More Than Human by Theodore Sturgeon is a Classic

SPOILERS AHEAD

    More Than Human by Theodore Sturgeon was published in 1953 and won the 1954 International Fantasy Award and a Retro Hugo in 2004. The novel is an important science fiction classic with ideas about the future evolution of humanity through the use of marginalized characters. Theodore Sturgeon's look into the possible future says more about the current world he lived in. 

    In America in the mid-20th century, a group of misfits with secret superpowers slowly find one another. We start by meeting an abusive father who controls his young adult daughters. The daughters aren't allowed to have friends, must dress in 19th century clothes, and can't even get dressed in front of mirrors.  One day when one of the daughters was walking in the fenced gardens behind her home, she met a young lonely man drifting in the woods. This loner cannot speak due to an intellectual disability but never starves because he can secretly read and control minds. The loner feels some sort of telepathic connection to the isolated young woman and breaks into the fence to be with her. He connects with her in a way he has never connected before with anyone before. They are, unfortunately, caught by her abusive, controlling father. A tragedy happens. The loner in the woods is alone again.  

We follow a neglected girl in the city in an apartment building. She lives alone with her narcissistic mother while her father is away fighting in the war. Her mother has public affairs and is more concerned with partying than being a mother. The young girl makes friends with the lonely twin daughters of the maintenance man of the building. The girl can move things with her mind and the twins can teleport. Their parents never notice. They bond in their loneliness. 

An old childless couple pray for years for a child. The lady finally gets pregnant and they rejoice. When the baby is born it doesn't end well for them. Their once bustling farm is neglected and sad. The father has become insane. 

Eventually, these extraordinary people, the loner in the woods, the neglected girls, and the answer to an old couple's prayers come together or "blesh" to become the next step in humanity, no longer the homo sapiens, but homo gestalt. Are they whole yet or do they need something more to become a complete person? How will they treat humanity who has been so unkind to them? 

Though the novel is full of tragedy and contains harsh criticisms of society in the 1940's-1950's, it was beautifully, poetically written. It was one of those books I read thinking I would only read for a few minutes but looked at the clock to see that over an hour had gone by. It wasn't a lecture but a story of young, abused misfits finding one another to become something new. It deserves to be a classic and I highly recommend it.