an alternate consciousness, with new physical strengths, to violently defend his family—the only Black family in their neighborhood in the Hollywood Hills of Los Angeles—against pure evil. If you’re into sci- fi, crime fiction, & such, you might enjoy it.
October 2, 2023
Walter Mosley’s Touched is the question of life vs. death asked over the course of a novella-length fever-dream.
The first half of the book sets the premise: a wise-being wakes up in the life of a middle-aged affluent black man, imbued with a sense of purpose: being the cure to the problem of humanity. The initial presence of this being causes problems for Martin, the life it inhabits, as Martin gets into troubles caused by forces beyond him. For much of the beginning, I wondered how much credence should be given to Martin, if we were simply in the mind of a madman, and this is a question Martin himself wonders. Many of the antagonists of the first half were other people: the white supremacist jail mate, the vengeful prosecutor. I spent much of this part wondering where the story was going. I was impatient at times, but this impatience spurred me to turn the page.
The second half the book picks up with the appearance of Death itself. The suspension of belief required here as the action picks up reminds me of the world of Octavia Butler’s The Patternist, especially in the way Martin/Temple inspire legions of loyalty within those around him, passing strength through corporal fluids. The story becomes the exploration of a thought exercise: Death argues that “The sham of life represents a cancer on the natural order of being,” while Life claims that “[Life] was little more than the punctuation used to define the long story of life.” What is the natural state of the universe? This is the ultimate question upon which war is waged.
This novella is short, punchy, and feverish to read. There seems to be quite a fissure between the themes of the first half and the second, and the end leaves us with many untied loose ends. The premise exists not to be explained, but to set the scene for larger questions, though I do wonder about the beings who created Martin, the other 106 solutions, and why Martin. I recommend this for those who read for the questions, not the answers.
My thanks to Grove Atlantic and NetGalley for providing me with an advanced readers' copy.
The first half of the book sets the premise: a wise-being wakes up in the life of a middle-aged affluent black man, imbued with a sense of purpose: being the cure to the problem of humanity. The initial presence of this being causes problems for Martin, the life it inhabits, as Martin gets into troubles caused by forces beyond him. For much of the beginning, I wondered how much credence should be given to Martin, if we were simply in the mind of a madman, and this is a question Martin himself wonders. Many of the antagonists of the first half were other people: the white supremacist jail mate, the vengeful prosecutor. I spent much of this part wondering where the story was going. I was impatient at times, but this impatience spurred me to turn the page.
The second half the book picks up with the appearance of Death itself. The suspension of belief required here as the action picks up reminds me of the world of Octavia Butler’s The Patternist, especially in the way Martin/Temple inspire legions of loyalty within those around him, passing strength through corporal fluids. The story becomes the exploration of a thought exercise: Death argues that “The sham of life represents a cancer on the natural order of being,” while Life claims that “[Life] was little more than the punctuation used to define the long story of life.” What is the natural state of the universe? This is the ultimate question upon which war is waged.
This novella is short, punchy, and feverish to read. There seems to be quite a fissure between the themes of the first half and the second, and the end leaves us with many untied loose ends. The premise exists not to be explained, but to set the scene for larger questions, though I do wonder about the beings who created Martin, the other 106 solutions, and why Martin. I recommend this for those who read for the questions, not the answers.
My thanks to Grove Atlantic and NetGalley for providing me with an advanced readers' copy.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 227 reviews