- Hardcover: 411 pages
- Publisher: William Morrow & Company (Mar 2008)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 006135144X
- ISBN-13: 978-0061351440
- Product Dimensions: 22.9 x 14.7 x 3.8 cm
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 4,010,580 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
The Philosopher's Apprentice
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Product Description
Review
"a studiedly outrageous new satire" (Ed Lake THE TIMES )
"a dazzling new novel about morailty.. James Morrow has created an outlandish and irresistible comedy of manners looking at humanity, philosophy and ethics." (Lindsay Jones PRESS ASSOCIATION ) --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
"a dazzling new novel about morailty.. James Morrow has created an outlandish and irresistible comedy of manners looking at humanity, philosophy and ethics." (Lindsay Jones PRESS ASSOCIATION ) --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Product Description
After crashing and burning during his PhD viva, Mason Ambrose is offered a large amount of money to come to the Isla de Sangre to instruct the daughter of wealthy Edwina Sabachtani. He is to use his knowledge as a philosopher to instil a conscience, a moral compass, in Edwina's daughter Londa following a diving accident which has supposedly destroyed her sense of right and wrong. Mason happily instructs her in schools of thought, from the stoics to the epicureans. But it is when he introduces her to the Beatitudes that the seeds of a rampaging sense of justice are sown and Londa becomes determined that the meek really shall inherit the earth! She becomes something of a 'celebrity saint' but then she takes her crusade too far, kidnapping a boat full of wealthy industrialists. A funny, tongue in cheek but also thought-provoking novel from the author of THE LAST WITCHFINDER that asks important questions about what makes us human and how we makes choices in a complex world.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
What a remarkable book "The Philosopher's Apprentice" by James Morrow is.
Not to be perturbed by it's rather docile cover illustration which conjured up a in my mind something between chick lit and a kids book I was captivated by the time I'd finished the first few pages.
Until reading this book, I was, in the diction of a philosopher 'Tabla rasa', or without knowledge of most of the base concepts of philosophy.
In the essence of something akin to TV's 'LOST' the environment of a seemingly uninhabited tropical island was the stage. Further to the LOST setting, the story unfurled several of the islands oddities and secrets as the young Philosophy drop out set about his task of giving an amnesic girl on the island a Moral Compass.
Darwin verses the rest of the world played a strong part in the sub plot to this book, where the author draws on examples, exercises and anecdotes from the world of phillosophica and without thinking too hard, I'd gathered a great insight into 'the best bits' of some of the greats - Aristotle, Socrates, Plato and Epicurus as well as some of the more up to date great thinkers such as Heidegger and Leibniz. 20th Century heads such as Kierkegaard and Nietzsche also had quite a chunk of beutifully crafted ink dedicated to their cause. Some of the basic (but fascinating) principals of philosophy were also quite neatly woven into the take - things such as Rationalism, Stoicism and a bunch of other ism's to boot. I'd say - if you like the sound of a fantastic un-putdownable book that's expanding your knowledge of Philosophical thinking without being a dullard brain ache, get it got!
Not to be perturbed by it's rather docile cover illustration which conjured up a in my mind something between chick lit and a kids book I was captivated by the time I'd finished the first few pages.
Until reading this book, I was, in the diction of a philosopher 'Tabla rasa', or without knowledge of most of the base concepts of philosophy.
In the essence of something akin to TV's 'LOST' the environment of a seemingly uninhabited tropical island was the stage. Further to the LOST setting, the story unfurled several of the islands oddities and secrets as the young Philosophy drop out set about his task of giving an amnesic girl on the island a Moral Compass.
Darwin verses the rest of the world played a strong part in the sub plot to this book, where the author draws on examples, exercises and anecdotes from the world of phillosophica and without thinking too hard, I'd gathered a great insight into 'the best bits' of some of the greats - Aristotle, Socrates, Plato and Epicurus as well as some of the more up to date great thinkers such as Heidegger and Leibniz. 20th Century heads such as Kierkegaard and Nietzsche also had quite a chunk of beutifully crafted ink dedicated to their cause. Some of the basic (but fascinating) principals of philosophy were also quite neatly woven into the take - things such as Rationalism, Stoicism and a bunch of other ism's to boot. I'd say - if you like the sound of a fantastic un-putdownable book that's expanding your knowledge of Philosophical thinking without being a dullard brain ache, get it got!
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
This is the story of Londa, a clone without a moral compass, whom the Philospher has been brought to a tropical island paradise to "fix". It starts slowly, with possibly too many exerpts from the great philosphers, but bear with it. It soon turns into a fascinatingly bizarre and unpredictable combination of scifi and morality tale, with love both requited and unrequited (well, you'll have to read the book to understand that) as well. And the plot and the characters grows more and more complex, but I can't reveal how without giving away too much of the story. It helps to have some understanding of ethical philosophy, but it isn't essential. Its a book that gets better and better as you read on, although I felt a little deflated by the denouement. Nevertheless, its a classic-in-the-making and far better than Sophie's Choice despite the latter's hype.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
26 reviews
15 of 15 people found the following review helpful
Fun and satire with ethics and philosophy
27 Mar 2008
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
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.
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.
9 of 10 people found the following review helpful
The Wayward Philosopher
16 April 2008
Format:Hardcover
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.
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.
8 of 9 people found the following review helpful
flashes of brilliancy, but often slow
19 Mar 2008
Format:Hardcover
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.
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.
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