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margotleibo's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.25
dyspneas's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
funny
informative
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75
al07734's review against another edition
4.5
It is agonizingly slow at first, but it falls into a comfortable rhythm. The book has a strange way of saying things but I actually ended up being endeared to it. What it would be like to be that well-spoken and quick with your words....
welcometothe90smrbanks's review against another edition
challenging
dark
funny
medium-paced
what if there was a person who kept changing the subject? what if there was a person who never listened to anything anybody ever said?
leda's review against another edition
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
dariuskay's review against another edition
2.0
Unbelievable that this has such a high aggregate score. Almost all characters are insufferable & annoying. The prose is awful. Maybe it’ll go out of print again.
glazerdonut's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
cryo_guy's review against another edition
challenging
funny
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
A masterpiece, truly. I wish I'd read this 15 years ago. This is one of those books where you can tell the plot of the book without really explain anything about its content.
So why would I call this book masterful? Well I'll list a few reasons. First, is just what I already said; I really admire when a book is more than just it's plot and characters. I love good characters and development and I love a good plot like anyone else but when a book becomes more than that, it's a really special thing.
In this case, the book invites you to the table, to sit down and contemplate the issues of the book and the themes that the characters' lives undergo. And I don't mean that in a banal way. It takes a talented writer to really bring that out. In this case, the main themes are what makes a genius-talent or preparation-and what role do our cultural preconceptions consign our children to a certain standardized educational progress that may limit them. The old question of how we can raise genius children is not new, but the freshness that this novel brings to you is presenting it in a novel form and very explicitly asking the question: what does it mean to put a rational agent under the control of another rational agent for nearly 2 decades.
A second theme I thoroughly enjoyed continues in the second half of the book which is more about the child's search for a father figure. It absorbs the scene from the movie Seven Samurai in the restaurant/sake house where the samurai test out potential other samurai by laying an ambush for "no worthy samurai would be caught so unawares." This scene of testing the potential worth inspires the child to likewise test the potential worth of his selected father figures whom he hopes will help guide him into adulthood if not with some notions on education, with the very least some money. Along the way though, you seem to lose track of the practical requirements for living and you get lost in the conversations, the potential of what these father figures could do for the child and whether they are, in the words of the book, worthy rational agents to control the course of another rational agent's life. Of course, determining this worthiness is not a simple matter and is not reducible to worthiness in one aspect of life although sometimes a lack of worthiness is enough to bankrupt the endeavor.
So we have the structure, we have some themes, we have some ideas. These are very heady, thinky things. Well that's what I like. But it's even better than that too. Because it's funny. It has characters with likeable and unlikeable traits and unique mannerisms and thoughts that frame everything in a devilish sort of humor. I'm never so delighted as when a conversation between characters is clever in itself and not in a way that the book needs to point out to me. The book has emotional depth too, as it considers the darker side of "genius" and the emotional needs of those who live in society. There is a great amount of suffering that slowly emerges through the ripples of the books surface.
Last impressions. As I was reading the book, one of the impressions that stuck with me the strongest was how aware the child became at such a young age of what he knew. I've already mentioned that the book dwells on the theme of genius through him, but what I'm saying here is his maturity or awareness of the content of what he knew. I reflected back on my childhood and it seemed I never really knew why I was doing anything until after highschool. It's always been a longstanding reflection of myself that each year I look back and regard myself as so much more naïve than I am. And so seeing this reflected in the book, I couldn't help considering the notion that-setting aside actually educating a child, so that they might have a headstart and become a genius-what would it mean to have a head start on maturity or emotional intelligence or whatever it is that makes us aware of the things that we know and aware of the things we want to know? Well perhaps not all topics are equal and our character in the book is truly special, but what if that weren't the case? I don't think the book undermines my sense of myself and gives me a despairing notion of wasted youth and time, but it does offer considerations I think worth pondering. And of course one of these is our beloved Socratic maxim, what makes a life worth living?
It's a shame this book went undiscovered and out of print for so long. I hope it continues to thrive out there and inspire people. I only wish I hadn't read it so quickly!
So why would I call this book masterful? Well I'll list a few reasons. First, is just what I already said; I really admire when a book is more than just it's plot and characters. I love good characters and development and I love a good plot like anyone else but when a book becomes more than that, it's a really special thing.
In this case, the book invites you to the table, to sit down and contemplate the issues of the book and the themes that the characters' lives undergo. And I don't mean that in a banal way. It takes a talented writer to really bring that out. In this case, the main themes are what makes a genius-talent or preparation-and what role do our cultural preconceptions consign our children to a certain standardized educational progress that may limit them. The old question of how we can raise genius children is not new, but the freshness that this novel brings to you is presenting it in a novel form and very explicitly asking the question: what does it mean to put a rational agent under the control of another rational agent for nearly 2 decades.
A second theme I thoroughly enjoyed continues in the second half of the book which is more about the child's search for a father figure. It absorbs the scene from the movie Seven Samurai in the restaurant/sake house where the samurai test out potential other samurai by laying an ambush for "no worthy samurai would be caught so unawares." This scene of testing the potential worth inspires the child to likewise test the potential worth of his selected father figures whom he hopes will help guide him into adulthood if not with some notions on education, with the very least some money. Along the way though, you seem to lose track of the practical requirements for living and you get lost in the conversations, the potential of what these father figures could do for the child and whether they are, in the words of the book, worthy rational agents to control the course of another rational agent's life. Of course, determining this worthiness is not a simple matter and is not reducible to worthiness in one aspect of life although sometimes a lack of worthiness is enough to bankrupt the endeavor.
So we have the structure, we have some themes, we have some ideas. These are very heady, thinky things. Well that's what I like. But it's even better than that too. Because it's funny. It has characters with likeable and unlikeable traits and unique mannerisms and thoughts that frame everything in a devilish sort of humor. I'm never so delighted as when a conversation between characters is clever in itself and not in a way that the book needs to point out to me. The book has emotional depth too, as it considers the darker side of "genius" and the emotional needs of those who live in society. There is a great amount of suffering that slowly emerges through the ripples of the books surface.
Last impressions. As I was reading the book, one of the impressions that stuck with me the strongest was how aware the child became at such a young age of what he knew. I've already mentioned that the book dwells on the theme of genius through him, but what I'm saying here is his maturity or awareness of the content of what he knew. I reflected back on my childhood and it seemed I never really knew why I was doing anything until after highschool. It's always been a longstanding reflection of myself that each year I look back and regard myself as so much more naïve than I am. And so seeing this reflected in the book, I couldn't help considering the notion that-setting aside actually educating a child, so that they might have a headstart and become a genius-what would it mean to have a head start on maturity or emotional intelligence or whatever it is that makes us aware of the things that we know and aware of the things we want to know? Well perhaps not all topics are equal and our character in the book is truly special, but what if that weren't the case? I don't think the book undermines my sense of myself and gives me a despairing notion of wasted youth and time, but it does offer considerations I think worth pondering. And of course one of these is our beloved Socratic maxim, what makes a life worth living?
It's a shame this book went undiscovered and out of print for so long. I hope it continues to thrive out there and inspire people. I only wish I hadn't read it so quickly!
miajade's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5