Customer Reviews

The Philosopher's Apprentice

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

Having never read any James Morrow, I wasn't sure what to expect. But having recently started reading philosophy texts again, I thought this book could be fun and also thought-provoking. It definitely was. The Philosopher's Apprentice is like Christopher Moore meets Herman Hesse. It definitely would help to have some knowledge of philosophy to get the most from this story, but it certainly is not required. Just observing the state of the world will be a good background to enjoy this book. If deep, ethical questions and paradoxes appeal to you, this book will too.

Mason Ambrose, materialist and philosophy student is at a crossroads. His future in philosophy is in jeopardy when he is offered a lucrative job. His task will be to tutor teenager Londa, and provide her with a conscience, for due to an accident, she has amnesia and doesn't know how to act ethically. Mason's acceptance of this role takes him and others on an "odyssey" that the reader doesn't know how or where it will end until the story's conclusion.

The Philosopher's Apprentice contains great philosophical/ethical and political issues and would really appeal to someone who has interest in cloning and genetics(hint, hint.) I don't want to say more and give away any of the twists and turns of this story. I really enjoyed this novel. Good stuff.

James Morrow is my favorite author. I was introduced to his brilliant verbosity through a University Prof of mine who had us read "This is the Way the World Ends" (a FANTASTIC, hilarious and haunting work) for our class on SF. I soon after read the Godhead Trilogy and a collection of Short Stories and I was hooked. "The Continent of Lies" is perhaps of his my favorite.

Onto the matter at hand. After the meandering, unfulfilling "Witchfinder" where ideas were too simple and plot twists too unnecessary, I was very eager to get my hands on a "The Philosopher's Apprentice". The title alone had me. I cracked it open and the brilliant Morrow of Old had returned and with a vengence! Beautiful sentences and consistently original metaphors continually sprung from the page, some of which made me laugh uproariously and all of which made me remember what a fine craftsman Morrow is with language.

And then. And then the second section of the book began and what was a finely crafted narrative suddenly came grinding to a halt. The plot was nearly non-existent. What was an interesting diegesis with characters I was empathetic towards almost immediately lost my interest. I had no inclination to continue reading. Though, of course, I did.

The final section of the book returns with a plot worthy of the ideas it is designed to convey. The characters, however, don't seem to do much changing and, as another reviewer mentioned, they tend to make decisions that don't align with who I think they are.

And though the final section is good, it is not enough to redeem the plodding, dull and poorly conceived middle section. To be honest, I was glad when the book was done. And though I may read it again in times far away, I am not really looking forward to doing so.

Do I recommend it to Morrow fans? Absolutely, for there are some real jems in here. Do I recommend it to the general public? Nope, for it gives the reader a view of Morrow which is not accurate to his genius.

There are some great ideas in this book: it's amazingly creative at times and a delight to read. But at other times it seems to plod along almost aimlessly. Editing it down from 400+ pages to about 250 or so would have resulted in a sharper, tighter novel. The book has elements that might remind one of, say, The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test or some of Vonnegut's works: it's as if Morrow is somewhat spaced out on some illegal drug. There are long (some seem VERY long) sections of the book about philosophical theories: these may be of great interest to people who love philosophical reasoning, but I think some drastic pruning would be beneficial.

It's impossible to talk much about the plot without revealing major spoilers, but genetic engineering is a major theme. The book should probably be classified as science fiction, rather than general modern fiction: there are not any space aliens, but you'll need to be very generous with the author in terms of what you think is scientifically possible. The problem you'll have will be whether you find the actions of the main characters (or other characters) to be believable. There were times when I felt that the actions were reasonable and rational, but at other times I felt quite the opposite.

About halfway through, the novel begins to get rather political--perhaps a bit like 1984 or even more, perhaps, like the movie Brazil, which had a madcap surrealistic quality to it. So what you get is quite a mixed bag! I'll be starting Morrow's The Last Witchfinder soon--this sounds like it will provide an interesting contrast to The Philosopher's Apprentice. So with the latter book, don't begin with many preconceived ideas about what you'll be reading, be patient, and it should be rewarding.

A Philosophy PH.D candidate withdraws his application after losing a heated argument re his dissertation; the only thing left for him to obtain his doctorate. Mason Ambrose accepts work tutoring seventeen year old Londa Sabacthani, who suffered a severe head injury that destroyed her morality. Her brilliant mother molecular geneticist Edwina wants Mason to help her daughter regain what she lost.

Mason travels to Edwina's home on Ilsa de Sangre of the Florida Keys to work with Londa, who tells him she is an only child. Soon after he arrives Mason finds on the next estate five-year-old Donya living with two tutors trying to help her regain her lost "rectitude" following a brain injury occurring from a bicycle accident. Donya insists she is an only child whose mother is Edwina. The three tutors share notes and conclude after some other snooping that Edwina is a female Dr. Frankenstein.

This is an excellent satirical look at American ethics re business, science, politics, and the family with seemingly nonsensical actions yet retains its feasibility. This is mostly because the solid cast rings genuine especially the kids. For instance Londa takes her new learned ethics to the business community. Fans who appreciate something different but entertainingly well written and thought provoking will want to follow the teaching escapades of THE PHILOSOPHER'S APPRENTICE.

Harriet Klausner

James Morrow continues to poke Western society in its most sensitive spots, never resorting to the cudgel, and always making us laugh, chortle, or smirk even as we wince. The Philosopher's Apprentice continues the grand Morrow tradition, slaughtering the sacred cows of cloning, abortion, the value of philosophy, and even the place of ethics (if any?!?) in our overclocked, corporatized world. Additionally, it's one of Morrow's best character studies. Moral dilemmas and emotional lives are rendered poignantly and with utter clarity through the first-person narrator.

My one real complaint is apparently a trick of the publisher, although I am literally guilty of judging a book by its cover. I happened across the book and ordered it immediately based on its author, not bothering to read the synopsis. Because the cover style is so similar to the style used for The Last Witchfinder, I was expecting another novel set in that milieu. As far as the cover goes, the joke's on me, but the larger joke is on people who pass up this splendid novel.

Never a dull moment!

This is the brilliant story of a graduate student hired to teach morality to a teenage girl named Londa, whose conscience is a blank slate. The results are terrifying. The novel also has elements of science fiction and horror, but if you don't normally read those genres, I believe you will find The Philosopher's Apprentice very satisfying and realistic with its engaging characters, intriguing psychodrama, quirky humor, and bursts of action.

While this book never mentions the true case of murderers Leopold and Loeb, it occurs to me that The Philosopher's Apprectice is a kind of mirror image to that scandal. As you may recall, in 1924, two rich young college students, named Leopold and Loeb, interpreted the philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche to mean that they were "beyond good and evil," or in other words, above the law. This idea, accompanied by obviously sociopathic tendencies, contirbuted to their decision to murder a fourteen year old boy.

The Philosopher's Apprentice presents an opposite but equally devastating scenario, when young Londa decides it is her job to enforce morality on others, because she has the money and power to do so, with no regard for the rights and viewpoints of those she wishes to convert.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who likes fun, intelligent thrills.

In the opening pages of this novel, I thought I was back in the magic land created by John Fowles in "The Magus." A young philosopher with a rebellious bent is recruited to go to a secluded island and tutor a teenage girl, daughter of a billionairess. He's told his student has lost her memory in a horrific accident. His task: to restore her sense of right and wrong.
It's a promising premise and I looked forward to an interesting novel of ideas with some sexual tension thrown in. How wrong I was!
It soon becomes clear that this cover story is false and there is more going on than meets the eye. Who for instance is the 5 year-old girl sequestered in a different portion of the island being tutored by two other men?
It transpires that the billionairess, stricken by an incurable cancer, has hired a mad scientist to clone three versions of herself -- one aged 16, one 11 and the third 5. Together, they add up to one complete childhood.
This first part of the book has a certain interest and narrative thrust. Then we hit Part II and the plot begins to turn bizarre. The billionairess dies, everyone leaves the island and our hero goes back to Boston, starts a second-hand bookstore and gets married. (PLOT SPOILERS AHEAD, BE WARNED)His wife becomes pregnant but has an illness which makes it dangerous for her to have children. They decide on an abortion. But the mad scientist from Part I has now fallen in with crazed anti-abortion activists and they begin to clone thousands of aborted fetuses to form an army. Yes, it's weird; it's also politically questionable and in literary terms quite silly.
If Part II is bad, Part III is quite beneath any rational criticism. It revolves around the eldest sister from Part I forming her own feminist army and hijacking a cruise liner carrying some of the world's worst industrialists and polluters and subjecting them to a forcible re-education regime. Just writing these words evokes the utter idiocy to which this novel sinks.
Some of the characters in this book come to life through weird science but none of them live convincingly in a literary sense. I simply cannot recommend this book.

Having read and loved The Last Witchfinder by James Morrow, I was looking forward to more of the same madcap adventure and wildly inventive wordplay that he demonstrated in profusion in that book. There is madcap adventure galore in The Philosopher's Apprentice, and some brilliant wordplay, yet this story did not satisfy nearly as much as TLW. While not sorry I read it, I feel let down, perhaps due to my own expectations. The story held my interest about 60% of the time; Part One was brilliant, Part Two slightly less so and Part Three an absolute Theatre of the Absurd. Normally I'd forgive Morrow for that, for his great talent lies in lampooning societal injustices punctuated with absurd scenarios, but it just did not work for me this time. When Londa makes hostages of first-class citizens on a recently commandeered replica of the Titanic, intending to redirect their moral centers through terrorism, I got lost and ultimately bored.
Quetzie the feathered iguana was one bright spot in the book. His spontaneous utterances of "Quetzie is a handsome devil", "Love is all you need" and "Mason is a genius" had me laughing out loud many times. Just as funny but more disturbing were the repeated appearances of Mason and Natalie's aborted and revived (don't ask) son, who shouts out such things as "Tossed away like an orange peel!", "Booted into the abyss!" and other accusatory remarks, disrupting their personal and professional lives. I wish there had been more of these quirky (understatement) characters.
I never warmed up to Londa or Yolly and the Sabachthanites (blindly devoted, militant followers of Londa's peculiar brand of philosophy), who inhabited and defended Londa's palatial compound, were just too over-the-top. If you are a diehard Morrow fan, you may enjoy this more than I did. I won't stop reading Morrow's books, but will try to be more selective next time.

Set for the most part on the exotic "Isla de Sangre," in Boston, and afloat a newly constructed simulacrum of the Titanic, Morrow's "The Philosopher's Apprentice" is part science fiction, part pedagogy, and part Academic action-adventure novel.

Written like a fictional memoir, the first-person narrative tells the story of a would-be philosopher's reluctant relationship with a modern-day Dr. Frankenstein and her daughter, Londa. The latter is said to be devoid of any sense of ethics or morality, and the philosopher--Mason Ambrose--is paid handsomely to see that this void is filled. It soon becomes clear, however, that more is going on on "Blood Island" than philosophy lessons: Isla de Sangre, we learn, is the strange island of Dr. Moreau incarnate, complete with sentient trees, feathered iguanas, and human clones ... then, Morrow throws in the Heidegger lessons.

The book is not nearly as anti-academic as it wants to be, nor as contrived as the plot-line and numerous allusions might suggest, and this is probably because Morrow generally does two things fairly well: one is to create likable, if flawed ("human, all too human") characters; the other is humor. Indeed, the book is almost worth its price just for the opening pages, which recount Mason's disastrous dissertation defense. Though (and this may or may not be a flaw), to really appreciate the humor you must be in the know--familiar with humanities departments, post-modernism and the culture wars that have played out over the last decade or so, et cetera.

And the book does require some difficult suspension of belief. Not, strangely enough, with the technology used, but with some of the characterization. Yes, I know I said the characters are likable, but I cannot help wondering what feminists will have to say about Morrow's "feminist" characters, for example, or what academics will think about some of the socio-political commentary that is peppered throughout the book.

Despite these problems--perhaps despite myself--I continued to read Morrow's book enthusiastically, readily enjoying this fantastic, high-brow, academic adventure novel.

I picked up The Philosopher's Apprentice on a whim from the library. And what a whim. The flyleaf gave a thumbnail description of a philosophy doctoral student who takes a job becoming the tutor for a teenage girl who was in an accident and lost her sense of morality. OK, sounds interesting as far as that goes. But that's just the beginning of the story.

The Philosopher's Apprentice is really a story in three acts. Act One: doctoral student tutors teenager on remote Caribbean island. Finds out there is more to the island than he was led to believe, including two sisters of his student, a bunch of genetic engineering, and talking iguana. I know it sounds like a tripped-out dream, but it's just hard to give a lot more detail without spoiling major points of the plot.

Act Two: philosophy tutor watches from a distance as his former student, suddenly fabulously wealthy, takes his teachings on morality to unbelievable ends.

Act Three: tutor and student end up together again and have to deal with the fallout from the rest of the world as it reacts to the student's programs.

The Philosopher's Apprentice is at times quite humorous, at times quite serious, and dances along the line between fiction and fantasy without quite ever deciding where to land. It was a fun read, provoking some interesting thoughts along the way. Worth picking up if you get the chance.