K-Pax by Dr. Gene Brewer
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Book Reviews of K-Pax
Book Review: Wonderfully subtle
Summary: 5 Stars
An uplifting book just when I needed one. Takes your mind off of war, recession, etc. I can't wait for the movie!Book Review: Man From Utopia?
Summary: 4 Stars
"prot" is a patient at Manhattan Psychiatric Institute. Gene Brewer is his psychiatrist. But "prot" is remarkably well-adjusted, displays no obvious symptoms, and gets along famously with staff and fellow patients. Only one thing--he has a delusion (?) that he is a visitor from a planet named K-Pax--a utopian world with no crime, no violence, no need for laws or government.Prot is the doctor's most fascinating case. But what exactly is the diagnosis? Is he really a space alien? Delusional? Split personality? And is he really going to depart for K-Pax on a date certain, as he insists? Can Dr. Brewer break through his defenses and find what makes him tick? And if he can, should he? You will just have to read the book to find the answers.
This is one of those novels looking back to the time when psychiatrists actually spent hours talking to their patients, when quirky patients with odd hang-ups spent months or years languishing in psychiatric hospitals, and when it really seemed to matter what the "underlying cause" of a patient's malady might be. Those days are long gone, but the concept lingers on as a cultural myth. So this novel is part of a grand tradition. In this mythic tradition, the patients are often not sick at all, indeed they may have greater wisdom than those who treat them. So it is with "K-Pax" where the enigmatic prot is remarkably helpful to his fellow patients and even staff, in a way the busy psychiatrist can't begin to emulate.
Author Brewer's writing is pedestrian but readable. He has obviously read a lot about psychiatric matters, though his knowledge is clearly second-hand. The story drags a bit, but it raises interesting questions and is worth reading. If you are a fan of those mythic psychiatrists and their mythic hospitals, well, this book might be for you. Reviewed by Louis N. Gruber
Book Review: Alien or psycho? That's missing the point!
Summary: 4 Stars
PROS: Descriptive, brisk writing style. Interesting story. CONS: Somewhat predictable, mis-marketed as sf.
BOTTOM LINE: An enjoyable book I would gladly recommend
BRIEF SYNOPSIS: A psychiatrist gets a new patient who claims to be a visitor from the planet K-PAX.
Alien visitor or mental patient? The truth is not revealed until the very end, so the book is mainly about the relationship between doctor and patient on present-day Earth. So, it's a stretch to call this science fiction just because a psychiatric patient claims to be from another planet. Although the patient/visitor named "prot" (rhymes with goat - no capitals, please!) can describe the planet with vivid detail, it's mainly a general fiction book.
Classification aside, it's a quick and fun read! The book cover contains a quote calling it a "mixture of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and Starman." However, it's more of a mixture between Cuckoo and Field of Dreams. The story is mostly set in a psychiatric ward like Cuckoo and contains the "emotional healing" aspects of Field of Dreams. Alien or psycho? That's missing the point!
The story moves briskly...always a good thing. This book could have easily been padded with another 100-200 pages, but thankfully, it's just the right length (228 pp) for the story it contains. The writing style is clear, detailed and always interesting. With the clarity of writing, it's obvious that much of the psychiatrist's family life is based on Brewer's own experience; sure enough, Brewer's website reveals some personal details that mirror those of his characters.
I do fear that the current sequel and forthcoming 3rd book might be stretching a good premise too far, but, overall, K-PAX is a really good novel.
Book Review: Good, quick read.
Summary: 4 Stars
This is a novel in the vein of an Oliver Sacks book, and it has a similar ending: happy, for some. The story involves a mental patient who calls himself "prot" (no capitals) and claims to have come to Earth from the planet K-PAX. Dr. Gene Brewer spends the duration of the book trying, through intensive questioning sessions, to find out who prot really is. Why is "prot" here? Is he psychotic, is he multiple personality?
Meanwhile, prot is bringing his brand of sunshine to the hospital. Normally aloof patients are now enrapt, listening to every word out of prot's mouth. And they all finally have hope, but for the wrong reason: they think prot is going to take one of them back to K-PAX with him.
And K-PAX is certainly described by prot as an idyllic setting. No crime, no hunger, they don't eat meat; none of the things that make Earth hard to live on.
To say much more would be too much, so I'll just say that this is a gripping read. Brewer's narrative style is easy and quick, and I was always wanting to get back to the story (it also works as a mystery, but it is definitely NOT--despite the cover--science-fiction, although psychology students may find other aspects of interest). In addition, since the narrator has the name of the author, it lends the air of reality, as if this were a true case study.
I'm not sure if I would want to read the purported sequels--that's stretching an idea too far--but this book is wonderful as a stand-alone story, and a good one.
Book Review: Interesting and amusing.
Summary: 4 Stars
You can read this book very quickly due to the fact that its style is rather simple and understandable - but then: the story is very interesting as well. It is questionable if this novel is an SF novel at all as advertised. But, nevertheless, it uses a key feature of many SF stories: contrast. Everything, code of values, customs, lifestyle etc that seems so normal to us here on Earth is the exact opposite on K-PAX. The generally accepted on Earth is impossible on the - imaginary? - planet K-PAX and vice versa. So we see ourselves in a mirror. But the well-meaning know-all of a psychiatrist who tells the story does not. This is why his belief in human values very often turns into a lame and weak defensive argumentation, and he himself is the mirror that shows us the defects of our bourgeois society, with his family and their troubles as a most effective and a demonstrative background. But the author never leaves the path of humor, he never moralizes, never points at us in an insulting way. And this is what makes this book interesting, revealing and amusing at the same time.