K-Pax by Dr. Gene Brewer
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Book Reviews of K-Pax
Book Review: Just delightful
Summary: 5 Stars
This is a wonderful little book - it is relatively short, insightful, witty, and best of all gives us a unique insight to the fascinating subjects of mental health and interstellar travel. The story is simple enough - the main character prot (no capitalisations except for other planets!) claims to be from the planet K-Pax, but is he simply a mentally traumatised man called Robert? This is a very clever book which has you thinking yes and no to both of these questions as you read along.Another very clever plot devise is that the author writes in the first person, and refers to himself as the psychiatrist who is treating prot/Robert. This is done with such skill and candour that you can almost get drawn into thinking that this is a true case study of a doctor who is relating the story of his most fascinating subject. It is very, very clever.
Finally, it is also very uplifting. Some of prot's observations and advice to his fellow psychiatric inmates changes their lives almost exclusively for the better - somewhat simplisticly sure, but hey, this is a novel for entertainment, and here it hits the mark very well.
I recommend it highly.
Book Review: Beautiful vision.
Summary: 5 Stars
prot (pronounced like goat) is a genius inter-stellar traveler, He has come to EARTH to take one person back with him to K-PAX. Planet thousands of lights years away that is orbited by 2 suns and is absolutely stunning. A planet with no government, no nations, no love, no hate, no homes, and no responsibilities. If you are tired, lay down and take a nap, if you are hungry eat, no one will ask you to pay for anything, because on K-PAX there is no currency. It is Nirvana, as prot describes it. It is no wonder why most everyone who speaks with prot wants to return to paradise with him. He is in a mental institution under the care of Dr. Gene Brewer. Gene does not believe for a moment that prot is an alien. However everything he says about his home planet is investigated (to the best of human ability) and found to be true. Is prot a visitor from another world? Or is he just a mental patient who needs help to realize that his is not from K-PAX, and he is , in fact as human as the rest of us? Overall it was a fine novel, and I am looking forward to the movie starring Kevin Spacey as prot. Thanx for your time, T.
Book Review: Clever plot and interesting characters
Summary: 5 Stars
My opinion of this book vacillated a bit as I was reading. The beginning was fascinating, but by the middle it seemed a bit too sentimental and the cures for the mental patients too simplistic (sort of like a science fiction version of "Patch Adams"...but then, maybe prot is right and humans tend to make these things too complicated.) At the end, however, the author threw a curve-ball so clever that he can be easily forgiven for any earlier sentimentality. I've never read, nor heard of another story where the alien who is treated like a person with a mental disorder actually turns out to BE a person with a mental disorder! And yet, there was a note of ambiguity at the end...the author's message wasn't, "Sorry, there's no such place as K-PAX, and don't you all feel silly for believing in it?" It was something more complex (and less cynical) than that. It was about hope.Book Review: Funny, Original, and Touching
Summary: 5 Stars
Now, I did see the movie first, and that's what interested me in the novel. I applaud the movie for making a very good adaptation of the book. Much of the dialogue is exactly the same, though some plot points are slightly different for practical purposes (for instance, Dr. Brewer is older and prot is younger in the novel than in the movie.)This book is a great story, a complete original. It was a very good look at psychiatric hospitals and conditions. Not only this, but it was funny. I would even call it hillarious, if you like prot's dry sense of humor and frequent use of cliche phrases. It had me laughing out loud one second and seriously thinking the next. I would deffinately recommend this novel, the movie, and the novel's sequel.
Book Review: Very imaginative
Summary: 5 Stars
K-PAX is one of the very few books that I actually wanted to skip to the end to see what was going to happen. I had no idea where the author was going, which was very refreshing. Lots of books I can almost tell you the ending, but with Gene Brewer's K-PAX, I had no idea. Being a psychologist myself, reading this book felt like a case study. I had to tell myself several times throughout the book that this is not real, just fiction. The story of Prot should be one that should be shared with everyone. If you have not read this book, please do so and do it before the movie comes out in October. I thought about this book days after I read and I have let everyone I know borrow it.