Customer Reviews

the reincarnation of peter proud

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

The mark of a good book is that it is memorable and leads you to ask questions. I initially read this book when I was about 10 years old and recall that I found it highly disturbing. I decided to order it and read it again now as an adult to see if I felt the same, and I did. The writing is simple and straightforward, but the process of discovery during the book was anything but. If you're up for an exciting read, I'd recommend it!

This is a page-turner. I'm hard-pressed to classify what genre this book should fall into, which (to my mind) is a quality of greatness. To say that this book 'transcends,' would not only be apt, it would be a-propos.

The only criticism I have of the book is that it doesn't explore the metaphysical aspect of reincarnation more deeply. And (it appeared to me) that the author tried to do this in several places, but each successive attempt was merely repetitive.

But the book's greatest quality was that it kept me enthralled. At times my eyes almost skimmed because I wanted to get to the next story or for the plot to unravel further. At times, I had to keep my eyes from inadvertantly glancing down one paragraph to find out what the dramatic ending would be. Stephen King does this to us all the time, by the way -- makes us wait, makes us wait, and then dares us not to look at the answer 'accidentally.'

And when I saw the ending coming, I saw it pretty much as Peter Proud did. Just as he did, just as he did. Okay, maybe I saw it coming a few pages before. But I still read to the end, and re-read the last paragraphs.

I wanted more.

Great work.

I have read this book more than once, and will read it again and again. The book is a modern story about reincarnation and is a thoroughly believable account of one man's search for his 'past identity'. A must-read for anyone interested in reincarnation and murder mysteries.

This novel, beyond a doubt, is the best I have ever read! It incorporates elements of the supernatural, justice, romance, suspense and mystery tightly, while providing provacative food for thought.

I had the good fortune to meet the author, Max Ehrlich while I was still in high school. He was lecturing at UCLA. He was quite gracious and generous with his time.

Whenever I visit my friends' home on a lake, I am drawn to underwater scenes from the book that have haunted me since I read it. The story is altogether gripping, puzzling, and frightening, leaving the reader with very unsettling visions and certainly with questions about reincarnation and love--or lust--whichever the reader chooses. Do we leave this world only to come back and relive our lives a bit differently, or do we go on to other things in other worlds?

Hmm... interesting about this book.. As i started reading it, it really intrigued me, and i could not for the life of it put it down.. I was engrossed in the story and the characters will to find out and defuse his current situation.. However, it dissapointed me to the fact that as i got later on into the book, in the last several chapters, it had started to get predictable, and finally the last 2 or 3 chapters were obvious in what was going to happen.. My rating for this book would be 3 1/2 stars for the first 3 quarters of the book and 1 star for the last quarter of it. On top of the ending being predictable, it wasnt entertaining... i could of really done without reading this novel.

as my title for my review suggests,i was thinking of a DIFFERENT conclusion

for this novel.

without me revealing much of the story(to the end),i will say this is a story about a man who was murdered (in 1946) and then reincarnated as another completely different man(peter proud) who, around the age of 28,knew something was wrong because of all these strange"dreams" he was having. or were these dreams at all? maybe these were recollections of a previous life??? peter starts out on a journey of vague memories,determined to find out,"who was i"? he travels to the northeastern states,searching...searching...for places,landmarks he remembers.

this is a great page turner. i kept wanting to know what will happen to peter

proud??? my only complaint is,i wish the author had written the end differently.

i WANTED the murdered man to have his revenge on the person who ended his life.

not evil revenge,but this person admitting to the murder so long ago and then

the dead man being at peace and peter proud going on with his life-not ending

up the way he did-the predictable. that is why i say,"ahhhh...the possibilities.

I read this novel when in first came out in 1974, and I just read it again. My, how times have changed. The author refers to a woman's "colored maid," and the blacks Peter Proud meets when he visits an old neighborhood are all angry and violent. Then there is a remark about gays that would not be made today. "Anyone in LA who doesn't play tennis is a queer." Something like that. There is also the use of "gay" as "happy." Something like, "She was a fun-loving, gay person." Wow!

Also, I wished the author had not described Proud's girlfriend as having "violet eyes." Please, keep to more normal colors, and don't go on and on about her body. One sentence would suffice. "She had a sensuous body."

Still, I enjoyed the mystery of Peter Proud trying to find out who he was in a previous life, and I would recommend the novel.

After 22 years, this book is still the greatest non-fictional book on reincarnation I've ever read. Not many books have the ability to make one fight off sleep at night .... this one certainly does!!

I really can't believe this book got published. The writing is just as simplistic as the flow of the story. The transitions are lean and need more explanation. For example, at one point we have Peter totally enthralled with finding more about his reincarnation. Then he is ready to toss the towel and go home. The only link that connects both situations is a brief mention that he had been canvassing neighborhoods for six days, with no luck. To go from one extreme to the next, you need to ellaborate a little more!

I wouldn't be surprised if the movie happened to be better than this book!