One of the better-known science-fiction authors. Multiple winner of Hugo, Nebula and Locus awards, member of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame. This time I reached for a novel, which is more of a moral drama and the science-fiction layer only serves as a means by which the author wants to convey something to us.
The main character - David Selig is a man who is not succeeding in life. He is unable to find steady employment and has relationship problems. However, he has the gift of telepathy and since childhood has been using it to his own advantage. As he enters middle age, however, his gift begins to fade. David faces losing the only advantage he has over the rest of society.
The slow loss of his supernatural ability is the main plot element around which minor events are centered. In the course of these events, David slowly comes to terms with his fate and the idea that the people he loved and admired are passing away, and his unique gift and abilities are also passing away. The protagonist burns out both professionally and emotionally. I really liked the idea of including some of the content of the essays written by David (the protagonist earns money by writing literature term papers for students) as part of the plot. The book also features events relevant to the era at the time (the 1960s-70s in the US) and so the Kennedy assassination, the Vietnam War, the hippie movement. This adds credibility and colors the plot background in the novel.
On the one hand, it was a somewhat tiresome novel. There are many descriptions of romance and musings of the main character with erotic themes. As a whole, however, it is a very successful novel on the subject of passing, aging and coping with midlife crisis.