My Life As a Sperm
No
Humor
William Darrah Whitaker
February 16, 2015
ebook
264
author
Buddy Price, a Hollywood agent, dies in a car crash and finds himself in Heaven. There, he discovers God’s had enough with people and plans on pulling the plug if we can’t learn to get along - a 'love thy neighbor or else' sort of message. An unlikely hero as there ever was, Buddy convinces God to let him fix things and gets a second chance. From the first few lines of the book, we know that he’s probably the last person we’d want to depend on to save the world, but God’s got his plan. Our fate rests in Buddy’s hands… or, who knows, maybe he’s just crazy and needs lithium or something.
At first, My Life As A Sperm: One Man’s Quest to Save the World sounds…well you know how it sounds. But the author William Darrah Whitaker weaves an entertaining, action-packed, humorous tale of Hollywood agent Buddy Price meeting God after a car crash and being tasked with saving the world—and soon.
Buddy Price is an outspoken, sarcastic agent who is used to looking out for only himself. Now, with his newly assigned task of saving the world, he has to learn how to care about others. Or figure out if his God visions are even real.
He meets and interacts with an interesting cast of characters: his loyal assistant Stacey, a homeless man named Oscar who follows Buddy around, the Reverend Hedgins who makes Buddy famous as a savior, and a group of crazy people who are out to stop Buddy from achieving his goal. And of course, there’s a love interest but that might be a spoiler—she’s a good match for Buddy, but she has her own secrets too.
As the story progresses, the stakes get higher and higher for Buddy, making the reader wonder, where is this going, and how could this possibly end? Buddy manages to retain his snark throughout, but he also learns what it means to have people care about him and how to be someone worthy of that care.
It did feel a little towards the end as if certain events were a little too convenient, like the book needed to wrap up so some of the characters or plot was quickly explained. Also, there were a few questions that were unanswered, such as, what happened to the crazy people who were after Buddy? But it’s always possible there may be a sequel.
My Life As A Sperm is satirical, and it does a good job of making fun of every topic it covers: Hollywood, believers, non-believers. Not surprisingly, Buddy has many doubts about his mission and his sanity, but he pushes on and keeps his promises, which ultimately make him a better person.
William Darrah Whitaker also keeps the story alive with Buddy Price’s website, buddyprice-agent.com. Perusing Buddy’s blog and other pages gives a good sense of the tone of the book. And the Client Wall is pretty fun to read.
The ending is one big joke. And by that I don’t mean ridiculous. I mean, literally, Whitaker has some fun and the ending has a funny twist. Despite the title of the book, there’s not actually a lot of sperm involved, but it does kick off the whole story.
Overall, My Life As A Sperm is a quick, fun read. The characters are entertaining and full of surprises, and it’s fun to see how Buddy changes, while staying true to his personality. I definitely recommend picking it up, and I hope that the author William Darrah Whitaker continues to write. Buddy, in particular, is a compelling character and it will be interesting to eventually read more about what happens to him.
