The Shoe on the Roof

Thanks to NetGalley, Simon & Schuster Canada and Will Ferguson for providing me with a copy of this novel in return for an honest review.

The main character, Thomas Rosanoff was raised by a famous psychiatrist, who conducted an experiment on Thomas growing up so that he could write a novel on child development. Thomas, trying to escape the shadow of his father, often drops his last name so he can remain anonymous and not being reminded that he was the “Boy in a Box”.

Thomas, a med student, crosses paths with three men who believe they are Jesus. Thomas decides to help these three men back to reality, until his father takes control and conducts another experiment with these men.
I thoroughly enjoyed the novel and the subtle humour throughout. The primary characters were very well developed with strong personalities and I liked each of them. There was a lot of different storylines going on: the controlling parent; the discussion of the thin line between madness and reality; the science of the mind; and faith. The author did an excellent job of pulling them all together.

The topic is somewhat disturbing, involving mentally challenged adults. A medical student falls in love with Amy. When she dumps him he discovers her brother is in a mental hospital believing he is God. He thinks if he can help her brother he may be able to win her back.. Thomas finds two more men who also believe they are God and takes them home in the hope they will realise there can only be one God and therefore none of them are God. The twists and turns that develop are written skillfully and keeps the reader in suspense until the end. Will Ferguson has written another novel worthy of awards. I highly recommend this book.

This is a great book about Thomas, a med school student living under the shadow of his famous father and 'experiment' that was Thomas' life growing up. There is a running theme throughout the book about the human brain and psychology practices that I found interesting along with how we treat people with mental illnesses and the connection to mental illness and the struggle with how we help the homeless.

The book debates believing in God as a theory or as a result of synapses in our brain and how we take the things we believe in but don't understand and try to make sense of them.

Overall a great read with like-able characters.

The book has wonderful lines such as:
'Memory is the hotel curtain that never closes. Memory always lets in just enough light to fill the room and ruin your sleep.'
'Memory, after all, is a reconstruction, and even the simplest events become paper-mached with myths as the years go by.'
'To Bernie, Dr. Rosanoff always seemed like a grand marshal waiting for a parade to muster behind him.'
'Marriages might linger like a chest cold, and there are friendships that plod along simply because we forget to cancel the subscription.'

I had no idea what I would be reading when I started to read this novel, but I have never read anything so engrossing!!
We are brought into the world of Thomas Rosanoff, a medical student, as he pursues medical research and intervention into 3 men who each claim to be God. There were times when I felt curiosity, sadness, grief, frustration, anger, rage, wonder and yes, at times laugh out loud humor. The novel is very cleverly conceived and the medical aspects are well described and treated with respect, helping give added credibility to the novel.

This book begins with Thomas being forced to go to church by his girlfriend, Amy, and then immediately after she takes a pregnancy test that comes up positive. Of course they can't have a baby, and Thomas tells her straight out he knows someone who can get rid of it, and she kicks him to the curb with nothing more than the toothbrush she uses to scrub between the tiles.

A lot of the beginning of the book is spent explaining how brains work. Thomas doing social experiments on his own, then later trying to figure out how the brain perceives god, wondering why that can't be recreated in a lab, and then creating a sort of "God helmet" and doing more experiments to simulate the feelings of religion. He's determined to figure out how it works. His father wants him to make something of himself, lie he did, and he's not going to let everyone watch him fail.

Thomas is curious about those people who think they're Jesus. He's met three of them out of nowhere and it goes along well with his study of religion on the brain. He wants to fix these people, and find out what makes them the way they are while he's doing it. He's found his break. At first he only wants to do it because of the girlfriend he lost, thinks it will win her back. For selfish reasons. But then his scientific curiosities kick in and this story is just so refreshing and different than all the other books I've read lately.

I absolutely loved every bit of this. The ending took a turn I never expected. The characters changed so much throughout the book. It took me a little bit to actually get into it, but once I was I couldn't put it down. The characters are realistic, the story is interesting and I found myself laughing out loud at some of the things I was reading. I'm so glad I read this book. I definitely recommend checking it out if you get the chance.

Interesting, Unusual and Provocative
As a psychologist and lover of mysteries I was particularly interested in this book and curious to see whether the author could successfully blend both aspects. I was delighted to find that he could and did so effectively. The story deals with a psychological experiment gone wrong at the hands of a Ph.D. student who is interested in mapping the human brain and determining the neurological facts governing faith, religion and the existence of God.
Ferguson is a good and interesting writer with a wry sense of humour and I often found myself laughing out loud at his dialogues and turn of phrase. He uses good words and creates an interesting mix of truth, science and psychology while skirting real events and the truth about people and events. For example he refers to “the boy in a box experiment” which never happened but is similar to the boy in a bubble event which did occur. This doesn’t detract from the tale but rather lends it an unwarranted element of respectability.
His description of the Ph.D. students is quite clever. While claiming to be interested in brain research they seem mostly motivated by learning how to seduce women and manipulating their professors. They unexpectedly encounter three homeless men each of whom claims to be Jesus Christ. The students are determined to effect a remedy by confronting each of them with their delusional counterparts. This leads to many adventures involving kidnappings, police, nuns, drug dealers, security guards, other homeless people and one of the student’s father who is a psychiatrist.
The plot contains plethora of unexpected twists and turns and you are never sure what could possibly happen next. I enjoyed the book but must confess that I alternated between reading every word and ignoring the detailed discussions about adolescent sexual escapades. The plot is unusual and the premise that there are neurological reasons for religious faith is provocative. It was fun to read and I’m glad I read it.

This was an interesting and different read for me. I though the story was intriguing, and the characters were fun to follow. There seemed to be a lot of different plot lines going on, but I still enjoyed it. If anything, I would recommend reading the book just for the wonderful voice of the narrator. The author is really good at describing situations, and that's one thing I loved about the book. Overall, I thought it was a fun read. I liked the discussion of science, because often authors seem to like to demonize science for explaining all of the "magic in life" away, but I feel like the author didn't do that here.