> Babelio : https://www.babelio.com/livres/Vidal-Kalki/16713

> Avec ce livre ce qui fait mouche tout de suite, c'est le cocasse de situation, l'humour acide des dialogues et commentaires et l'originalité de la vision du monde. Là, vraiment, on a toute la fantaisie de Vidal et le brillant de son esprit qui conçoit et manie avec une parfaite aisance, des concepts compliqués assez étranges au départ mais qui... Bref, vous verrez, car cela vaut le coup d'oeil.
—Danieljean (Babelio) ( )

A Vidal social satire that brews a fun mix of religious cults and pop phenomenon. As many have said it's truly a novel of the 70s and that era. ( )

my first taste of Vidal and it's certainly not what i expected. the wit and sophisticated ideas, i did expect. what came as a surprise was the dark humor and satire- but also the science fiction. yes, science fiction. i said it.

i expected it to be a satirical indictment of cultish religiosity and several other things including heterosexuality, paternalism, the entertainment industry, pop culture, et al. and so it was. but then, like some "magic eye" image or masterful optical illusion, it became a work of science fiction. i won't say why because i want you to find out as i did and be as shocked as i was. in less than 300 pages, Kalki sprawls out over all of these subjects and more all the while delivering a rich story with complex and interesting characters. granted, most of them suffer little to no development, acting mostly as stock obstacles that challenge the protagonist and her cohort, but they are, nevertheless, distinct individuals that breathe.

in addition to its biting criticism, it taps into the deeper waters of mythology and unconscious, human archetypes a la Jung and Campbell. the central religion is Hinduism and the main character makes no bones about being atheist- this creates a kind of distance from which Christianity can be viewed and critiqued.

and, it's funny. i mentioned that briefly near the top but i want to emphasize how much it delighted me to find some really, effing funny parts in the story and prose. the story itself is not full of irony or extremely ironic but really is a kind of avatar of irony; just as Kalki is the 10th and last avatar of Vishnu/Siva.

i'm going to see about reading some more of Vidal's books. i truly do not expect to find one that tickles me as much as this one did. but, then, i didn't expect this one to do that either. ( )

Not just your plain everyday end of the world tale! This novel, written in the 1970s, is more of a sociopolitical statement than a novel. Using the Hindu concepts of Vishnu come again as avatar Kalki, to end the current era of human life on earth, the protagonist manages to manipulate the masses in order to achieve his own ends. Not only does he manipulate the common person on the street, but he is able to successfully manipulate Congress, the Chinese Mafia, and the CIA to his own ends. Charisma and intellect combined create a dangerous entity! Yet, without spoiling the book for anyone, I would have to say that if the reader is not enjoying the author's sociopolitical commentary in the first two thirds of the book, the final third is just a great ending to the entire novel, satisfying in many ways! ( )

ספר מדע בידיוני של וידאל העוסק, בין השאר, במערך הצבאי תעשייתי וכמובן במין ( )