Gene BrewerRezensionen

I came across the K-PAX series this year when I moved home, and spent three weeks in my empty living room with just a lamp and an air mattress. At first, I was merely enjoying the mystery of Brewer's original trilogy, but as his true meaning came out, I found myself enchanted by the knowledge that my own views seemed to cross so nicely with Brewer's own.

On reading K-PAX IV, I at first felt like it emphasised all the lesser elements of Brewer's novels: his slight absurdity is full-blast here with the ludicrously over-the-top agents; the 'pop psychiatry' in which prot recognises ways of curing every patient that we can't figure out, felt just a little pat this time. But on reaching that final chapter, I was blown away. Suddenly, everything makes sense.

I still can't say this book is amazing: the appearance of a genuinely alien creature (as opposed to prot's apparent humanity) doesn't seem to have an effect on Brewer's Earth. But on the other hand, his true point - the failings of humanity, and how horrific the dark side of our species is - needs to be spoken to everyone. There is hope, Brewer says, but we can't keep ignoring the darkness. A beautiful four book saga, all things considered.

Having seen the film countless times and just now getting around to reading the book, I found it rather entertaining and felt they might have been better off sticking to the book rather than modifying it for the film. That said, Kevin Spacey does a remarkable job playing 'prot', and the book character is equally colorful. I enjoyed it thoroughly and would recommend it to people that may not have seen the film yet.

Everything is predictable. Comes across as didactic and pretentious.

I originally saw the movie version of K-Pax, starring Kevin Spacey, which I enjoyed, so I figured I would read the novel on which it was based. In this novel, a patient with no identification is brought to the Manhattan Psychiatric Institute, where he is put under the care of a psychiatrist that has the same name as the author. The patient calls himself Prot and claims he comes from the planet K-Pax, and will return on August 17. Prot is often witty and charming. He has an amazing amount of knowledge on subjects that lend credence to his claim that he is an alien. Brewer believes he has a multiple personality disorder and is trying hard to help him. Prot has a strange effect on people as evidenced when Brewer brings Prot home for a picnic.

I mostly enjoyed the novel. It captured much of the mystery behind the Prot character that can be found in the movie. Specifically, is he an alien or is it all just in his head? For long portions of the book, it’s hard to figure out which is the case. The writing is competent and professional. There is less believability in the novel than in the movie, however. This was a solid novel and an interesting read.

Carl Alves – author of Blood Street

A patient about whom nothing is known is brought to the Manhattan Psychiatric Institute. He claims to be a visitor from K-PAX, a utopian paradise of a planet where there are no laws, governments, religion or cruelty of any kind. He is here to write a report on B-TIK (commonly known by us as Planet Earth).

Prot, as he calls himself, is one of the most remarkable protagonists of a novel I've read about lately. He is an empath and can connect even with some of the most shelled-in inmates at the hospital, such as autists. He can also allegedly talk to animals, see light into the ultraviolet specter and travel at super-light speed. It's done with mirrors.

Naturally, he is immediately diagnosed with a multiple personality disorder - he is supposed to be an alter ego of a young man somewhere from the American southwest. Is he really, though? Even his doctor sometimes doubts the theory, since prot is so sure of himself and can provide on demand the details of K-PAX history, geology and even the arrangement of constellations visible from K-PAX's surface. Much of the novel occupies itself with finding out about the life of prot's alter ego and the presumably horrible events that have caused him to assume a different dominant personality. We're nearly crossing into a sort of whodunit territory here as a crime possibly connected to prot's alter ego is being slowly uncovered by prot's psychiatrist and a journalist.

An interesting approach with K-PAX is that the author, Gene Brewer, is a character in the novel - prot's psychiatrist at the Institute. This, plus the fact that he actually refers to the novel inside of it, makes you think that the story is real, non-fictional. Until too improbable things start happening, that is. It's kind of a cheap trick, but it worked on me, for a while at least. Maybe I'm just too gullible, although of course I haven't seen the movie yet.

Not everything is rosy. Prot's bleak vision of humanity's future and his failure to find anything beautiful in our society is hard to argue against, but it does kind of act as a downer and perhaps sometimes even as the author's attempt of pushing certain personal convictions down our throat. I didn't really mind, since my own personal world-view is pretty much one-on-one with that, but consider yourself forewarned. There's also the case that a lot of problems that prot sees are really specific to American, or at the very least, Western society and so his simultaneously hilarious and horrifying report (included as a bonus content to the Omnibus version) reflects mostly those issues (for example, proudly wallowing in ignorance, the ongoing process of numbing oneself with the help of popular media, especially TV, capitalist exploitation of the working class and tendencies towards war).

I am also of the opinion that the third part, The Worlds of prot, is rather unnecessary and only serves to artificially lengthen the series, since it doesn't actually add anything new to either prot's personality or the alter ego's past, but is instead rather heavy on prot's supernatural abilities. This only breaks the credibility of the novel and the feeling of immersion.

In the end, though, K-PAX is still a rather excellent, thought-provoking and often hilarious look into human psychology, as well as human society. Highly recommended.

A patient brought before a psychiatrist claims to be an alien visiting from another planet. Is he for real, or is he the most convincing delusional anyone has ever come across? It is a neat, crowd-pleasing idea, birthed ably enough into the world by author Gene Brewer. The author's background in psychology gives an air of authenticity to the interactions between doctor and patient, although the world of 'K-PAX' (the patient's 'homeworld') is a bit too on the unbelievably utopian side (Brewer even namechecks John Lennon's 'Imagine', and his vision of how the complex problems of the world simply come down to human 'stupidity' is a bit simplistic). That said, the patient, 'prot', is rather believable and Brewer keeps you guessing as to whether prot really is an alien.

However, the writing itself is rather workmanlike: leaving aside the odd sojourns into opera and a mid-life-crisis flirtation between the psychiatrist and a reporter, the film adaptation (2001, starring Kevin Spacey and Jeff Bridges) handles the story beats much better, particularly with regards to the ending. The book is a breeze to read, but go for the movie if it is an either/or decision for you.

I enjoyed the movie and the book.

I did get annoyed with Dr. Brewer's hang up about his father.
He hated that his father (who died while he was young) "forced" him to be a Doctor.
A man wanting his son to follow in his footsteps is not unusual.

I like what K-Pax had to say.

I remember being disappointed by this, after enjoying the movie.... maybe I should reread it someday, I dunno...

I saw the movie first and liked it enough to hope the book was better. It wasn't.

Idę po latarkę i lusterko, jakby mnie długo nie było, to znaczy że podróżuję:)

A genuinely delightful book. I read this after watching the Kevin Spacey movie partly because I was so impressed with Spacey's performance that I knew I'd have a character I loved popping around in my head. A wonderful tale about a man who believes he is from outer space, and seems to have the intelligence and other worldly knowledge for it to be true, who spends his time at a mental hospital helping who he can.

I always enjoy the idea that 'crazy' people are not crazy at all but can see and understand something the rest of us cannot. This is one of those books.

Alien visitor or mental patient? You won't find out until the end. Mainly, this is a story about the relationship between doctor and patient on present-day Earth. The main character Prot is brilliant, funny, and innocent...you root for him no matter the outcome. The author does a great job posing social questions, and commenting on the general state of man.

I saw the movie first, so was excited to learn the books are a series! I think the ideas are brilliant, but the execution is a bit lacking. I still give this book 5 stars, however, because reading after all is not about the details...but how much you enjoyed the journey. :)

I was first introduced to K-Pax when I saw the film starring Kevin Spacey. It was a wonderful movie and I immediately went out and bought the book, K-Pax.

The first book was great and was very much the same as the film. I enjoyed both.

Having been so happy with both the original book and the film I bought K-Pax II and K-Pax III.

I'm sorry, but these did not work for me. The first book contained mystery, awe, humour and intrigue. The second and third books added nothing to the first and K-Pax III especially, destroyed the magic that was created in the initial book. It felt to me that the second and third books were only written to make money and to cash in on the success of the first. Having read the author's notes on these books I realise this was indeed the case.

The first book was a wonderful story, and it was complete. It created a world of mystery and awe that did not need to be explained or extended. Books II and III, IMNSHO, should never have been written.½

This was a great trilogy and I read each book in quick succession. I even discovered there was a K-Pax IV, but it seems to have mixed reviews and doesn't seem to involve the same characters, so I may not seek it out immediately.

This third installment again focuses on coaxing Robert from a catatonic state, whilst his body is 'occupied' by Prot. Multiple personailty, or other-worldly being - who knows? By this point in the trilogy I firmly had in my mind which I thought Prot was and was more interested in the background story of Robert's past and Prot's antics than the 'is he-isn't he' aspect. Building up to Prot's final departure, the book was a satisfying conclusion to an excellent trilogy.

This was a great trilogy and I read each book in quick succession. I even discovered there was a K-Pax IV, but it seems to have mixed reviews and doesn't seem to involve the same characters, so I may not seek it out immediately.

Book two doesn't deviate much from the formula started in Book 1 - Prot 'arrives', and improves the lives of those around him whilst Gene tries to help Robert who appears to have vanished - but this doesn't diminish the story at all. There is some new back-story introduced and the relationship between Dr Brewer and his patient is as amusing and well characterised as before.

This was a great trilogy and I read each book in quick succession. I even discovered there was a K-Pax IV, but it seems to have mixed reviews and doesn't seem to involve the same characters, so I may not seek it out immediately.

This first book sets the style for the trilogy - I enjoyed the chapters set out as expanded notes/observations based on the sessions with Prot. The deliberate ambiguity of whether he is a being from another planet is nicely played out, although at the end I found myself shouting internally the surely scientific solutions of probing this would have been undertaken if only to prove to the patient he was human (I was pleased to see blood testing results discussed in the subsequent books). Both thought-provoking, funny and heart-warming, especially where Prot interacts and 'cures' some of the other patients, this was a joy to read.

This is a story of a man with multiple personality disorder. What makes it interesting, is that the personality dominantly portrayed in the book is from another planet and has vast insight into the human condition, as well as unexplainable and verifiable information on another world.

It isn't clear whether this is a psychology book or science fiction. The reader is intentionally left hanging over the decision, as ever new data point clearly in one direction or the other.

I was drawn to this book after seeing the movie. Although I enjoyed the movie, it didn't quite feel complete. The movie was fairly accurate to the book, but left out some details and the final chapter. The book explores several interactions with other patients of the psychiatric ward than the movie does, and provides a few new twists. It is worth reading even if you're familiar with the movie.

*** Possible SPOILER ***

The book doesn't give a clear answer to the questions raised. Is that a spoiler. I understand there is a sequel (or two even) which may provide clearer conclusions.½

The basic story is that the author/narrator is a psychotherapist in a mental institution, where a new patient by the name of “prot” (rhymes with goat) arrives. He claims to be a visitor from the planet K-PAX, and is only visiting Earth to study.

The narrator disbelieves him, instead taking him to be a facet of a split personality that the actual bodily inhabitant created and is hiding behind. He uses various psychotherapeutic methods to coax the supposed hidden personality out, but at the same time prot is able to help many other patients of the institution in ways that the clinical staff just couldn’t do previously.

Over the course of the trilogy, various truths and untruths about prot are discovered, along with the same about the narrator. prot enables him to realise things about himself and his own family which had passed him by, including some quite remarkable insights.

The major question throughout the books is whether prot is what he says he is: an alien, or if the narrator’s diagnosis is correct. This ambiguity dominates the plot and the narrator’s thinking, and what seems like a resolution is often quickly disproved.

With regards to the supporting characters, I have to say that a good few of the other patients are very quickly glossed over, and some forgotten until suddenly returning to the action. Their mental deficiencies or illnesses are very conveniently non-identical and somewhat amusingly described, but there’s no real depth to them.

Style-wise, many of the chapters are supposed transcripts of the narrator’s sessions with prot, and so are full of short, snappy, back-and-forth dialogue, followed by the narrator’s conclusions at the end of each session. It can get a little repetitive after 700-odd pages, but the plot is sufficiently varied to keep things interesting.

I’ve not seen the film, but I have a vague recollection of Kevin Spacey being in the title role, and it helped to visualise prot with Spacey’s face/mannerisms. A lot of what prot does is physical in nature, and to apply an existing face to him was a big plus.

Is it worth reading? I’d say that the first book is just about sufficient as an intro to the world of prot, and it has a pretty hefty cliffhanger which means that the second is a necessity. For me, the third part of the trilogy was definitely an afterthought, as things are relatively nicely wrapped up earlier in the grand scheme of things.

I read this after having already seen, and enjoyed, the movie, so there were no real surprises here. The story is pretty much the same as in the film, though a little more rounded out and with a slightly fuller cast of characters. We never really get to know the supporting cast well though, since the book is written in the first person and deals primarily with Dr. Brewer's account of his sessions with prot. The writing is uncomplicated and utilitarian and makes for a light, enjoyable read, though nothing extraordinary. It did leave me looking forward to the next in the series.½

He calls himself prot. It rhymes with goat, and is never capitalized. He claims to be from the world called K-PAX, which is apparently not just some radio or television station on the west coast.

Gene Brewer, the psychologist analyzing this man recently admitted to the ward, splits his time between listening to prot go on about his extraterrestrial life and trying to find out exactly who this John Doe is.

But with each session, prot's story becomes more and more believable, and the other patients in the ward are starting to believe him.

Brewer and a journalist named Giselle find out about prot's alter ego, and make Brewer thing that prot is an imaginative sufferer of multiple personality disorder, until prot does something that he just can't explain.

Part of a series of four books as well as supplemental material, this book would probably be best enjoyed by readers of psycho-analytical fiction, or those into pop science fiction. If didn't like the movie, chances are you wouldn't like the book either, though I assure you: the book is better.

Gene Brewer’s K-PAX is a mixture of a science-fiction, comedy and medical thriller. It questions our very existence. Perhaps we evolved from the fish? Why are we so stubbornly shitting in our own nest? And of course, is there intelligent life in space?

According to prot – pronounced like ‘goat’ – there is, on the planet K-PAX. His home planet where there’s no religion, government, war, death or work. You already want to go there don’t you? And so do all the patients at the Manhattan Psychiatric Institute where prot is being held and studied by Dr. Gene Brewer.

K-PAX follows the treatment of prot and tries to make his crazy delusions funny. The case proves to be the strangest Dr. Brewer has ever encountered. Definitely strange, but not particularly funny. Prot is a smug, sarcastic and at times blatantly rude patient, which would surely be funny on the big screen. The development of K-PAX and prot’s treatment do go through a number of unexpected twists that keep the reader wondering. Together with a writing style that a smart child could easily read, this book provides a light, quirky tale that you could read in a few sittings.

As far as presenting us with questions about our existence goes, K-PAX is not particularly enlightening or in anyway the contribution to the world of science that Gene suggests it to be in his prologue. Before long the reader is presented with a lot of crazy ideas of a utopian society on K-PAX that are just silly. So if silly’s what you like K-PAX is great. If you have no imagination whatsoever, this might not be such a good choice for you.

This review was originally published in On Dit, the student newspaper of Adelaide University.

A sad and surprising ending to a wonderful story.

Prot is picked up in a NY bus terminal and brought to a psychiatric ward because of his bizarre claims of being from another world. Dr. Brewer is the psychiatrist analyzing Prot trying to determine if he is suffering from a devasting psychiatric illness or is truely from another planet. suspenseful, as the evidence mounts for both sides I felt unable to make a final judgement on Prot's origins. I picked up the book after watching the movie--i was suprised by how much i enjoyed it. The story moved quickly and was very engaging Found it to be much more psychological thriller than a straight sci fi.½

Mix some science-fiction with the classic One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and you get K-PAX. A delightful story of a man claiming to be from another planet. Is he really an alien or mentally disturbed young man? Told through the notes of the doctor trying to uncover the truth, we learn more about ourselves as a human race. Fun read.