Rating: 
Summary: Next stop - K-PAX!
Review: At the Manhattan Psychiatric Hospital, Dr. Gene Brewer eagerly holds sessions with his new patient prot (no capitals, rhymes with goat). prot is a while male in his early thirties. He appears to be very normal, friendly and very pleasant. However, he also claims to be from the planet K-PAX. Fact or fantasy?prot loves traveling in space (faster than the speed of light), has a great sense of humor and feels that Earth's produce alone is "worth the trip." On K-PAX there's no crime, no laws and no lawyers. There are no schools or government. There is no formal structure of "family" like we know it. The inhabitants of K-PAX work when it's needed, eat and sleep when it's needed and educated themselves when it is needed. prot will be returning to his home soon and can take only one other with him. The other patients at the hospital love prot and seem to be improving because of his presence and advice - and all want to be the one return to K-PAX. Dr. Brewer can only conclude that prot suffers from multiple personality disorder. However he can't explain the acurate detail of prot's vast intergalactic knowledge. K-PAX isn't just a story of psychiatry. It is a story that questions and challenges human nature. I love a good book that makes me think and reflect. I highly recommend this truly awesome page-turner.
Rating:
Summary: Is what we believe in what we want?
Review: Beautiful metaphor of the thin border between folly and reason, reality and imagination. Who is deceited: the doctor or the patient? Narrated in a fluent style, plain and logical, but still rich in images and invention.
Rating:
Summary: Quite simply one of the best books I have ever read!!
Review: Brillian
Rating: 
Summary: GIVE K-PAX AN X-LAX!
Review: COULDA BEEN A CONTENDER (BUT DIDN'T GO ANYWHERE)...COULDA BEEN A NOVEL (BUT PETERED OUT)...COULDA BEEN A WORTHWHILE READ (BUT HIT ITS HIGH POINT EARLY AND WENT NOWHERE THEREAFTER...) NICE WRITING BUT PLOT WAS UNFINISHED OR POORLY THOUGHT-OUT. I CONSIDER MYSELF A SUCKER FOR THIS GENRE BUT SUGGEST YOU AVOID THIS BOOK UNLESS YOU ENJOY BEING LET-DOWN AND LEFT UNFULFILLED! TO THE AUTHOR....KEEP TRYING, YOU'LL GET THERE. JUST NOT THIS TIME.
Rating: 
Summary: Interesting extrapolation from a real-life case.
Review: Few people remember a book called "The Fifty-Minute Hour" by Dr. Robert Lindner (who also wrote "Rebel Without A Cause"), but the story of prot was originally based on a famous case detailed in that book. The fictional prot (protagonist?) was mislabeled with "multiple personalities", because at the time Brewer was writing, this quite real condition was being used as a grab-bag diagnosis for everything doctors couldn't figure out. However, in real life, the alien visitor simply got tired of writing reams of scientific detail to prove his bona fides to the doctor, and declared himself cured of his own delusions.
Rating:
Summary: Spec-tac-cular!
Review: Hands down, I'm a huge Kevin Spacey fan. I first read this book last month when I found out that Kevin would be playing prot in the film version. After reading the book, I can only say that I am looking forward with much more anticipation to the film's release. The book is superb! If someone were to ask me about it, I'd say that this is a sweet and positive sort of book. The characters are so endearing and so memorable. I know I'm gushing and babbling, but I really loved this book. It's simply one of the best books I've read in years.
Rating:
Summary: Plagiarism?
Review: I have not read Gene Brewer's book and do not know whether he has acknoledged this fact, but its premise is the same as that of a 1980s South American film called "The Man Facing Southeast." Neither the film company nor (so far as I can tell) any reviewers have pointed this out. The parallels are, I think, much too close to be attributed to coincidence. I hope that more people will look into this. If you cannot find the movie anywhere, it is easy to read a synopsis online. ...
Rating:
Summary: Simply amazing
Review: I have to say that I found this novel extremely catching, and I quite enjoy it. I found it so dynamic, switching stories all the time, from Brewer's own business to his children's and of course to prot's, who is the connector for the whole book. I strongly recommend it to everyone that wants to spend a good time reading, and guessing what's the truth behind prot's thoughts. I'm really looking forward to seeing the movie, as I've been told is a good one also (although we all know that when comparing films and the books they come from, films always lose)
If you are doubting, do read it and you won't regret it.
Rating:
Summary: The man who mistook his wife for a hat, on LSD!!
Review: I loved this book. You don't know whether it's fiction or fact, whether prot is mad or really an extra-terrestial, whether it's a comment on humankind, psychiatry and madness or simply a good story. Taking it's cues from the man who mistook is wife for a hat, itself a compelling read, and it's style from The Dice Man by Luke Rheinhardt this book keeps you guessing until the end and indeed after it. It is clever, intelligent, funny, sad, sometimes revolting and ultimately disturbing and yet uplifting. It is a damned good read!!! I WANT TO LIVE ON K-PAX!! If the publisher is reading this, publish the sequel - I want more!!!
Rating:
Summary: Captivating character study and social commentary
Review: I picked this book up and read it in one day, at two sittings. It's an intriguing novel done as a psychiatric case study of the main character, "prot", a homeless man who believes himself to be from the planet K-PAX. The story is a voyage of discovery into prot's character and a social commentary on the ills of our time. Although there are touches of sadness, the overall quality of the book is optimism. I didn't find it as compelling as the other reviewers, although it was certainly enjoyable and well done. I don't see this as a must-read for sci-fi fans at all--it isn't by any means a science fiction novel. Rather, for those of you interested in the human condition and in people; for those of you willing to take a touch of magical realism with your reality, this will be a good read.
| 
