James Morrow's The Philosopher's Apprentice
Of course, as many of you know, I've been a big Morrow fan since my freshman year at Penn State (when all my fellow nerds and I were making our way through his works--actually once we finagled an invitation to his house), so I was very much looking forward to his latest novel. His previous book, The Last Witchfinder, merited a NY Times review and blasted him out of relative obscurity, and it was one of my favorites that year. Unfortunately, this one doesn't come anywhere near to any of his previous works. It starts out strong, as a philosophy grad student walks out og his dissertation defense and is immediately hired to be the tutor of a teenage girl who, after suffering an accident, has lost her conscience. Moving to a remote and mysterious island, he quickly discovers things are more sinister than they originally appeared. Then the book takes an unfortunate turn to the political and ridiculous end of sci-fi. I had to force myself to finish reading it and considered myself lucky for having gotten it from the library and not buying it. It was really a disappointment. C.
2 comments:
I liked CITY OF TRUTH a lot but it's the only Morrow I've read. I have a friend who loved TOWING JEHOVAH--do you recommend that one? Or others?
Back when I was in college, my favorite was Only Begotten Daughter, but it;s been a while since I reread it so I'm not sure if it's still awesome. Towing Jehovah (first in the Godhead Trilogy) is good, but can get a little metaphysical (like its sequels). I would recommend it though. For straight up fiction, Last Witchfinder is really good.
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