Rating: 
Summary: Is Utilitarianism good?
Review: Dr. Tom More, a psychiatrist named after St. Thomas More, is a non-practicing Catholic who has just been released from two years in prison, having been convicted of prescribing drugs wholesale to mental institutions. His partners, Dr. Bob Comeaux and Dr. Max Gottlieb, welcome him back, taking responsibility for his parole.
In his hospital rounds, Tom notices unusual sexual behavior among patients. His friend, Dr. Lucy Lipscomb, a public-health official, finds a correlation between the behavior and the unusual heavy-sodium (Na24) concentrations in their blood. Her computer searches reveal that the entire town has been drinking water with high Na24 concentrations. Tom, Lucy and her uncle trace the source of the Na24 to a line from an old sodium-cooled nuclear plant.Dr. Comeaux and Dr. Van Dorn, another psychiatrist, are conducting the unauthorized, clandestine Na24 experiment on the community. The results show that the Na24 has almost eliminated crime and sexual deviancy while greatly increasing intellectual and athletic performance throughout the community. One side effect is the more gorilla-like behavior of the people, exhibited primarily in their sexual behavior and observed by Dr. More. How Tom and Lucy discover and expose the Na24 experiment is a good mystery story. Although Tom and Lucy never articulate the moral difficulties of the experiment, the difficulties are revealed through the character of Fr. Smith, a Catholic priest whose bizarre behavior marks him as insane. The plot reveals the fallacy of Utilitarianism, pitting Tom and Lucy against a small group of influential and highly respected people whose experiment has done much to improve the quality of life in the community. The theme is similar to that in Brave New World, wherein Utilitarianism is to be judged false by the instinctive moral values of the reader. The author never criticizes Utilitarianism nor does he propose a substitute for it. He implies that the bad side effect, rather than Utilitarianism's inherent depersonalization of human beings, justifies its condemnation. He does imply Utilitarianism also justifies abortion, infanticide, and euthanasia (good thanatos), but does not explain why these should be considered evil. He also warns that the U.S. Supreme Court judges by Utilitarianism. The fate of each of the characters, described near the end of the book (Pp 340 ff), is a realistic and entertaining commentary on society today. The Utilitarians remain unrepentant but escape prison sentences; however, they are given jobs that use their good characteristics while preventing the use of their bad. A sex episode (Part 3, Pp 158-166) seems unnecessary, except perhaps to help show that everyone in the book is guilty of mortal sin except Virgil, a homespun Black. Later examples of pornography are so generally described that envisioning them is not a problem. The author is noted as a great Catholic philosophical novelist, but there is little that is Catholic in the book.
Rating: 
Summary: Still buzzing
Review: Have you read anything recently that just kinda buzzed around in your head for a while afterwards as you tried to get a grip on it. I'm still trying to sort through the parallels I'm seeing in this book to other great pieces of literature. Perhaps I'll start with G.K. Chesterton who said (I'm paraphrasing here) the world is being destroyed, not by our vices, but by our virtues run amok. The moral heroes in _The Thanatos Syndrome_ are fairly suspect morally. The main character was just released from prison for traficking in narcotics. The villains are brilliant men who want to reduce crime, unwanted pregnancies, medical expenses, violence, and to improve learning, memory and good citizenship. All this by adding a touch of chemicals to the water supply, just like flouride. Other parallels which come to mind are Dostoevsky's novels, or perhaps Robert Penn Warren's _All the King's Men_, where an interlude from a completely different time sheds light on the current action. In this case the interlude is told by an old and senile priest who remembers his youth in Germany in the 30's. He recalls how he felt that his friends were better people than he, and only by accident did he return to the US. The pace of this book does occasionally seem a bit slow, but it was well worth the time put in.
Rating: 
Summary: Not one of Percy's best novels
Review: Ignore The Thanatos Syndrome at your own peril. The last novel of the late Walker Percy, this often harrowing, sometimes humorous (darkly, at least) tale should set off alarms bells as you read through this thriller. The notion of Walker Percy penning a thriller is, of itself, something odd, and a point that apparently raises the ire of many academics and even many dyed-in-the-wool Percy readers. And this book is different from say, The Moviegoer, in which the inward musings and vexations of the protagonist are fairly insulated from the outside world and its views, opinions, influences. Moreover, Dr. More does not act as the prototypical loner characteristic of some of Percy's other protagonists. Percy's decision to write this novel as more of a fast-paced thriller, the central story occurs over just three days, must have been his attempt to shoot a flare that would draw attention to the dehumanization that started coalescing with more fervor some 15 years ago. (Now civility may be a lost cause: people consider it proper to conduct public arguments with unseen opponents by blathering all manner of nonsense into their cell phones.) And so the flawed hero, the same disheveled, womanizing, fallen Catholic psychiatrist Thomas More practically stumbles upon a scheme to control human behavior by adding radioisotopes to the water supply. After all, the perpetuators of the scheme remind him, look what fluoride has done for oral health. What if we can eliminate depression, crime, disease, and enhance learning, cognition, and memory at the same time? Relying of his beloved bourbon to keep him grounded, Dr. More, fresh out of prison for supplying truckers with uppers, finds his wife and children swept up in the scheme. He plays some hunches, and together with his cousin Lucy, a skilled epidemiologist who employs what was the Internet before any of us every thought about it, discovers a scheme that is both more far-reaching and nefarious than anything since the heyday of Nazi Germany. Dr. More also allies with Vergil Bon, Jr., whose moral center and keen intellect prove pivotal in discovering the physical means of dosing the population and in confronting the horrors of pedophilia lurking under the surface. Both Lucy's and Bon's clearcut, strong character fly in the face of those critics who harangue Percy for creating weak or unfocused female or black characters. Dr. More is the moral and intellectual center of the story, and, typical of many of Percy's leading characters, he struggles to reinvent himself, to get things right, to make the correct decisions. He is not awed by authority, swayed by power, or tempted by riches. Instead, he considers himself to be ''an old-fashioned physician of the soul.'' The parallels between this modern plot to make life better and to terminate anyone whose quality of life doesn't meet the "norm" are clearly drawn by Father Simon Rinaldo Smith, an alcoholic Catholic priest who has retreated to a fire tower where he scans the countryside for smoke and regards himself as a modern version of St. Simeon Stylites. Percy uses this character as a mouthpiece for much of his own philosophy, using a long confession from Father Smith to lay out his thesis about how evil festers and manifests under the guise of perceived goodness. The first half of the novel carefully unfolds the plot, as Dr. More first suspects things are amiss, then begins connecting the dots, all the while being watched and wooed by the project's architects, who try to recruit Dr. More by challenging him to show what's inherently wrong with a macro-solution to society's woes. The second half of the book moves rapidly, surging ahead like the nail-biting pirogue trip downriver to rescue the children. The action continues as Dr. More shoots down (figuratively) the various arguments presented by Dr. Comeaux or Van Dorn.
Ultimately, Walker Percy has forged here a strikingly unconventional means for debating the philosophical ramifications of meddling with free will, the individual's right to make good or bad choices, to live in happiness or in depression, to succeed or fail on one's own merits. We need to fight for our own happiness and our own rights, he might argue, to enable us to keep at bay the darker tendencies of human nature.
Walker Percy's prose is, as always, fine, rich, precise. Percy rarely embellishes beyond what is needed, yet he can render a dead-on depiction of how people really talk, think, even move. His minor characters are not jolting or decorative, though many are eccentric, and his love of the Louisiana landscape permeates the outdoor settings. One reading will not suffice to coax the ideas and observations from The Thanatos Syndrome. Perhaps here, though, are some of the questions we need to ask in a time when genetic customization, "me-first" socialization, and symbolism dominate the cultural landscape; when mercy killing is legal in two European countries (so far); and terrorists and fundamentalists vie for control of our free will and civil liberties.
Rating: 
Summary: Perhaps the best novel I have ever read
Review: The Thanatos Syndrome relies upon a flimsy detective story to examine the greatest issues facing Americans (perhaps all of Western culture) as we enter the 21st century. Not that the genre device fails, but that it seems so inconsequential next to the ideas which hang upon it, like the rod that supports the wardrobe of existence, itself. Although this novel was written in the late 20th century, it feels as if it could be today or tomorrow. We are introduced to themes that are totally familiar, yet somehow bizarre: sex detached from love (and/or procreation), emphasis on results at play/work/and school, social engineering, amorality, mercy-killing, faith in the rightness of science/technology/and progress, abandonment of of our humanity. All this, and yet readable, engaging, absorbing and memorable. If you are interested in an entertainment that makes you think and ponder the great issues of existence, while keeping you turning the pages, I highly recommend this book.
Rating:
Summary: Perhaps the best novel I have ever read
Review: The Thanatos Syndrome relies upon a flimsy detective story to examine the greatest issues facing Americans (perhaps all of Western culture) as we enter the 21st century. Not that the genre device fails, but that it seems so inconsequential next to the ideas which hang upon it, like the rod that supports the wardrobe of existence, itself. Although this novel was written in the late 20th century, it feels as if it could be today or tomorrow. We are introduced to themes that are totally familiar, yet somehow bizarre: sex detached from love (and/or procreation), emphasis on results at play/work/and school, social engineering, amorality, mercy-killing, faith in the rightness of science/technology/and progress, abandonment of of our humanity. All this, and yet readable, engaging, absorbing and memorable. If you are interested in an entertainment that makes you think and ponder the great issues of existence, while keeping you turning the pages, I highly recommend this book.
Rating:
Summary: A Brave New World
Review: This is my first book by Walker Percy, but it won't be my last.* The asterisk? I give this story only a luke-warm review, a B minus. Yes, the plot does have a thought-provoking dystopian element to it, and it does include the kind of important and bold examination of good and evil that I have heard Mr. Percy is known for. But it can be blunt at times, and also I wonder if some of the sex-related discourse and the protagonist's navel gazing were necessary parts of the story. What saved the day here was the talented Mr. Percy's crisp and compelling writing style. By the time I was finished with The Thanatos Syndrome, I had the impression that Mr. Percy could make a computer instruction manual seem gripping. His turns of phrase, characterizations, efficient dialogue, and ability to move the narrative forward with apparent effortlessness are rare qualities indeed. What makes the writing work so well is its subtlety -- it all seems to mesh so naturally. And that is something that in some ways works against a story line that is at least on some level obvious and predictable. But that doesn't dissuade me from wanting to seek out another of Mr. Percy's books. I think that his enjoyable writing style combined with a more balanced story could yield stunning results. I can hardly wait.
Rating:
Summary: A Brave New World
Review: This is my first book by Walker Percy, but it won't be my last.* The asterisk? I give this story only a luke-warm review. Yes, the plot does have a thought-provoking dystopian element to it, and it does include the kind of important and bold examination of good and evil that I have heard Mr. Percy is known for. But it can also be blunt at times, and also I wonder if some of the sex-related discourse and the protagonist's navel gazing were necessary parts of the story. What saved the day here was the talented Mr. Percy's crisp and compelling writing style. By the time I was finished with The Thanatos Syndrome, I had the impression that Mr. Percy could make a computer instruction manual seem gripping. His turns of phrase, characterizations, efficient dialogue, and ability to move the narrative forward with apparent effortlessness are rare qualities indeed. What makes the writing work so well is its subtlety -- it all seems to mesh so naturally. And that is something that in some ways works against a story line that is at least on some level obvious and predictable. But that doesn't dissuade me from wanting to seek out another of Mr. Percy's books. I think that his enjoyable writing style combined with a more balanced story could yield stunning results. I can hardly wait.
Rating:
Summary: Prophetic Science Fiction
Review: This is the novel that introduced me to Walker Percy. After I finished it I felt compelled to read all his other books. I know "Thanatos" is not as well regarded as "The Moviegoer" or "The Second Coming" but I have special feelings for it because I read it in December 1989, when it appeared that the whole world was enacting the drama he describes. Can we abolish freedom in order to create utopia? The answer is here in this thrilling work.
Rating:
Summary: Honest and hauntingly possible
Review: Walker Percy successfully weaves a thought-provoking ethical dilemma into a complex, action-filled fictional narrative. The Thanatos Syndrome engenders a turmoil of pleasurable, suspenseful sensations and disquieting sentiments in its readers. The novel's strengths include a strongly, developed main character who is the first person narrator of the story, a logical sequence of events, and a satisfying conclusion; the novel's only weakness is its use of graphic, wholly unnecessary details of child sexual abuse (not suitable for young readers); the extent to which the abuse is described is excessive and goes beyond the needed explanation to clarify events of the plot. The Thanatos Syndrome addresses many relevant social issues - including crime, teen pregnancy, homosexuality and AIDS - in an honest and truthful manner while providing a particularly insightful look at human nature. Percy effectively portrays both sides of America's current social climate: the need for a quick-fix for its group problems and the rights of the individual within that society. I don't normally read this type of book, but I was particularly surprised by its honesty and haunted by its possibility.
Rating:
Summary: Percy's parting shot
Review: Walker Percy, M.D. struck his final blow at utopian social engineers with "The Thanatos Syndrome". He skillfully draws the connection between the population control groups of today and the cultured Germans of the Weimar Republic and their joint enthusiasm for eugenics and abortion solutions. With that theme playing itself out in the background, he pursues the exciting plot that asks the question: If you could put something in the water that would destroy freewill, but provide perfect order to society, should you? Launch yourself into this rare combination of thriller and deep cultural examination for a great read!
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