Having seen the film countless times and just now getting around to reading the book, I found it rather entertaining and felt they might have been better off sticking to the book rather than modifying it for the film. That said, Kevin Spacey does a remarkable job playing 'prot', and the book character is equally colorful. I enjoyed it thoroughly and would recommend it to people that may not have seen the film yet. ( )

Everything is predictable. Comes across as didactic and pretentious. ( )

I originally saw the movie version of K-Pax, starring Kevin Spacey, which I enjoyed, so I figured I would read the novel on which it was based. In this novel, a patient with no identification is brought to the Manhattan Psychiatric Institute, where he is put under the care of a psychiatrist that has the same name as the author. The patient calls himself Prot and claims he comes from the planet K-Pax, and will return on August 17. Prot is often witty and charming. He has an amazing amount of knowledge on subjects that lend credence to his claim that he is an alien. Brewer believes he has a multiple personality disorder and is trying hard to help him. Prot has a strange effect on people as evidenced when Brewer brings Prot home for a picnic.

I mostly enjoyed the novel. It captured much of the mystery behind the Prot character that can be found in the movie. Specifically, is he an alien or is it all just in his head? For long portions of the book, it’s hard to figure out which is the case. The writing is competent and professional. There is less believability in the novel than in the movie, however. This was a solid novel and an interesting read.

Carl Alves – author of Blood Street ( )

A patient brought before a psychiatrist claims to be an alien visiting from another planet. Is he for real, or is he the most convincing delusional anyone has ever come across? It is a neat, crowd-pleasing idea, birthed ably enough into the world by author Gene Brewer. The author's background in psychology gives an air of authenticity to the interactions between doctor and patient, although the world of 'K-PAX' (the patient's 'homeworld') is a bit too on the unbelievably utopian side (Brewer even namechecks John Lennon's 'Imagine', and his vision of how the complex problems of the world simply come down to human 'stupidity' is a bit simplistic). That said, the patient, 'prot', is rather believable and Brewer keeps you guessing as to whether prot really is an alien.

However, the writing itself is rather workmanlike: leaving aside the odd sojourns into opera and a mid-life-crisis flirtation between the psychiatrist and a reporter, the film adaptation (2001, starring Kevin Spacey and Jeff Bridges) handles the story beats much better, particularly with regards to the ending. The book is a breeze to read, but go for the movie if it is an either/or decision for you. ( )

I enjoyed the movie and the book.

I did get annoyed with Dr. Brewer's hang up about his father.
He hated that his father (who died while he was young) "forced" him to be a Doctor.
A man wanting his son to follow in his footsteps is not unusual.

I like what K-Pax had to say. ( )