Robert Bausch

"Almighty Me," Robert Bausch's lively comic novel, offers...a lucky jerk (who) gets to be God for a year...A fairy tale must have its moral, and the moral of "Almighty Me" is that God has His limitations. In the language of paradox, God's limitations are unlimited. Charlie states the theme as he progresses on his journey from Power to Knowledge. "Except for causing her considerable anguish and fear, as well as a modest amount of confusion, I'd had no effect on Dorothy whatever," he muses. "I might as well have been a dead body trying to interrupt my own funeral." Charlie can't make Dorothy love him, since love would cease to be love if it were the result of coercion; the idea of an omnipotent God must be strictly qualified if you believe in free will. And so, "I was reduced to helplessness in spite of my power."

Mr. Bausch's minor characters are done to perfection. Charlie sees to it that Mr. Shale pairs off with Dottie, the plain-Jane receptionist, and it looks like a good deal for both of them, except for Shale's insistence that she yell "Touchdown!" at the moment of his sexual climax. Mr. Bausch's prose is always good but seems positively inspired when the subject is sex. He has some very funny riffs on the differences between the sexes...The New York Times

Note: This book was the creative source for the Universal Film, "Bruce Almighty." The similarities between that film and this book are remarkable and clear. The rights to the book were purchased by Disney Studios, who through Buena Vista, distributed "Bruce Almighty," uncredited.