Rating: 
Summary: I wonder if Spacey read this before taking the part?
Review: K-Pax is, in all honesty, one of the worst books I have read. I don't just mean worst in terms of pulp-fiction, in this case it is simply the Gene Brewer's inability to create something that will engage with his audience. Sadly he has chosen to write a sequel to it which probably means another printer somewhere has to waste their precious ink in producing what will most likely be another 200 pages of egotistical, indoctrinating drivel. Amazingly, this book has made it as a high-profile film starring Kevin Spacey, in this case I hope the director murders the story line and comes up with something interesting.K-Pax is a novel based on a series of interviews in a psychiatric hospital with a patient calling himself 'polt' who claims to come from the planet K-Pax. Personally I wish he had stayed there. As the interviews progress it becomes more and more apparent that 'polt' is a mentally disturbed individual who suffers from either a multiple identity or is suppressing something horrendous that has occurred in the past. In the course of these interviews, the author bullies, patronises and tries to trick the subject into revealing his true character whilst lulling the audience into the false belief that something worthwhile may be about to happen in the end. As it happens there is not so much a happy ending as an uncertain finale to this novel, more of a relief than anything else but we are still left with the continuous moralising and social comment that is made even more irritating when it is surrounded by another 210 sheets of trashy, badly thought out, inadequately expressed writing. I'm guessing that the writer intended this to be some sort of satire since if there was a serious moral point lurking in the depths of his writing then he either forgot all about it and replaced it with some Freudian psychology for good measure or I'd given up with it by that time. Unfortunately this is the type of book that someone is either going to love or hate and I suspect I may be in the minority of those who didn't like it. I received this book free as part of a book-shop offer and I'm surprised they didn't pay those who took it up to remove it from their bookshelves as there is no way it would have sold otherwise. Avoid this at all costs, I don't intend to even contemplate how bad the sequel is, it was horrendous enough wasting 2hrs 30mins of my existence reading the first.
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent Read
Review: K-Pax looks at many of the stupid mistakes people make in their lives from the perspective of an otherworldly visitor. Excellent book.
Rating: 
Summary: truly amazing in my eyes
Review: My opinion of the book is very high. It was a very deep, gripping, wonderful book. The author's writing skill was very impressive. I believe that because I couldn't tell if the book was fiction or nonfiction. I thought it was nonfiction until about an hour ago, when I had to call Borders to ask them about it (they said science fiction). For something fiction to be that believable is truly amazing in my eyes. I would recommend this book to young adults up to someone 200 years old who was interested in people around them, space, astronomers, people interested in psychiatry, and any other related fields. This was an astounding book, and I recommend you read it!
Rating:
Summary: Clever plot and interesting characters
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful quick read - great gift for ages teen to adult!
Review: Not being a major science fiction buff, this wasn't number one on my list of books to read. But after my 17 year old son read it and said it was "really great", I picked it up and stayed up till 5 am to finish it. And I had to admit it was not only a well-written and totally engaging mystery about a man who may or may not be an alien from another plant - but also one of the more thought-provoking books I've read in months. Even reluctant readers should enjoy this one!
One minor quibble and it isn't the author's fault - the book has been made into a move and before reading this book, I'd seen the media blitz on televison and movie trailers for the movie, featuring Kevin Spacey as alien Prot. So I couldn't read the book without envisioning Spacey as Prot. This is not necessarily a bad thing, but I prefer to use my imagination to picture characters. Other than that, I found this to be a wonderful book.
Rating:
Summary: Funny, Original, and Touching
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: K-PAX
Review: One of My favorites. An easy, nevertheless enjoyable read that i could not put down. Its subject was not so much SF but more along the lines of psychiatry. Being interested in the subject myself, I enjoyed how Gene Brewer blended accurate and interesting information along with a fun and creative story. Despite the simplicity of the novel, I loved it and was dissapointed when it was over. It had humor and sadness and everything else that a good novel requires.
Rating:
Summary: Alien or psycho? That's missing the point!
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: Beautiful vision.
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: K-Pax
Review: Simply engaging. Many will find this title after hearing or seeing Kevin Spacey's starring in the motion picture. What makes this science fiction successful is that we're drawn to the storyline immediately when we pick up and read the first few pages. Seems somewhat straightforward: a man named Prot who claims to be visiting Earth from another planet named K-Pax. What's more is that as audience (readers), we are drawn to buy either truth - whether Prot is nothing more than a psycho, or to believe and be convinced that he does come from K-Pax, and in the awe of the team of scientists who devoted years to study the orbits of the constellation Lyra, Prot simply sketches the night sky as observed from K-Pax - or, to summarize, Prot knows everything about the newly discovered star system. A note to make about this book, K-Pax is the first part of the trilogy. The second part will pick up from the point where Prot "leaves" Earth and travels back to K-Pax. 3.8 stars. Revised 3/7/2003
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