More Than Human

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I lived a fairy tale childhood in the literal sense and I'm very happy to have survived it. I even fancy myself as having survived it sanely. ;) That said, Sturgeon was my introduction to science fiction and a welcome one. His compassionate but unblinkered view of the world and how it molds us gave me an anchor in the tumultuous ocean I was being battered by as well as hope for a future in which I could come out of the horrors I lived with healed, if not unscathed. This is even more true of another of his books I love called The Dreaming Jewels (or The Synthetic Man).

More Than Human is a wonder of a novel in that it is told from many points of view which eventually come together to form a fantastic whole. The story, itself, was unique and brilliant for the era it was written in, not least because it included non-white characters and women in lead roles as well as white males and there is an overall attitude of universality in Sturgeon's thinking which bled into this novel particularly well. I highly recommend this book to anyone but, especially to smart but brutalized (inner) children who could use a little balm for their wounds along with their intellectual stimulation.