Dying Inside

Robert Silverberg is a well known science fiction writer, though I have read only one of his books previous to this one. This really didn't seem like science fiction, not the usual kind anyway. David Selig is born with the ability to read minds. It is a part if who he is, though almost nobody knows about it. Now in middle age, David is losing his power, the thing that makes him special, that defines him. Part of him is dying inside. This story is how he deals with being able to read minds, and how he deals with the loss of this ability. The being able to read minds is the science fiction part; the rest of it is regular fiction, except, of course, David's mind reading is part and parcel of the whole story, just as it is of David's life. There isn't a strong plot and there isn't a strong climax, but the reading doesn't suffer for this. I found it engaging, a fast easy read. The story is made up of a stream of remembrances, vignettes, flashbacks, and episodes. When David's ability ends, the book ends.

For the most part the book is very well written, very 'literary'. I'm not familiar enough with Robert Silverberg to know if he writes only science fiction. After reading Dying Inside I can't help but believe that he doesn't write non-genre fiction. Right away this book made me think of Philip Roth's Portnoy's Complaint. (I was emboldened to mention this only because of the WWE review by always1957 a couple of years ago. I admit that I read Portnoy so very long ago that I couldn't tell you much about it, or about Roth's writing. ) At any rate, I'll make sure that more Silverberg finds its way onto my reading list.

Addendum: Since writing this review, I've read more of Robert Silverg's novels. He's become a favorite author.