On a Beam of Light [Bargain Price] [Hardcover]

Gene Brewer (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 2001

Five years to the day, almost to the second, after he disappeared form the Manhattan Psychiatric Institute, leaving his host body in a catatonic state, the being known as prot (rhymes with goat) has returned. Now, in sixteen more sessions with psychiatrist Gene Brewer, prot reveals that he has come back to escort a chosen few to his home planet, K-PAX.

K-PAX is an idyllic planet free of the pain and suffering of earth. Prot has incredible insights into how to cure that suffering, and his radical ideas have made him a celebrity. Now, legions of people are longing to follow him home.

But Dr. Brewer has heard it before. Five years ago, he discovered another person buried deep in prot's personality: Robert Porter of Montana. The mystery of Robert's illness and of prot's true origins lie deep within Robert's shattered psyche. Now Dr. Brewer must race against the clock to unlock the secrets of Robert's traumatic past and not only save his patient but maybe humanity.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Positively captivating, this warmhearted sequel to K-PAX (1995) revisits the Manhattan Psychiatric Institute, where psychiatrist/narrator Dr. Gene Brewer works with a highly unusual patient, a sexually repressed man suffering from multiple personality disorder whose alter ego "prot" (rhymes with goat) claims to be from the utopian planet of K-PAX. In K-PAX, a psychiatric detective story told over the course of 16 therapy sessions, Dr. Brewer eventually reveals prot to be Robert Porter, who fled Montana after killing the man who had just raped and murdered his young wife and daughter. At the novel's conclusion, prot returns to his home planet, promising to reappear "in about five of your years." Robert, meanwhile, is left in a state of intractable catatonia. The sequel opens as prot returns five years later, almost to the minute, and the plot evolves over the course of another 16 therapy sessions. Brewer's diagnosis of multiple personality disorder is confirmed as the tortured events of Robert's past surface and other personas begin to emerge. In the meantime, prot brings solace and healing to the other patients and visits the Bronx Zoo, where he comforts the captive animals with the assurance that humans aren't long for the Earth. As Robert's ego strengthens, prot appears less frequently and Robert's sexual repression disappears. But the lingering presence of prot, his amazing demonstration of light travel on national TV and conflicting DNA tests suggest that prot/Robert actually may be an extraterrestrial. Miracles and love abound in this clever modern fairy tale, pitched somewhere between Oliver Sacks's nonfiction and John Irving's novels. (Mar. 19) Forecast: K-PAX, just out in mass market paperback, has an ardent cult following, and Kevin Spacey is slated to play prot in the film version, all of which should help boost the sequel's sales.
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

In K-PAX (1995), Brewer introduced prot, who hails from the planet K-PAX, whose name rhymes with goat, and who is a patient of psychiatrist Gene Brewer at the Manhattan Psychiatric Institute. In fact, Brewer's 16 sessions with prot were the subject matter of K-PAX. Brewer didn't "cure" prot. Rather, he, his colleagues, and several other patients learned much about themselves and the world from prot. On a Beam of Light reports on sessions 17 through 32, in which Brewer treats Robert, who hosts prot--and Harry and Paul, too. The sessions don't add up to a case history but instead offer a delightful, witty, often enlightening perspective on planet Earth and some of its social, medical, and political aspects--war, violence, and, especially, some events in the lives of Robert and company. Brewer's satire is usually gentle and occasionally devastating. Fans of K-PAX won't be disappointed by its sequel, and neither will those coming to this skillful and creative novelist for the first time. William Beatty
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's Press; 1st edition (March 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312269269
• ASIN: B0000AA9JG
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,603,502 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Fitting Sequel to an Excellent Novel, September 23, 2001

By 

Dr. Christopher Coleman (HONG KONG) - See all my reviews

This review is from: On a Beam of Light (Hardcover)

I read K-PAX almost a year ago, and enjoyed it very much. In my Amazon review I gave the book 4 stars, and thought at the time that was an accurate reflection of its quality--I prefer to save a 5 star rating for only a very few works, and those of the highest artistic merit. But in the intervening time K-PAX has stayed with me, unlike so much else I've read. Gene Brewer's characters are compelling beyond description, and unique in the world of fiction. The story, a fascinating blend of magical realism and psychiatric case study, delves deeply into the human condition, finding both gentle optimism and harsh reality. In retrospect, K-PAX clearly deserved 5 stars.

On a Beam of Light however, is the second book of a projected trilogy--always a difficult challenge from the writer's perspective. First books start the story, introducing characters and setting the themes and plot; third books bring the story to fruition, usually providing the climax of the entire trilogy. But second books are development and must remain open-ended. Brewer deftly places the reader within the world of his eponymous psychiatrist and the Manhattan Psychiatric Institute without too much awkward recapitulation from the first novel. But necessarily his focus has changed. Rather than concentrate on a further exploration of the character of prot, the personality of the alien from the planet K-PAX, Brewer examines prot's human host personality, Robert Porter. Sensing deeper trauma still than the horrifying events uncovered in the first book, Brewer explores his patient's childhood for an explanation of prot's existence and savant-like abilities and Porter's profound problems. Magical realism abounds here, too, as the reader is kept guessing about prot's Dr. Dolittle-esque ability to talk to animals, his phenomenal restorative powers for his fellow patients, his astronomical astronomical knowledge, and his peculiar ability to move from place to place on the titular beam of light. While K-PAX seemed, for the most part, to resolve its dilemmas in favor of the reality with which we earthlings are most intimately acquainted, On a Beam of Light does no such thing--major questions are left dangling, clearly to be resolved (but which way?) in the next book. I found On a Beam of Light not quite the equal of its predecessor--the revelations of Robert's past seemed rather too horrifyingly commonplace, and the resolution of one of the patient's problems (Lou, a transgendered man) required such a wild oversight on the staff's part that I found it unbelievable--but nonetheless an excellent book. I eagerly await both the trilogy's final novel and the movie of K-PAX.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Enjoyable, escapist and a little bit of wisdom, November 19, 2001

By 

Dan Diamond (Philadelphia, PA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: On a Beam of Light (Hardcover)

In the same vein as K-PAX, On a Beam of Light picks up (literally) where the first book left off. The story is of prot--a man who claims to be an extraterrestrial "traveler" from the planet K-PAX--and his sessions with skeptical Dr. Gene Brewer. Brewer's first novel had no chapters; the book merely recounted his sixteen sessions with prot. Session 17 begins this book and until it ends at 32, the reader gets much more of the same. More prot assertions about Earth, more of prot helping psychiatric patients, demonstrating his special abilties, etc.

There is some genuine wisdom within these books. Brewer uses prot, the consumate outsider, to rail against accepted conventions of humankind. For example, prot believes in the sanctity of all life. 'Everyone weeps for the dolphins caught in tuna nets, but no one weeps for the tuna' he asserts. The only worry is that some of these observations get lost in the cloying, holier-than-thou way they're related. The reader learns from prot that every patient just needs to "be listened to" in order to be heard and cured. A fine theory but clearly not that simple. Whether you find prot's attitude tolerable or annoying (many reviewers of the film K-PAX found the latter) will determine your enjoyment of this book. It didn't trouble me.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars On a Beam of Light, June 21, 2001

By 

A 7-year old reader (Grand Manan, New Brunswick Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: On a Beam of Light (Hardcover)

Picked it up at 3pm. 7pm and I just put it down. Everything but time & tide waited while I read - On A Beam Of Light. K-Pax and Prot once again had me measuring my world with the one Prot calls home. I saw mankind through a porthole with a different view. The story took such unexpected turns- like the characters in the book I await a few more words from prot. I have neighbours waiting for a call that I've finished reading my copy. When is the next one coming out?