Product Description

When a man who claims to be from outer space is brought into the Manhattan Institute, the mental ward seems to be just the place for him. However this patient is unlike anyone psychiatrist Dr. Gene Brewer has had under his care before. Calling himself 'prot', he has no traceable background but says that he is an inhabitant of the planet K-PAX, a perfect world without wars, government or religion, and where every being coexists in harmony. Setting a departure date - August 17th at 3.31am - on which he plans to return home on a beam of light, 'prot' keeps us guessing right up until the end.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #137560 in Books
• Published on: 1996-07-11
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 240 pages

Esquire
"This gloriously off-beat comedy reads like a combination of 'Starman', 'Oliver Sacks', and 'One Flew Over the Cuckoo's nest.'"

Maxim
"K-PAX explores the nature of truth, reality and our enduring need to believe."

From the Publisher
Is he really extraterrestrial?

Or is he just on another planet?

Customer Reviews

Buy it. Read it. Love it.
K-PAX is one of the great underrated science fiction novels. It's a simple tale, beautifully told, which draws you in and makes you want to believe in the characters. Until the end, you could almost believe it's a true story.

Written as a first person account by a psychiatrist treating a patient who claims to be from another planet. "prot", as he calls himself, explains that he will return to his home planet of K-PAX at a specified time and date, riding on a beam of light -- and taking one of the other inmates of the hospital with him. Meanwhile, Dr. Brewer tries to understand who prot really is, and to demonstrate to himself and to prot that his patient is an ordinary human.

Too often this kind of book begins promisingly but fails to deliver on the promise -- the mysteries set out before the reader are explained away too easily, or the delicate sense of almost-reality that these stories depend on is broken. But K-PAX delivers on all fronts. Every explanation has another mystery hidden inside it, and the ending is at once realistic and rational, making sense of everything so far, while leaving some doubt and hope in your mind.

When I read K-PAX, I immediately went out and bought another copy for a friend. He phoned me up later: "I got home at midnight and saw you'd left a book for me. I thought, 'That's nice, I'll read for half an hour or so before I go to sleep." And I couldn't put it down! You &*$@*?#!". It was 4:30 in the morning.

Stunning
I ordered this casually from a catalogue and picked it up casually this morning as it was at the top of my unread pile. I have been unable to put this down all day (and the lawn has remained unmowed!). This is the most compelling book I have read for several years and I just glad that my 'casual' book order included K-PAZ II!

I assumed this was a straight forward fiction novel, but the first person narrative of the psychiatrist almost makes you question whether this is non fiction whilst the dialogue with 'prot' turns you to believe this is a science fiction novel. In its denouement it becomes a amalgam of all three and it's clever and convincing writing helps it stand up on all fronts.

You will want to know who or what 'prot' is and right up the end gene brewer keeps you enthralled. Read this book.

So good, you might ask yourself if it was a true story
I saw the film K-Pax and really wanted to read the Book, as it would go into much more detail about many things. And i was not dissapointed. At first, I decided to buy the first book, as i though i wouldn't like it. But, after deciding to buy the Omnibus edition i was not dissapointed. Buying the three books separately will cost you more, but also, after reading one, you will want to read the next one soon after. So the omnibus edition is a good idea. I didn't sleep properly for two nights because the book, i really wanted to know what happened next.

With this edition, you also get Prot's Report which is interesting in its right, but i prefer the way the story is told from Gene's view.

In short, go buy this book, as it will keep you guessing until the end, and will make you think alot. While reading, you might even ask yourslef if this was a true story (unfortunately not).