Satan

by Jeremy Leven

Book Overview

Satan returns to earth in the form of a computer and chooses psychoanalyst Sy Kassler to cure him of an unhappiness caused by his eternal competition with God.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0345302656
• ISBN13: 9780345302656
• Release Date: May 1983
• Publisher: Ballantine Books
• Length: 10 Pages
• Weight: 0.61 lbs.

Customer Reviews

COMPLETELY ORIGINAL

I am not a person who rereads books.However,I decided to make an exception.and I'm glad I did.I love books with original premises. The basis of this book is the Devil decides to get therapy to deal with the fact that the world sees him as evil.He feels like he's just not such a bad guy,just misunderstood.While some of the references are dated, it doesn't take away from the enjoyment of the book. I highly recommend this book to those who want to read something different and inventive. The movie that is "based" on the book(Crazy as Hell),while interesting,has very little similarity.

"Satan" is heavenly.

Java is filled with unlimited possibilities. Consider this: I was at a local coffee place with a friend who was leaving town. He ran into the coffee shop's lending library (take a book and either return it or replace it for the other interested readers around you) and came back out with a book that he said had caught his eye during his many excursions for caffeine. The book was Jeremy Leven's 1982 "Satan: His Psychotherapy and Cure by the Unfortunate Dr. Kassler, J.S.P.S." Quite a mouthful of a title. I nodded politely and began edging toward the door. But my friend's description of the book ("Some doctor develops a computer program that believes it is Beelzebub, and proceeds to give it therapy") intrigued me. So, after a few weeks of tossing and turning, I decided to return downtown and check out the book. The story is a little more complicated than that. Dr. Sy Kassler does indeed see a computer that may or may not turn out to be Lucifer, Prince of Darkness. But there are many hilarious twists and turns to this 500-page tome, and many different aspects to the plot. SATAN: The computer, if that is what it is, is the brainchild of the genius Dr. Leo Szlyck. Szlyck is called to connect and create a mysterious bunch of wires and synapses to result in ol' Mephistopheles. But it is during the course of therapy that the Dark One asks us to ponder, "Think about what it must take to dare to be God's enemy." THE UNFORTUNATE DR. KASSLER: Sy Kassler is indeed unfortunate. We first meet him coercing an STD-beleaguered, only-Italian speaking girl into his bed. Then there is his subsequent love affair with and marriage to the commitment-shy Vita, who turns psychotic after the birth of their first child. Kassler leads the life of a tragic figure. And now he's treating Satan? God help him. Literally. EVERYTHING ELSE: There's Lupa, the beautiful woman who falls in love and has an affair with the computer; Sam Zelazo, Kassler's boss and Szlyck's archnemesis and a multitude of other plotlines and characterizations that make the on-cover comparison to novels like Joseph Heller's "Catch-22" seem very apt. It is a story that is very much about Satan's psyche and those of the people surrounding him. Leven compiled a classic comedic think piece with "Satan," and philosophers and comedy seekers alike should seek it out. Author Robert Heinlein has a quote on the back of the book that is so appropriate to the tone and mood of the book that it deserves to be the last word: "'Satan' is terrific! I could not put it down. However, Jeremy Leven will be lynched if they ever catch him."

Among my favorite books of all time

A friend of mine brought this book to my attention about 10 years ago; he said it was the "best book he had ever read." After countless readings of my single, tattered copy, I have to agree. It immediately comes to mind when asked to list my favorite books; the story and its characters have stayed with me even as countless others have been read and forgotten almost immediately. As it follows the cursed life of its unlikely anti-hero, "Satan" is tragic, sad, bizarre, and very, very, funny. Leven is among the rare writers who can create a world so vivid that entering it, and believing in it, is effortless -- no matter how strange things get. Read this book; it's wonderful.

Some Books You Just Never Forget...

I was an 8th grader in a Catholic school when I found a copy of this lying on a teacher's desk, no doubt confiscated so as to protect some young, impressionable mind... Well, Satan called to me, apparently, and I was compelled to help myself to the book before the teacher returned to the classroom. I started reading it at lunch, and by the time school let out, I was hooked! Even at my young age, I recognized that this was one of the best stories I'd ever read. A great appreciator of sarcasm and dry wit, I often found myself sympathizing more with Satan than that "Poor Schmuck," Jeffrey. (If I were his wife, I would have left him, too!) I must have read it about 10 times. Unfortunately, my dad decided to save me from myself, and the book perished in the fireplace at his hands. Now, at the semi-seasoned age of 26, I want desperately to read it again. I've tried for years to find another copy, to no avail. If anyone can steer me in the right direction (I realize it's out of print, but would gladly accept a used donation!), I'd be immensely grateful!

A modern day take on Dante's "Inferno"

An intensely dense text that is at turns delightful, humorous and sarcastic while remaining thought-provoking throughout. On a humorous par with Douglas Adams' ("The Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy Trilogy") best, but on the intellectual level of Stephen Hawking, with Vonnegut's ironic tone thrown in for good measure. The novel is actually constructed in a beautiful homage to Dante's "Inferno," right down to the internal movement of the story, which spirals into each of Dante's levels of Hell, allowing the well-drawn main characters to commit each of the sins that would lead them to that specific level. If you can read this book in conjunction with "The Inferno," you'll appreciate its many levels even more. This may be a tall order, but it is truly worth the investment of time necessary. I have read this book nearly once a year since I first found it in 1984. It's remained fresh every time.