Customer Reviews

Pilgrim

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

 

 

I found Pilgrim to be a fascinating read. Part history, part psychology, part mystery, Pilgrim leads the reader on a circuitous journey. One needs to be intellectually nimble, to be able to suspend disbelief, and to have either a quick grasp of the wide historical range addressed...or have access to a good encyclopedia.

Pilgrim is a man/woman/spirit/consciousness who has been admitted to a Swiss psychiatric hospital because of his repeated suicide attempts. All attempts, though seeming at first to have succeeded, actually failed, thus "condemning" him, somewhat like Woolf's Orlando, to live forever.

His encounters with famous people throughout history constitute a remarkable chronicle of certain historical periods. His relationship with C.G. Jung, during the years when the latter was developing his theory of the collective unconscious, is particularly intriguing.

I couldn't categorize this book as history, biography, fantasy, psychiatry, psychology, mystery. It defies many of the basic "rules" of any one of these designations and may, therefore, cause some discomfort in a reader who prefers strict logic, easy-to-follow story line, or predictable form. But it's quite a ride for those interested in the exploratory!

This work is entirely different from anything I've ever read. I appreciated the brooding tone of the story and the undercurrent of foreshadowing leading up to its climax. The ending was a little unorthodox and left me with a need for closure, however, I believe Findley does this purposefully as a way to compliment the mysterious and spiritual undertones of the plot. A comfortable, soothing read. Felt as if I were in a reverie, I could almost set it to music.

Beautifully written and richly imagined, this is a fascinating novel that challenges historical reality and presents psychology and philosophy in a unique way. Interesting portrait of Jung and a cast of wonderfully realized characters. A thoughtful and thought provoking journey through time and the human psyche.

I actually started riding the bus to work as an excuse to keep reading this book. Rather than putting me to sleep, it kept me up at night, so badly did I want to know where Findley was going with this story. I promised myself that each page would be the last, and THEN I'd go to sleep, but then the next chapter would come, and I'd still be reading.

Think of the book the way you'd think of a movie like The Remains of the Day with Anthony Hopkins. The beauty is slow and quiet and found in the dialogue and the costumes and in the buildup of information. I think it's a fantastic read.

If you're looking for a diversion or a fun, entertaining read that features a movie plot, you might want to skip this one. If you're looking for literature that actually challenges you, you should definitely consider this book. Mr. Findley's world is one of compelling ideas, fully-realized characters, and some of the best, atmospheric writing I have ever come across. It's not material you can digest right away. It's writing from which you'll gain more with each re-read.

The world lost one of its very best writers when Mr. Findley died. A tragedy for those of us Americans who had only just been introduced to him.

Timothy Findley has written another great work of art. Pilgrim, the central character, is a tragic figure not because he gave his life for a great cause; but he is tragic because he cannot seem to die (or is he just a bit schizo?..hmmm). The novel focuses on themes of trust, loss and redemption. In the end, though, I began trusting more of the bit characters (ie. Jung's wife) and empathizing with her loss more than the central figures. One note of dissappointment. The book tends to lose a little steam at the end. We simply just wish Pilgrim could successfully end himself and thus the novel. Does he succeed? We are still uncertain.

Let me vote with the slant against Pilgrim. The beautiful cover and the promise of reading about Carl Jung and Leonardo da Vinci beckoned me to my airport purchase (upscale bookshops in airports are great, aren't they?) I did finish it - even by the next day, but only because I was traveling. It took me 100 pages to completely hate it. Whooever said it was pretentious was right on target. Findlay's created a completely reprehensible character in Dr. Jung - a man entirely incapable of anything positive despite his genius - poor Carl Gustav must be rolling over in his grave. I especially hated the long-suffering character he created for Jung's wife Emma, and then recreated with some lurid details as the sexually abused Mona Lisa. Leonardo da Vinci is here another reprehensible genius - and sexual predator - surrounded with beautiful boys who can't wait to be the next in his bed. There is no relief here - there's an epileptic Spanish saint who floats, a broken bodied shepherd who loves his dog, a military son who seems to promise armageddon, a bette-davis-baby-Jane patient who sings nursery songs - this is only a partial list but don't let me forget that the bette davis is also represented here as a sexually abused (of course) ballerina who lives on the moon. The immortal's been done before a zillion times better, there is no historial fact to pick up. (I wonder why Henry James got off so scott free here - all he had to do was see someone's library.) It's just awful. I'm really curious that anyone could find 'morality' (see dust jacket) here - this is just the usual lurid sex stuff mixed up with fake history to plague people who should know better.

I picked this book up quite a few times before I finally decided to read it, basically because I thought it would delve too much into the Jungian concepts, etc, of which I don't have much knowledge...I'd just heard of Jung before I read this! However, the book was really quite interesting, and though it looks like a daunting read, its really not...its thought provoking (as my review title suggests!), and it makes you pause once in a while to think somethings through...something you hadnt really thought of much before, some new concept, and such, but still, it is perfectly understandable...and even if one doesn't have a lot of knowledge of psychology to start off with, it makes one interested in finding out more...or at least it did me!...I would reccomend this for anyone who is looking for a slightly challenging read.

Beautifully written paragraphs jump of the page throughout, I had to put this book down from time to time, to think over and enjoy what I had just read.

So well written, if you like quality literature you will like this novel. The Novel touches on various historical figures bringing these famous true characters to life, in what is obviously Findley's personal opinions of their persona's based on historical knowledge.

My only negative criticism of this book is that it moves a little slow in a few places, which made me a little impatient as to what was to happen next in the story.

If you like quality literature, have any interest in psychology and/or history then this is the book for you, you will need a quiet room, roaring fire and a big mug of tea.

I found the story to be a better idea than reality. For someone so mysterious, Findley writes in an extraordinarily dry, organized, linear way. I could just imagine him consulting his 10 page outline, it never once enters into the mysterious, way too rational, really. It should have been called Jung, not Pilgrim, because it was really a story about Jung and for that it was good, very interesting, but Pilgrim we never realy get to know. The majority of the book is about Jung with occasional spatterings of Pilgrim's POV. Pilgrim's POV seemed quite sparse, I don't think the author spent enough time on it. Also, the connection between Emma and Pilgrim should have been explored more for my taste, but really, he was trying to show too many different POVs in one book, that is too hard to do I think. Ken Kesey's Sometimes a Great Notion did that well but he didnt have an immortal character who had lived since the beginning of time. I feel a little short-changed, after all the time I invested reading this 500+ page novel, I wish I could have known more of Pilgrim a character I know I would've adored if I could've known him better. He' strying to do too much, showing Pilgrim's relation with Davinci, Wilde, these things take time to develop he just gives it 5 pages, not enough time, it seems fake, unless we are to believe he really is crazy and so none of these things happened. That would be the only reason to leave it so sparsely told. Good story if he would complete it, fill it out, it fills like an outline, a skeleton.