Rating: 
Summary: A mix of ideas that have all been done better.
Review: The back of the book suggests a combination of "Stranger in a Strange Land" and "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest," as well as mentioning "Starman" (i guess because Jeff Bridges is in the movie). Well, yeah, you could say it has some of the elements that made those books great. Or you could say the author just took the ideas in a few good books and mashed them together into something resembling a new story. Problem is, Gene Brewer is no Ken Kesey, and he sure ain't no Robert Heinlein.
First, the "sublime utopian outsider shows us the faults of our species" shtick. Alright, there are some interesting descriptions of an unstuctured-and-therefore-free society in this book (think Anarchism for Dummies), and they're worth pondering, but it doesn't get deep enough into these ideas to be very convincing. And, overall, prot, the alien/mental patient comes off more glib and arrogant than sublimely super-evolved, as we are told to think he is. The character is supposed to show, as did Heinlein's "Stranger," the ideal we as a species can aspire to. He doesn't succeed.
Now, the "Cuckoo's Nest" parallel. K-PAX doesn't accomplish what that book did either, which was to make us feel a great fondness for a large group of very dysfunctional people. Could anyone who read Kesey's masterpiece confuse, say, Chief Broom with Billy Ba-ba-ba-babbit? But, with K-PAX, the group of patients in the hospital where most of the action takes place, are an anoymous group of crazies. One of the plotlines is how prot goes about "curing" many of the patients of their respective neuroses. But we never see how this happens exactly, and when we see the patients improving, we feel little emotional reaction. The trouble is that our narrator, prot's psychiatrist, doesn't really seem to care about any of the characters, so neither do we. His emotional detachment, which we're supposed to see as his defining flaw, causes us to be detached as well, which is a shame.
And, the ending. Well, obviously all through the book we're supposed to be drawn in by our own curiosity about whether he really is a being from another world, or simply a kind man whose own reality has become too painful to reckon with any longer. While the author's resolution of this (it's never as simple as it seems) is a creative one, it's still filtered through our clinical and unimaginative narrator, and so, to me, the climax ultimately disappoints.
This could have been a great, if not entirely original, book. Maybe the author didn't give the story enough time to mature fully. Better character development, for example, would have gone a long way. Or maybe Gene Brewer (the author, not the character - what was that about?) just didn't have the muscle to carry off the task he set out for himself.
Rating: 
Summary: Garbage in, garbage out
Review: The only thing needed to add to johnewark's excellent review of this is that the movie was as painfully bad as the book in every way.Actually, given all the high ratings here, perhaps it's not gratuitous to pile on the criticism for this awful book, juvenile and utterly self-inconsistent when it's not purely derivative (as many people have pointed out, of Good Will Hunting, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, and Starman). It's dreck like this that gives Scientologists a certain credibility when they say L. Ron Hubbard's subhuman literary performances aren't the worst things ever sold under the guise of science fiction.
Rating: 
Summary: A Biblical story updated for the 21st century
Review: The parallels aren't exact by any means, but "K-PAX" is definitely a religious parable for the modern age. The movie doesn't reflect this but the book certainly does - which is rather surprising since the movie apparently follows the book almost to the letter. The only differences I saw between the book and the movie are the name of the psychiatrist who "treats" prot, and the fact that this psychiatrist doesn't do hands-on work to find out prot's "real" name in the book as he does in the movie. But these are nits in what is otherwise a wonderful novel. And to make things even more interesting Brewer has written a sequel to "K-PAX" called "On a Beam of Light". I want to buy this book or borrow it from my local library and read more about prot - his world (his personal world, not K-PAX) and the earthlings who inhabit it.
Rating:
Summary: Well... of course it is a great story...
Review: The thing is, it's not an original story by Gene Brewer. I was very dissapointed to find the story "deja vu-like" familiar. Later on I remembered I saw in a film festival an argentinian film about 15 years ago with the exact same plot(Man Facing South East, you can rent it in most Blockbusters in the foreign film section). So, it looks like Gene Brewer only changed the names and translated the story to English. It turns out he is an excellent translator at least!!
Rating: 
Summary: Once you get in to it, you won't put it down!
Review: This a GREAT book. Author Gene Brewer has written this book under such an odd premise; a psychological case study. The story is told from the perspective of the psychologist, Dr. Gene Brewer. The author and main character have the same name. . . I don't know what that's all about. (maybe like how Tony Danza, always plays a "Tony") Well, I have to be honest. I saw the movie first. So, I know that I had a predetermined thought of what was going to happen. So in turn, having seen the film, I thought the book started off very cold. The psychologist, Dr. Brewer, is looking at the character "prot" (rhymes with goat), as delusional. Now, I understand that is how any psychologist would see this. But, nonetheless, it seemed very cold. The "cold" soon subsided and the novel turned around. There were wonderful descriptions of all of the characters. Dr. Brewer's family, prot, and patients in the hospital were are brilliantly detailed. The interactions between prot and his fellow patients were just wonderful. I won't go any further into the story or the characters, I don't want to spoil anything at all, especially if you haven't seen the film. Now, I am by no means a quick reader. It took me about a week to get halfway through this book. But the halfway point is where the book really gets good. After I hit halfway, it took me a whole two hours to finish the rest. I could not put it down. The story had an intensity, perhaps even an urgency that was just infectious. I ate, did laundry, and smoked without putting the book down in that last two hours. It is probably one of the best books I have read. I am looking forward to reading the sequel. epc
Rating:
Summary: This Book Destroys the Last Bogey Man.
Review: THIS BOOK DESTROYS THE LAST BOGEY MAN.
BY ELIZABETH Hensley As a devout Trekker I read this book and saw the movie without any fear of the alien, but terrified of the psychiatrist! I expected him to be a cold scary manipulator who would take advantage of this naive and gentle alien while he had him under hypnosis! Instead, praise be, he HELPED him! I left the movie afraid of neither of the two, " aliens." They keep comparing it to "One Flew Over the Coo Coo's nest, but how I wish I had read THIS book instead of that one when I was a depressed teenager! This is a kinder gentler book. This book is bout an incredible freindship between three very special beings. If Norman Rockwell built a mental hospital, this one would be it. Dignity is preserved and differences celebrated for both patients and, surprise! The doctor!
The only thing I do not like about Prot's character is his atheism. It is highly illogical in light of the Anthropic Principle, the near death studies, the recent double blind, and in some cases (tripple blind!) studies being done showing the effectiveness of prayer, and the Gaia hypothesis. Teilhard DeChardin, etc. Eco-niches don't stay empty, not even THAT eco- niche.
Rather Prot is an alien, or one persona in a very troubled human suffering from multiple personality disorder is irrelevant. Robert and Prot are friends for sure who stick with each other through thick and thin, and then along comes a new friend, Dr. Brewer who is able to help them both! Prot's touching, deeply moving attempt to help his human friend and find help on a world that is completely alien to him, almost moved me to tears. When the tragedy happened Prot is forced to take control of their mutual body, survive for four and half years on a world he can just barely tolerate, but he would do anything to save Robert including traveling light years and light years. The book goes a tiny bit more than the movie into how Prot spent that time, trying to survive and begging Robert to speak to him. By the time Prot is picked up by the police, he is starving, frusterated, lonely, angry with humanity and darn good and ready for professional help. He senses the doctor can be trusted, but can he get the doctor to trust him? Him, an alien?
But "Gene Gene Gene" is up to the challenge. Together they try to help Robert. In science fiction fan writing, a story where you write yourself into the plot is known as a Mary Lou story. This series is the best Mary Lou story ever written! Gene Brewer is the name of the psychiatrist in the book, (not Mark), and Gene Brewer is the author! Many of the family members mentioned in the book, are the author's own family members. He owns Dalmatians. :-) In the book Shasta was a Dalmatian.
Keep on sorjornin Prot! :-) Liz <><
Rating:
Summary: Wow.
Review: This book has so much more detail and sub-plots than the movie, and the characterisation is amazing. I would recommend, however, to see the movie first, if you're going to, since otherwise it will just annoy the heck out of you. The book is a mix of genres, and therefore hard to define, but it contains a good amount of humour and angst. If you like that kind of mix, go and read it!
Rating:
Summary: Great insight into our culture.
Review: This book offers a very cool way of looking at our culture as a human being (among many other factors). I read it in one sitting, as it reads very easy. A nice afternoon read for all those philosophy majors out there.
Rating:
Summary: There's a starman waiting in the sky...
Review: This first person narrative is penned by Dr. Gene Brewer. The protagonist's name is also Dr Gene Brewer. However, the author was a scientist prior to becoming an author, and the fictional Brewer is a psychiatrist and acting director at the Manhattan Psychiatric Institute. Dr. Gene Brewer is a middle-aged man who is very involved with the administration of MPI when his attention is called to a special patient. The patient's name is prot, and prot claims to be an alien from the planet K-PAX. Dr Brewer is, of course, all too familiar with delusional patients, so he sets out to unravel the mystery of prot's identity. Brewer finds that he is at first annoyed by prot, but then he becomes intrigued. Not only is prot extremely intelligent, but he is also popular with the other patients. To Brewer's amazement, prot actually begins to "reach" patients who have been written off as hopeless for years. It soon becomes clear to Dr Brewer that prot is not your-run-of-the-mill case. Brewer elicts information about the planet K-Pax from prot in an attempt to understand prot's past. While Brewer can put nice little neat labels and explanations on much of prot's descriptions of life on K-PAX, he cannot explain prot's amazing knowledge of the universe, and Brewer soon finds that after several sessions with prot, he has more questions than answers. Brewer's search for the truth intensifies when he realises that prot intends to return to K-Pax on a specified date and time. As the time for prot's departure approaches, Dr Brewer must balance discovering the truth against damaging his patient. K-Pax is book one of a trilogy and covers Dr Brewer's therapy with prot from sessions 1-16. This gripping novel is an easy read and manages to grab the reader from page one. It's impossible to overlook the fact that the author's name is the same as the protagonist's, and I found myself wondering just how much of the story is true, No doubt this is deliberate on Brewer's part, but this just adds to the mystery of prot. Is prot an alien as he claims, or is he only one layer of a delusional mind? If you saw the film and enjoyed it, you will doubtless enjoy the book too. And if you haven't seen the film, I can recommend it highly.
Rating:
Summary: Good, quick read.
Review: 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.
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