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Ghost
Alan Lightman's first novel, Einstein's Dreams, became an international best seller and was hailed by Salman Rushdie as "at once intellectually provocative and touching and comic and so very beautifully written." His novel The Diagnosis, called "highly original and imaginative" by The New York Times, was a finalist for the National Book Award. Now comes a stunning and disturbing new novel about a man's encounter with the unfathomable.
David is a person of modest ambitions who works in a bank, lives in a rooming house, enjoys books and quiet walks by the lake. Three months after unexpectedly being fired from his job, he takes a temporary position at a mortuary. And there, sitting alone in the "slumber room" one afternoon at dusk, he sees something that he cannot comprehend, something that will force him to question everything he believes in, including himself. After his metaphysical experience, all his relationships change—with his estranged wife, his girlfriend, his mother—and he grudgingly finds himself at the center of a bitter public controversy over the existence of the supernatural. As David struggles to understand what has happened to him, we embark on a provocative exploration of the delicate divide between the physical world and the spiritual world, between skepticism and faith, between the natural and the supernatural, and between science and religion.
Combining a dramatic story with compelling characters and provocative ideas, Ghost investigates timeless questions that continue to challenge contemporary society.
David is a person of modest ambitions who works in a bank, lives in a rooming house, enjoys books and quiet walks by the lake. Three months after unexpectedly being fired from his job, he takes a temporary position at a mortuary. And there, sitting alone in the "slumber room" one afternoon at dusk, he sees something that he cannot comprehend, something that will force him to question everything he believes in, including himself. After his metaphysical experience, all his relationships change—with his estranged wife, his girlfriend, his mother—and he grudgingly finds himself at the center of a bitter public controversy over the existence of the supernatural. As David struggles to understand what has happened to him, we embark on a provocative exploration of the delicate divide between the physical world and the spiritual world, between skepticism and faith, between the natural and the supernatural, and between science and religion.
Combining a dramatic story with compelling characters and provocative ideas, Ghost investigates timeless questions that continue to challenge contemporary society.
244 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2007
39 people are currently reading
870 people want to read
About the author
Alan Lightman
49 books1,299 followersAlan Lightman is an American writer, physicist, and social entrepreneur. Born in 1948, he was educated at Princeton and at the California Institute of Technology, where he received a PhD in theoretical physics. He has received five honorary doctoral degrees. Lightman has served on the faculties of Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and was the first person at MIT to receive dual faculty appointments in science and in the humanities. He is currently professor of the practice of the humanities at MIT. His scientific research in astrophysics has concerned
black holes, relativity theory, radiative processes, and the dynamics of systems of stars. His essays and articles have appeared in the Atlantic, Granta, Harper’s, the New Yorker, the New York Review of Books, Salon, and many other publications. His essays are often chosen by the New York Times as among the best essays of the year. He is the author of 6 novels, several collections of essays, a memoir, and a book-length narrative poem, as well as several books on science. His novel Einstein’s Dreams was an international bestseller and has been the basis for dozens of independent theatrical and musical adaptations around the world. His novel The Diagnosis was a finalist for the National Book Award. His most recent books are The Accidental Universe, which was chosen by Brain Pickings as one of the 10 best books of 2014, his memoir Screening Room, which was chosen by the Washington Post as one of the best books of the year for 2016,
and Searching for Stars on an Island in Maine (2018), an extended meditation on science and religion – which was the basis for an essay
on PBS Newshour. Lightman is an elected fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He is also the founder of the Harpswell Foundation, a nonprofit organization whose mission is “to advance a new generation of women leaders in Southeast Asia.” He has received the gold medal for humanitarian service from the government of Cambodia.
black holes, relativity theory, radiative processes, and the dynamics of systems of stars. His essays and articles have appeared in the Atlantic, Granta, Harper’s, the New Yorker, the New York Review of Books, Salon, and many other publications. His essays are often chosen by the New York Times as among the best essays of the year. He is the author of 6 novels, several collections of essays, a memoir, and a book-length narrative poem, as well as several books on science. His novel Einstein’s Dreams was an international bestseller and has been the basis for dozens of independent theatrical and musical adaptations around the world. His novel The Diagnosis was a finalist for the National Book Award. His most recent books are The Accidental Universe, which was chosen by Brain Pickings as one of the 10 best books of 2014, his memoir Screening Room, which was chosen by the Washington Post as one of the best books of the year for 2016,
and Searching for Stars on an Island in Maine (2018), an extended meditation on science and religion – which was the basis for an essay
on PBS Newshour. Lightman is an elected fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He is also the founder of the Harpswell Foundation, a nonprofit organization whose mission is “to advance a new generation of women leaders in Southeast Asia.” He has received the gold medal for humanitarian service from the government of Cambodia.
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February 2, 2021
Alan Lightman writes like a poet. More specifically, his descriptions read like poetry. It evokes emotions and paints such palpable images. A man's seemingly ordinary contemplation as he waits for a customer to arrive easily becomes twenty pages of un-putdownable picturesque prose from Lightman. He uses his writing to evoke emotions and present an event/feeling/situation without ever actually mentioning that event/feeling/situation. This is something all good writers do, a higher level of the most necessary "show rather than tell". But Alan Lightman does it with a rarely found elegance.
Secondly, he has an incredible insight into the human psyche; but more importantly the ability to convert those insights into readable words; vignettes that force readers to think; that possess philosophical questions from angled not previously considered.
Add to this his scholarship in astronomy, astrophysics, humanities, philosophy of science, and physics (he is currently Professor of the Practice of the Humanities at Massachusetts Institute of Technology), and you have this prolific writer with a very unique talent of bridging the gap between the hard and soft sciences. No wonder his books are a success.
Ghost begins phenomenally. The opening chapter is told in first person, Daniel describing in almost mesmerizing language his physical and psychological reaction to his ghost sighting. Although he refuses to even specify what it is that he saw. Then, inexplicably, chapter two changes, the remainder of the novel told by an omniscient third person narrator. I use "inexplicable" because I feel that after chapter one, the book went downhill. The first person point of view was so effective, I cannot understand why Lightman switched it.
This book is an examination of our beliefs in spiritual being, the supernatural, the paranormal, ghosts, the afterlife, the "second world". It philosophizes on why we believe what we believe; why we disbelieve what we disbelieve. It recognizes the need for things to be logical, understandable, to be rooted in science, logic, fact. At the same time it recognizes the need for the belief in something beautiful in another world; that there is something better to come; that there is more. Inevitably, it discusses religion and the reasons why, for some, a higher power is a necessity, but for others it is laughable. Daniel becomes involved with The Society for Second World, a representing "doctor" runs an interesting experiment with him called the "R-box" which, in short, randomly creates numbers but when he has Daniel "focus" on the box claims that he was able to "affect" the numbers; that his powers of "intentionality" even effected some hurricanes, protests, violence worldwide that took place shortly thereafter. A science professor friend of Daniel's explains probability to him, and although he mostly agrees, he still feels like there was something; he felt "electrical waves" of some sort between him and the box, "no one could tell him otherwise". This is what it really comes down to, is it not? We can go by logic, or we can go by emotion. If you want to believe, your brain has plenty of ways to make you believe, from confirmation bias to the Dunning-Kruger effect to the negativity bias to false memory, you will find ways to believe. Case in point: http://dailynous.com/2016/09/14/cogni...
Daniel falls asleep several times throughout the narrative in the middle of the day. (For example, after a test with the R-Box in front of the media, he goes into a story of fugue state, maybe even falls asleep as he reminisces on his ex wife, Bethany and whether his memories of her kindness and agreeability are accurate, and when he wakes up, inexplicably, the room gas emptied; the reporter that was there a few newer minutes ago, so he thought, us nowhere be found.) Would this be because he is a narcoleptic? It is more likely that it was an easy way to make it questionable that certain events took place, adding to the aforementioned questionability of life; the fallibility of life knowledge and memories. Do we really know that anything has taking place? Every event that Daniel experienced now seems a little hazy it is brain. What he remembers might be guess imagination. Do we know anything except what is taking place right this very second? And already, right this very second is now in the past and is now questionable; thus, can we be sure about anything?
I have always appreciated books that give me an inside look at a subculture I know little about and likely never would. Here, it is that of a mortuary. The "sighting" takes place in one, where Daniel works. Throughout the novel, we learn what is like behind closed doors there, as he is an apprentice there, learning from Martin. There is the practical aspect: retrieving the death certificate (they are called "runners"), the embalming, floral considerations, hiring the pallbearers, logistics with the hearse (like all vehicles, it needs mechanical assistance and a driver). Then there is the less expected, more personal aspect. After all, Daniel and his colleagues are meeting these families during what is likely one of the most difficult times in their lives. They are grieving, and are often not themselves, severely depressed, even becoming violent.
Like most funeral homes, it is a family business. Interestingly, Martin (who suffers from social anxiety disorder, to the point that he hardly ever leaves the premises and physically shakes/panics/debilitated at times when he has) does believe Daniel and recommends he "see someone" because maybe he has been overworked. In fact, as he tries to convince him that he only "thought" he saw something, he seems to lose respect for him. It is only for his wife Jenny, telling him otherwise, that Daniel is not forced to take a forced vacation. Many of the other characters are his coworkers, including Ophelia, a believer who begins to idolize him, and Richard who tells him it was a trick of the lights at sunset.
There are a few reasons why I felt this book was only alright, when the potential for greatness was definitely there. First and foremost, it was most distracting and aggravating that our narrator refused to refer to specifics reference to the ghost/ghost sighting. Not only does Daniel seem to avoid all costs actually referring to it specifically, this also effects all the characters in the novel, even the representatives from the Society for the Second World, the media, believers and non believers alike. They all refer to it with pronouns and vague non committal phrases; "that thing", "you are sure you saw something?"
While this had its desired effect of mystery/fear/distance/intrigue/otherworldliness at first, it soon faded into what almost seemed like a stubbornness. With the exception of maybe three or four times, euphemism after euphemism. In dialogue, he asks whether his girlfriend Ellen believes him, but without ever mentioning the word "ghost". We have to guess that at some point he told her the details; that he tells the details to say least a couple people, but all the reader gets is something like, "Daniel then tells Martin what he saw that afternoon in the slumber room". The "thing" he saw, the "event on April 23rd", the "illogical" sighting, "whatever it was" that he refused to believe was a trick of lights.
My second issue is with overall believability, and the author's need for the reader's suspension of disbelief; I am referring specifically to the drama that occurs directly as the result of one man claiming he saw a ghost (or however he described his "sighting"). The novel does not specify when the story takes place, but with mention of social media, other technology, one can assume that it was somewhat recent. That being said, there is no way that this much shock, ridicule, nor attention would be paid to Daniel. There would be no media calling him personally, no newspaper article by no request of his (in fact he tried to prevent it), no "Society for the Second World" traveling hundreds of miles to meet him, no standing outside his place of employment trying to spot him. I highly doubt his long time acquaintances would be calling him out of the blue to discuss things, his ex wife that he had not talked to in ages contacting him because she read about him in the newspaper, his employer losing trust in him because he claims he saw something (he did not even say he believed in ghosts; he merely recounted what he witnessed). Would this actually occur? Absolutely not. In fact, greater ghost claims made many times a day; everyone is accepting our ignoring as a general rule; ghost chasing shows have long been its own genre on television, books have been written, intelligent individuals discuss it without being shamed on a regular basis.
What I took from this book was best said by Einstein, someone Alan Lightman had a special affinity for:
**** Spoilers ****
Daniel finally reveals what it is that he saw page 193, then one more time, slightly differently, on page 213. Anticlimactic, to say the least. Quite unnecessary to have such a disinclination to refer to it concretely. What he saw on that evening in April was a vapor, that came from the body laying on the table. It was more than that, though. "For five seconds, it looked at me. It had intelligence." What he saw was something supernatural, that he is certain.
I was also annoyed by Daniel's preoccupation with his ex-wife Bethany, even when Ellen was right in front of him, loving him. Then again, I guess even the best of us have been made blind by love.
The book redeemed itself greatly with the ending, in which an unidentified man rushed into the funeral home, looking for Daniel. Clearly distressed and flustered, he forces his way in. When he recognizes Daniel, he lunges at him an inadvertently collides into Martin. In one of those accidents that has no rhyme or reason, Martin is unbalanced and as he falls his head connects with the edge of the table. he dies almost instantly. The theme of things not making sense; that some things in this world can never be explained by logic; maybe some things are better left in mystery, as Einstein beautifully said.
Secondly, he has an incredible insight into the human psyche; but more importantly the ability to convert those insights into readable words; vignettes that force readers to think; that possess philosophical questions from angled not previously considered.
Add to this his scholarship in astronomy, astrophysics, humanities, philosophy of science, and physics (he is currently Professor of the Practice of the Humanities at Massachusetts Institute of Technology), and you have this prolific writer with a very unique talent of bridging the gap between the hard and soft sciences. No wonder his books are a success.
Ghost begins phenomenally. The opening chapter is told in first person, Daniel describing in almost mesmerizing language his physical and psychological reaction to his ghost sighting. Although he refuses to even specify what it is that he saw. Then, inexplicably, chapter two changes, the remainder of the novel told by an omniscient third person narrator. I use "inexplicable" because I feel that after chapter one, the book went downhill. The first person point of view was so effective, I cannot understand why Lightman switched it.
This book is an examination of our beliefs in spiritual being, the supernatural, the paranormal, ghosts, the afterlife, the "second world". It philosophizes on why we believe what we believe; why we disbelieve what we disbelieve. It recognizes the need for things to be logical, understandable, to be rooted in science, logic, fact. At the same time it recognizes the need for the belief in something beautiful in another world; that there is something better to come; that there is more. Inevitably, it discusses religion and the reasons why, for some, a higher power is a necessity, but for others it is laughable. Daniel becomes involved with The Society for Second World, a representing "doctor" runs an interesting experiment with him called the "R-box" which, in short, randomly creates numbers but when he has Daniel "focus" on the box claims that he was able to "affect" the numbers; that his powers of "intentionality" even effected some hurricanes, protests, violence worldwide that took place shortly thereafter. A science professor friend of Daniel's explains probability to him, and although he mostly agrees, he still feels like there was something; he felt "electrical waves" of some sort between him and the box, "no one could tell him otherwise". This is what it really comes down to, is it not? We can go by logic, or we can go by emotion. If you want to believe, your brain has plenty of ways to make you believe, from confirmation bias to the Dunning-Kruger effect to the negativity bias to false memory, you will find ways to believe. Case in point: http://dailynous.com/2016/09/14/cogni...
Daniel falls asleep several times throughout the narrative in the middle of the day. (For example, after a test with the R-Box in front of the media, he goes into a story of fugue state, maybe even falls asleep as he reminisces on his ex wife, Bethany and whether his memories of her kindness and agreeability are accurate, and when he wakes up, inexplicably, the room gas emptied; the reporter that was there a few newer minutes ago, so he thought, us nowhere be found.) Would this be because he is a narcoleptic? It is more likely that it was an easy way to make it questionable that certain events took place, adding to the aforementioned questionability of life; the fallibility of life knowledge and memories. Do we really know that anything has taking place? Every event that Daniel experienced now seems a little hazy it is brain. What he remembers might be guess imagination. Do we know anything except what is taking place right this very second? And already, right this very second is now in the past and is now questionable; thus, can we be sure about anything?
I have always appreciated books that give me an inside look at a subculture I know little about and likely never would. Here, it is that of a mortuary. The "sighting" takes place in one, where Daniel works. Throughout the novel, we learn what is like behind closed doors there, as he is an apprentice there, learning from Martin. There is the practical aspect: retrieving the death certificate (they are called "runners"), the embalming, floral considerations, hiring the pallbearers, logistics with the hearse (like all vehicles, it needs mechanical assistance and a driver). Then there is the less expected, more personal aspect. After all, Daniel and his colleagues are meeting these families during what is likely one of the most difficult times in their lives. They are grieving, and are often not themselves, severely depressed, even becoming violent.
Like most funeral homes, it is a family business. Interestingly, Martin (who suffers from social anxiety disorder, to the point that he hardly ever leaves the premises and physically shakes/panics/debilitated at times when he has) does believe Daniel and recommends he "see someone" because maybe he has been overworked. In fact, as he tries to convince him that he only "thought" he saw something, he seems to lose respect for him. It is only for his wife Jenny, telling him otherwise, that Daniel is not forced to take a forced vacation. Many of the other characters are his coworkers, including Ophelia, a believer who begins to idolize him, and Richard who tells him it was a trick of the lights at sunset.
There are a few reasons why I felt this book was only alright, when the potential for greatness was definitely there. First and foremost, it was most distracting and aggravating that our narrator refused to refer to specifics reference to the ghost/ghost sighting. Not only does Daniel seem to avoid all costs actually referring to it specifically, this also effects all the characters in the novel, even the representatives from the Society for the Second World, the media, believers and non believers alike. They all refer to it with pronouns and vague non committal phrases; "that thing", "you are sure you saw something?"
While this had its desired effect of mystery/fear/distance/intrigue/otherworldliness at first, it soon faded into what almost seemed like a stubbornness. With the exception of maybe three or four times, euphemism after euphemism. In dialogue, he asks whether his girlfriend Ellen believes him, but without ever mentioning the word "ghost". We have to guess that at some point he told her the details; that he tells the details to say least a couple people, but all the reader gets is something like, "Daniel then tells Martin what he saw that afternoon in the slumber room". The "thing" he saw, the "event on April 23rd", the "illogical" sighting, "whatever it was" that he refused to believe was a trick of lights.
My second issue is with overall believability, and the author's need for the reader's suspension of disbelief; I am referring specifically to the drama that occurs directly as the result of one man claiming he saw a ghost (or however he described his "sighting"). The novel does not specify when the story takes place, but with mention of social media, other technology, one can assume that it was somewhat recent. That being said, there is no way that this much shock, ridicule, nor attention would be paid to Daniel. There would be no media calling him personally, no newspaper article by no request of his (in fact he tried to prevent it), no "Society for the Second World" traveling hundreds of miles to meet him, no standing outside his place of employment trying to spot him. I highly doubt his long time acquaintances would be calling him out of the blue to discuss things, his ex wife that he had not talked to in ages contacting him because she read about him in the newspaper, his employer losing trust in him because he claims he saw something (he did not even say he believed in ghosts; he merely recounted what he witnessed). Would this actually occur? Absolutely not. In fact, greater ghost claims made many times a day; everyone is accepting our ignoring as a general rule; ghost chasing shows have long been its own genre on television, books have been written, intelligent individuals discuss it without being shamed on a regular basis.
What I took from this book was best said by Einstein, someone Alan Lightman had a special affinity for:
"The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and science. He to whom the emotion is a stranger, who can no longer pause to wonder and stand wrapped in awe, is as good as dead; his eyes are closed."
**** Spoilers ****
Daniel finally reveals what it is that he saw page 193, then one more time, slightly differently, on page 213. Anticlimactic, to say the least. Quite unnecessary to have such a disinclination to refer to it concretely. What he saw on that evening in April was a vapor, that came from the body laying on the table. It was more than that, though. "For five seconds, it looked at me. It had intelligence." What he saw was something supernatural, that he is certain.
I was also annoyed by Daniel's preoccupation with his ex-wife Bethany, even when Ellen was right in front of him, loving him. Then again, I guess even the best of us have been made blind by love.
The book redeemed itself greatly with the ending, in which an unidentified man rushed into the funeral home, looking for Daniel. Clearly distressed and flustered, he forces his way in. When he recognizes Daniel, he lunges at him an inadvertently collides into Martin. In one of those accidents that has no rhyme or reason, Martin is unbalanced and as he falls his head connects with the edge of the table. he dies almost instantly. The theme of things not making sense; that some things in this world can never be explained by logic; maybe some things are better left in mystery, as Einstein beautifully said.
June 18, 2018
This was a random book I selected at my last library visit. I never heard or read of the author before.
The story is about a common, unexciting guy, David. Everything we read about him is...unexciting. His young love and marriage and eventual divorce to Bethany is...unexciting. Post divorce he moves to a common, unexciting kind of boarding house. He lies to his mother about his job at the bank, making it into a higher level position, which it’s not. When the bank has a reorganization, he gets let go, despite his quiet, but explemplary work; he is depressed, confused and in denial, afraid to tell his mother because he does not want to disappoint.
He picks up a temporary job as an apprentice at a mortuary/funeral home, which he observes and learns and becomes fascinated with the trade and the colorful people he works with. This starts to get a little interesting and...exciting. His mother still thinks he works at the bank!
The reader is exposed to some of the back and front room procedures of a funeral home as well as his relationship with the agoraphobic owner and his younger wife. This gets more interesting...and exciting.
David has continual dreams and flashbacks of his life; his deceased father, his school days and friends (not many), his parents’ marriage, his failed marriage, his current love interest, Ellen, etc. While he sits in peace and quiet in front of a dead body in a coffin in the slumber room, waiting for visitation by a grieving family, he sees, or thinks he sees (a trick of the light?) some kind of phenomena in the air. Is it the soul of the deceased? Is it an apparition? He does not know nor can he comprehend what it is he has seen. And here the s__t really hits the fan. He makes the mistake of sharing this “mist/smoke” experience with someone who can’t keep their mouth shut and the next thing you know, it’s the biggest news in town. Must be a very small town as this becomes the news of the day and is...very exciting!
Mouths keep blabbing on and this turns into a three ring circus with the funeral home and David becoming a celebrity of sorts; reporters are calling, Tv stations want to interview him, he’s on the front page of the newspapers, but the worst is his getting sucked in by The Society of the Second World, “an organization that seeks a comprehensive view of existence,” and includes paranormals, physicists, theologists, scientists, biologists, analysts, researchers, etc. I did get myself very lost in all this data and posturing (professional and unprofessional), it made my head hurt especially reading thru this part so late at night! So I skimmed through some pages here and there. I’m not a highly educated person with any bit of a background in any of this stuff, although don’t we all wonder if there is a second world out there when we pass on from this life?
So in the end, we have to ask what is real and what is not? What do we imagine and what actually is real? What is Hocus Pocus?
What happens at the end IS real, startling and sad. David has stupidly brought himself and others into something he saw or thinks he saw, something unknown (and now so publicly exciting); something that has completely spiraled out of control.
I’m going to go outside my box and read some of the authors’ other books, however if they are too technical, I’m going to pass. Alan Lightman, a novelist, is also a theoretical physicist and served on faculties at Harvard and MIT, so there is a potential for his writings to be a bit too heavy for me and MY common mind. 🤔 We’ll see.
The story is about a common, unexciting guy, David. Everything we read about him is...unexciting. His young love and marriage and eventual divorce to Bethany is...unexciting. Post divorce he moves to a common, unexciting kind of boarding house. He lies to his mother about his job at the bank, making it into a higher level position, which it’s not. When the bank has a reorganization, he gets let go, despite his quiet, but explemplary work; he is depressed, confused and in denial, afraid to tell his mother because he does not want to disappoint.
He picks up a temporary job as an apprentice at a mortuary/funeral home, which he observes and learns and becomes fascinated with the trade and the colorful people he works with. This starts to get a little interesting and...exciting. His mother still thinks he works at the bank!
The reader is exposed to some of the back and front room procedures of a funeral home as well as his relationship with the agoraphobic owner and his younger wife. This gets more interesting...and exciting.
David has continual dreams and flashbacks of his life; his deceased father, his school days and friends (not many), his parents’ marriage, his failed marriage, his current love interest, Ellen, etc. While he sits in peace and quiet in front of a dead body in a coffin in the slumber room, waiting for visitation by a grieving family, he sees, or thinks he sees (a trick of the light?) some kind of phenomena in the air. Is it the soul of the deceased? Is it an apparition? He does not know nor can he comprehend what it is he has seen. And here the s__t really hits the fan. He makes the mistake of sharing this “mist/smoke” experience with someone who can’t keep their mouth shut and the next thing you know, it’s the biggest news in town. Must be a very small town as this becomes the news of the day and is...very exciting!
Mouths keep blabbing on and this turns into a three ring circus with the funeral home and David becoming a celebrity of sorts; reporters are calling, Tv stations want to interview him, he’s on the front page of the newspapers, but the worst is his getting sucked in by The Society of the Second World, “an organization that seeks a comprehensive view of existence,” and includes paranormals, physicists, theologists, scientists, biologists, analysts, researchers, etc. I did get myself very lost in all this data and posturing (professional and unprofessional), it made my head hurt especially reading thru this part so late at night! So I skimmed through some pages here and there. I’m not a highly educated person with any bit of a background in any of this stuff, although don’t we all wonder if there is a second world out there when we pass on from this life?
So in the end, we have to ask what is real and what is not? What do we imagine and what actually is real? What is Hocus Pocus?
What happens at the end IS real, startling and sad. David has stupidly brought himself and others into something he saw or thinks he saw, something unknown (and now so publicly exciting); something that has completely spiraled out of control.
I’m going to go outside my box and read some of the authors’ other books, however if they are too technical, I’m going to pass. Alan Lightman, a novelist, is also a theoretical physicist and served on faculties at Harvard and MIT, so there is a potential for his writings to be a bit too heavy for me and MY common mind. 🤔 We’ll see.
May 21, 2014
This book was frustrating. On one hand, its marvelously written, with fascinating characters and a complex theme--the very nature of reality. On the other hand, I had trouble accepting the book's base premise--that a man who claims to have seem something ghost-like rise from a dead body would become the focus of such a high degree of fame and scrutiny. In addition, the man himself, forty-ish and unassuming, is almost ghost-like himself. In early chapters we learn that, although he was an excellent employee, his employer suddenly fired him. And that, although he was a passionate and loving husband, his wife on many years suddenly decided to divorce him. What's going on? Frankly, I was expecting some kind of unearthly explanation for all of this. There's a lot going on beneath the surface here, no question, but I didn't get the explanations I was looking for. I was impressed and often moved by Lightman's prose, but at the end of it all I was left wanting.
March 28, 2016
This started out with so much potential.
Then it fell flat.
I hate when this happens. :/
Then it fell flat.
I hate when this happens. :/
September 17, 2017
It's not...terrible? But I was promised a mortuary ghost. The book is mostly just a lot of talk about divorce, college nostalgia, career disappointments, daily trifles, and so on. The "supernatural" bits felt shoehorned in and didn't quite work.
The most interesting character was the funeral director who had panic attacks whenever he left the funeral home. I wish he'd been the main character. Even without ghosts, it would've made for a more compelling story.
The most interesting character was the funeral director who had panic attacks whenever he left the funeral home. I wish he'd been the main character. Even without ghosts, it would've made for a more compelling story.
January 27, 2014
This novel, a recommendation from a friend, was not at all what I expected.. it actually turned out to be much more than I expected. At the beginning of the story, we meet David Kurzweil. All we seem to know is that David appears to be having a breakdown of sorts... at the very least, he is wrestling with something that has happened to him.. a sort of battle between the logical and reasonable part of him and the other part, which questions life, its meaning and all of those intangibles that can't be proven and yet we long to understand. You get the impression that this latter part is one which David has spent his life repressing.
David is a very ordinary man. He had worked as a bank teller for quite a long time but has lost his job. His wife has also left him... telling him that she is looking for more excitement out of life. David seems to be a bit neurotic... always comparing himself to others... people he attended school with many years ago. And he seems to worry a great deal about what others think of him, especially his mother. He went to a great deal of trouble to lie to her about his job at the bank, embellishing his title and the duties of his job. Obviously, he ahs not been able to bring himself to tell her that he has been fired. David is living in a boarding house and needs a job. he ends up taking a job as an assistant to a funeral director. Martin, the funeral director, is a kind man who tries to maintain high standards both personally and professionally, when tending to the the deceased and their families.Martin takes David 'under his wing', almost as father would do with a son.
One day, in the slumber room, David sees something he cannot explain... a sort of mist or vapor, rising above a body lying in repose. This experience changes everything for David. Up until this point, David was a person who relied on rational thought... there was a certain order to all things and he relied on that belief. What David saw.. or thought he saw.... was unexplainable to him and caused him a great deal of emotional and psychological stress.
The distress that david feels comes directly from his inability to process or explain what he observed in the slumber room that day. He attempted to talk himself into believing that he actually saw nothing at all.. it was a trick of the light.. or perhaps he was tired. ... all without success. He ended up confiding in a couple of people and before he knew it, he was embroiled in a huge controversy between the Society for the Second World ( a 'paranormal' type of group dedicated to the study of unexplained phenomena) and the scientific community of the local university, which was determined to expose the phenomena and The Society for the Second World as fraudulent. After all they argued... all things in the universe are governed by certain scientific principles and able to be proven... right?
We never DO understand what it was that David saw that day in the slumber room ; but the controversy between the traditional scientific community and the group that believed there are experiences that human beings have that just cannot be explained by traditional rational thought , raised a lot of interesting questions.. questions that can't be answered with the knowledge that human beings now possess but are so very interesting to contemplate. What IS real? Is it so hard to believe that, in human beings' limited capacity to understand , that there might be things which perhaps we cannot, at this time, explain? Are we, as humans, somewhat limited to the information we can gather by the use of our five senses?
This book, which I thought would perhaps be a somewhat 'traditional' ghost story turned out to be so much more in the philosophical and even scientific questions that it raised. The warring factions in the story demonstrate a rigidity of thought and beliefs that perhaps may inhibit human beings from answering these questions. David, at one point in the story, was trying to make some sense of what he witnessed by reading the works of some very respected scientists.. Charles Darwin and Albert Einstein. In a passage written by Einstein, which seemed to describe my own feelings on the subject, Einstein wrote.... "The most beautiful experience we can have is the mysterious. It is the fundamental emotion which stands at the cradle of true art and true science. "
Indeed.
Thanks for the recommendation, John! This was a wonderful and thought provoking story!
David is a very ordinary man. He had worked as a bank teller for quite a long time but has lost his job. His wife has also left him... telling him that she is looking for more excitement out of life. David seems to be a bit neurotic... always comparing himself to others... people he attended school with many years ago. And he seems to worry a great deal about what others think of him, especially his mother. He went to a great deal of trouble to lie to her about his job at the bank, embellishing his title and the duties of his job. Obviously, he ahs not been able to bring himself to tell her that he has been fired. David is living in a boarding house and needs a job. he ends up taking a job as an assistant to a funeral director. Martin, the funeral director, is a kind man who tries to maintain high standards both personally and professionally, when tending to the the deceased and their families.Martin takes David 'under his wing', almost as father would do with a son.
One day, in the slumber room, David sees something he cannot explain... a sort of mist or vapor, rising above a body lying in repose. This experience changes everything for David. Up until this point, David was a person who relied on rational thought... there was a certain order to all things and he relied on that belief. What David saw.. or thought he saw.... was unexplainable to him and caused him a great deal of emotional and psychological stress.
The distress that david feels comes directly from his inability to process or explain what he observed in the slumber room that day. He attempted to talk himself into believing that he actually saw nothing at all.. it was a trick of the light.. or perhaps he was tired. ... all without success. He ended up confiding in a couple of people and before he knew it, he was embroiled in a huge controversy between the Society for the Second World ( a 'paranormal' type of group dedicated to the study of unexplained phenomena) and the scientific community of the local university, which was determined to expose the phenomena and The Society for the Second World as fraudulent. After all they argued... all things in the universe are governed by certain scientific principles and able to be proven... right?
We never DO understand what it was that David saw that day in the slumber room ; but the controversy between the traditional scientific community and the group that believed there are experiences that human beings have that just cannot be explained by traditional rational thought , raised a lot of interesting questions.. questions that can't be answered with the knowledge that human beings now possess but are so very interesting to contemplate. What IS real? Is it so hard to believe that, in human beings' limited capacity to understand , that there might be things which perhaps we cannot, at this time, explain? Are we, as humans, somewhat limited to the information we can gather by the use of our five senses?
This book, which I thought would perhaps be a somewhat 'traditional' ghost story turned out to be so much more in the philosophical and even scientific questions that it raised. The warring factions in the story demonstrate a rigidity of thought and beliefs that perhaps may inhibit human beings from answering these questions. David, at one point in the story, was trying to make some sense of what he witnessed by reading the works of some very respected scientists.. Charles Darwin and Albert Einstein. In a passage written by Einstein, which seemed to describe my own feelings on the subject, Einstein wrote.... "The most beautiful experience we can have is the mysterious. It is the fundamental emotion which stands at the cradle of true art and true science. "
Indeed.
Thanks for the recommendation, John! This was a wonderful and thought provoking story!
July 16, 2018
David is a normal, regular, even boring guy. He works at a bank and is a numbers whiz, which gets mentioned several times and never ends up being important to the story. It's just a weird background fact. After he's apparently randomly fired from the bank (they gave good references and speak well of him), David ends up taking a job as an apprentice in a mortuary. He lives in what seems to be a big rooming house (do they still have those?) and has a quiet life.
Until one day, he sees something he can't explain near one of the dead bodies. Is it a ghost? An energy form? A trick of the light? David mentions his weird encounter to a few trusted friends, and somehow word gets out. He gets extremely reluctantly interviewed by the local paper and becomes a minor celebrity, which is not at all what he wanted. He gets caught up in a debate between a society that believes in psychic phenomena and some very scientific college professors. The attention brings a lot of new business to the mortuary, but horrifies Martin, the owner and David's sort of father figure. A tragedy at the end of the book means some big changes in the lives of most of the characters.
It's an odd story. It's a literary ghost story, almost without a ghost. It wasn't until a bit over halfway through I was even sure what era this was in, when someone finally mentioned Power Point. The setting is never fleshed out. I'm not sure the town it's in ever gets a name. There's a lot of talking, debate, emotional angst, and uncertainty.
It's an odd tale that is beautifully written but somehow seems a bit lacking in some way I can't quite put my finger on.
Until one day, he sees something he can't explain near one of the dead bodies. Is it a ghost? An energy form? A trick of the light? David mentions his weird encounter to a few trusted friends, and somehow word gets out. He gets extremely reluctantly interviewed by the local paper and becomes a minor celebrity, which is not at all what he wanted. He gets caught up in a debate between a society that believes in psychic phenomena and some very scientific college professors. The attention brings a lot of new business to the mortuary, but horrifies Martin, the owner and David's sort of father figure. A tragedy at the end of the book means some big changes in the lives of most of the characters.
It's an odd story. It's a literary ghost story, almost without a ghost. It wasn't until a bit over halfway through I was even sure what era this was in, when someone finally mentioned Power Point. The setting is never fleshed out. I'm not sure the town it's in ever gets a name. There's a lot of talking, debate, emotional angst, and uncertainty.
It's an odd tale that is beautifully written but somehow seems a bit lacking in some way I can't quite put my finger on.
July 24, 2015
A book where nothing happens and yet everything happens. The division between this world and the next, black and white, science versus faith, fact, fiction, the supernatural, the wisdom of baring a personal experience to others who abuse that trust - it's all here. It's also written in the present tense which gives it a different tone - the slowing down of conciousness, the sense of seeing everything in slow motion as it actually happens.
This book is a slow-paced, story of a man who works at a mortuary who has seen something unusual. It takes almost the entire book to really see what he saw. It is not really a ghost story as whether or not the supernatural exists is not the central theme. It is more what people do with the knowledge that there might be something else out there - both the narrator and those around him are changed in unexpected (and sometimes disastrous) ways.
As to basic reality, I found it odd that there would be so many people that interested in a possible haunting story. Sure, in today's day and age, that might have been something you would read in a blog on the net and sure, people might come by to walk past the mortuary. However, that big of a to-do over something like this? I presume it's a relatively small town but I doubt this would interest that many people, including the newspaper. I could be wrong about that but it seemed over the top as far as what would really happen. That, to me, was the biggest flaw of the book. I did like the large psychological part of this story as to what was happening inside David's head and the plot, whether true to life or not, was a crucial part of this telling.
This book is a slow-paced, story of a man who works at a mortuary who has seen something unusual. It takes almost the entire book to really see what he saw. It is not really a ghost story as whether or not the supernatural exists is not the central theme. It is more what people do with the knowledge that there might be something else out there - both the narrator and those around him are changed in unexpected (and sometimes disastrous) ways.
As to basic reality, I found it odd that there would be so many people that interested in a possible haunting story. Sure, in today's day and age, that might have been something you would read in a blog on the net and sure, people might come by to walk past the mortuary. However, that big of a to-do over something like this? I presume it's a relatively small town but I doubt this would interest that many people, including the newspaper. I could be wrong about that but it seemed over the top as far as what would really happen. That, to me, was the biggest flaw of the book. I did like the large psychological part of this story as to what was happening inside David's head and the plot, whether true to life or not, was a crucial part of this telling.
February 14, 2008
Hmmm... Definetly not what I was expecting. I am a little upset, I feel as tho I didnt get my moneys worth on this one (I bought it at full price in Hardcover)
I thought I was going to be reading a novel about a guy who sees something... a ghost, or whisp, coming out of a dead body in the mortuary he worked at. However, while that is in essence what the book is, I found that I was really reading a novel that just asks "which camp are you in"? Are you a believer in the supernatural- the 'second' world, or are you a believer in science - the 'physical' world?
Quite reminiscent of McEwans novel Saturday... I trudged through this one just to see where it was going to lead. Very slow at times, a shocking end, similar to Saturday as well. And like Saturday, it just never reached out and grabbed me.
David seems to just question everything after this 5 second vision. What is the past, what is the future, what is a memory really? How can we prove what happens when it is in the past... Do you believe me? Why cant you believe me? What will it take to get you to believe me? Do I even believe myself, for that matter.
If you think this novel sounds interesting, do yourself a favor and either wait till it comes out as paperback, or hit up your local library. Not worth harcover prices. Its just not. A great story in theory, but its lacking -- something. and just doesnt quite deliver....for me, anyway.
I thought I was going to be reading a novel about a guy who sees something... a ghost, or whisp, coming out of a dead body in the mortuary he worked at. However, while that is in essence what the book is, I found that I was really reading a novel that just asks "which camp are you in"? Are you a believer in the supernatural- the 'second' world, or are you a believer in science - the 'physical' world?
Quite reminiscent of McEwans novel Saturday... I trudged through this one just to see where it was going to lead. Very slow at times, a shocking end, similar to Saturday as well. And like Saturday, it just never reached out and grabbed me.
David seems to just question everything after this 5 second vision. What is the past, what is the future, what is a memory really? How can we prove what happens when it is in the past... Do you believe me? Why cant you believe me? What will it take to get you to believe me? Do I even believe myself, for that matter.
If you think this novel sounds interesting, do yourself a favor and either wait till it comes out as paperback, or hit up your local library. Not worth harcover prices. Its just not. A great story in theory, but its lacking -- something. and just doesnt quite deliver....for me, anyway.
March 17, 2010
More of a story about believing in ghosts, than ghosts. Not what I expected. Well written.
July 30, 2018
I really enjoyed this book. It was full of characters, circumstances, and settings that never failed to hold my interest. Alan Lightman is really good at taking you along with the protagonist and bringing you into his hopes and frustrations to see them from the inside. As for the central premise, this isn't a ghost story in any campfire sense - but there is a ghost in the book (a few classes of them, really), it's just not the one getting most of the attention (with a notable exception).
The "box" testing felt drawn out to one encounter too many between the credulous and the scientists, but Lightman even handles that in a clever way that makes you glad it was there. I'll miss the characters and was glad to have spent time with them.
My POV differs from many I've read in the review section, as I don't think there is much (if anything) left truly obscured. People experience things they can't explain, but this isn't an indication that there's a lack of rational explanation. Sometimes my keys aren't where I think I left them. It happens.
The "box" testing felt drawn out to one encounter too many between the credulous and the scientists, but Lightman even handles that in a clever way that makes you glad it was there. I'll miss the characters and was glad to have spent time with them.
My POV differs from many I've read in the review section, as I don't think there is much (if anything) left truly obscured. People experience things they can't explain, but this isn't an indication that there's a lack of rational explanation. Sometimes my keys aren't where I think I left them. It happens.
April 4, 2009
I'm still trying to decide if I like this book or REALLY like this book. Lightman tells an unconventional story in an unconventional way. David Kurzweil is middle aged and laid off from his job at a bank. He finds work in a family-run funeral home, where he discovers that he has a skill for working with the grieving families of the deceased. He becomes a part of the funeral homes "family," and comes to look upon the owner as a surrogate father. He's been divorced for some time, but still carries a longing for his ex, though he's dating a younger woman who is very much in love with him. His rather bland and ordinary life seems to suit him, though. Everything changes when he "sees something."
If you're wanting a story about ghosts & hauntings, or a reflection on the afterlife, Ghost will disappoint you. In the same vein, if you're expecting a story that progresses in a conventional way, you will likely find this book frustrating. Ghost sits somewhere on that divide between prose and poetry; Kurzweil has a lyric quality about him, and it infuses the story as a whole. Upon closing the book, I found myself, like David, pondering what it was that I just experienced, but also feeling thoughtful and richer for having experienced it.
If you're wanting a story about ghosts & hauntings, or a reflection on the afterlife, Ghost will disappoint you. In the same vein, if you're expecting a story that progresses in a conventional way, you will likely find this book frustrating. Ghost sits somewhere on that divide between prose and poetry; Kurzweil has a lyric quality about him, and it infuses the story as a whole. Upon closing the book, I found myself, like David, pondering what it was that I just experienced, but also feeling thoughtful and richer for having experienced it.
March 10, 2009
I throughly relished this novel. What a magnificent philosophical debate on the afterlife and beliefs. This book was so eloquently framed and wonderfully written that I couldn't put it down. I really liked the details of the funeral home and the haunted quality the book possessed on every page.
David, the main character is your average joe. He has a boring job (at the bank). He has a routine and everything seems to be moving along just fine until he is laid off at the bank and takes a job at the funeral home in order to help support his mother who is sick. While working at the mortuary, he sees something he can't explain in the slumber room and before he knows it he has believers and non-believers alike trying to figure out if the incident is real. While this debate is going on in the outside world, David is having his own internal debate. Can he firmly say that what he saw was "real" or not? What is real? What is superstition? In the end he comes to the conclusion that some things just happen in a breif moment that can't really be explained. It's more of a feeling and unless one has experienced it for his or herself it's really hard to make others understand.
David, the main character is your average joe. He has a boring job (at the bank). He has a routine and everything seems to be moving along just fine until he is laid off at the bank and takes a job at the funeral home in order to help support his mother who is sick. While working at the mortuary, he sees something he can't explain in the slumber room and before he knows it he has believers and non-believers alike trying to figure out if the incident is real. While this debate is going on in the outside world, David is having his own internal debate. Can he firmly say that what he saw was "real" or not? What is real? What is superstition? In the end he comes to the conclusion that some things just happen in a breif moment that can't really be explained. It's more of a feeling and unless one has experienced it for his or herself it's really hard to make others understand.
December 28, 2012
I can't decide which was the more annoying thing about this book.
1) The scientists in this book, and how they react to the "supernatural", bear no relation to actual scientists and their world. As a scientist and statistician, I feel maligned. Hard to get past that. Lightman sets up these straw-man characters to make his point about how science doesn't believe in the supernatural and can't stand that some people do. Also, real academics would never be dragged into the sort of insanely stupid "demonstration" near the end of this book. I know it's fiction, but this jumps the academia shark.
2) The main character has no interesting thoughts, his memories may not be real, and he apparently has nothing to do except drift through the world making no impact. He's not compelling or interesting- not even a character I can revile. I just felt annoyed at his idiocy.
1) The scientists in this book, and how they react to the "supernatural", bear no relation to actual scientists and their world. As a scientist and statistician, I feel maligned. Hard to get past that. Lightman sets up these straw-man characters to make his point about how science doesn't believe in the supernatural and can't stand that some people do. Also, real academics would never be dragged into the sort of insanely stupid "demonstration" near the end of this book. I know it's fiction, but this jumps the academia shark.
2) The main character has no interesting thoughts, his memories may not be real, and he apparently has nothing to do except drift through the world making no impact. He's not compelling or interesting- not even a character I can revile. I just felt annoyed at his idiocy.
March 20, 2012
Although I never quite understood exactly what it was that the main character "saw" in the funeral home, I decided that it really didn't matter. I was interested in how his situation turned out, finding the ending satisfactory, if not terrific. The secondary characters were quite well done, not cluttering this relatively short novel at all. My main concern was that I feel I may have missed the larger (philosophical) point. But, even if so, and I enjoyed reading the book, is that all truly important?
September 19, 2017
I'm surprised by this books ratings...I think people have forged a desire in books that is all together different from how the entirety of novels are. This book is exquisitely written and offers a glimpse into a not so uncommon narrative in the sense that nothing to magical or unbelievable happens. Which is strange because it is based upon a man who sees a ghost...This book did the job of entrenching you in David's life through various conflicts and inter-personal talks. I suggest if you read it, be patient even at the end, and try to see the book as a bigger picture.
January 16, 2022
It’s like the “Seinfeld” television show. A book about nothing.
I DNF’d half way through the read.
I DNF’d half way through the read.
March 1, 2024
I actually enjoyed this and am slightly confused by the low reviews. But I will say, it definitely gave a kind of uhhhh what was the point? feeling…
October 3, 2019
I loved how there was always something excited to read.
The ending was probably the greatest part of the book 💜
The ending was probably the greatest part of the book 💜
May 6, 2015
I've loved Alan Lightman since first reading Einstein's Dreams. Pursuing him into his novels has been a bit of a disappointment, however. He utilizes a unique combination of the scientific and the artistic, but I often find myself wanting more depth to the big ideas he tackles.
This book conveys well the uncertainty of memory and the sensory experience. Lightman's writing style portrays a deeply unsettled protagonist who thinks he experienced a "supernatural" event, and follows him as he tries to reconcile this with his previously-held rational and agnostic worldview.
There is good interplay between two extreme side characters: a posse of uber-rational academics and a pseudo-intellectual society of the paranormal. Both groups display their hypocrisy and areas of blindness, and both groups attempt to fit the narrator's story into their own worldviews.
The idea of this book is great: someone grappling with reality, facing uncomfortable cognitive dissonance, uncertainty and the ramifications of public science education. But Lightman only gives them a superficial exploration, and I wanted more.
This book conveys well the uncertainty of memory and the sensory experience. Lightman's writing style portrays a deeply unsettled protagonist who thinks he experienced a "supernatural" event, and follows him as he tries to reconcile this with his previously-held rational and agnostic worldview.
There is good interplay between two extreme side characters: a posse of uber-rational academics and a pseudo-intellectual society of the paranormal. Both groups display their hypocrisy and areas of blindness, and both groups attempt to fit the narrator's story into their own worldviews.
The idea of this book is great: someone grappling with reality, facing uncomfortable cognitive dissonance, uncertainty and the ramifications of public science education. But Lightman only gives them a superficial exploration, and I wanted more.
May 15, 2012
When I see a book with Haunt, Ghost, etc. in the title I expect the author to deliver. Instead the only "ghost" we're entreated to is a three second vapor that the leading protagonist witnessed emitting from a dead body. That's it, no more spookfest! The rest of the novel deals with the protagonist's preoccupation with what he saw, questioning what is, what isn't and being half terrified that it was in fact a spirit that he saw for three to five whole seconds. The protagonist was an extremely unlikable little wuss of a man and that it was told in 1st person made it impossible to escape his head.
If you happen upon this book and you're hoping for some chills, read chapter one - see that little vapor he describes and then shut the book. Because that's precisely where the paranormal ends and even that didn't last long enough to spook even a kindergartener.
If you happen upon this book and you're hoping for some chills, read chapter one - see that little vapor he describes and then shut the book. Because that's precisely where the paranormal ends and even that didn't last long enough to spook even a kindergartener.
April 26, 2009
I thought this was a mediocre read - there were just too many plot points that seemed not very credible and it distracted me (usually I'm pretty laid back about that kind of thing, but not with this one). I did enjoy some of the passages where he talks about what he calls the "totality", i.e. the thin membrane between the world of the living and that of the dead, and how quickly the future becomes the past. In that way it was more of a philosophical musings kind of book rather than just a ghost story.
July 6, 2015
This books is the story of a man who believes he sees something strange while working in a funeral home. He is not sure if it is really a "ghost" but knows that he saw something that he cannot explain. Most of the book is about him searching for an answer, wanting to prove that he didn't just imagine it or isn't going crazy. The book is very well written and interesting, but in my opinion, not nearly scary enough. The book is more about whether ghosts exist than there being one.
May 6, 2015
Very strange book. You never find out exactly what David saw in the funeral home, but whatever he saw changed his life completely. There's a lot of philosophy in this book. There are also characters that don't add anything to the story. I checked this book out of the library thinking it would be about ghosts. It was about much more. Interesting, but misleading.
September 14, 2016
I was hoping for perhaps better from Lightman since Einstein's Dreams is one of my favorite books. And it started okay and he finished really well, but there were some pretty dull stretches in the middle. Not at all a scary read. It's about the nature of belief.
January 20, 2018
Difficult topic. Author did an evenhanded and thoughtful job. I enjoyed it.
June 10, 2022
A clever premise, and essentially well delivered, but somehow not special; somehow less than the sum of it's parts.
The reason I picked it up is I was drawn to the cleverness of the tale; a man who MIGHT have seen a ghost, and what that can do to one's sense of credibility, mortality, and sanity. The book is not an exploration of the metaphysic, but rather a take on the ways we react and interact.
The main character, who I believe was intended to be just an Everyman type, was just a little too bland. Sure, he was intentionally drawn to be "as normal as it gets" in both his flaws and his character, but he was actually not flawed nor charismatic enough for me to feel like I wanted to go along with him on the whole journey. A weak central character can be the undoing of a clever tale.
Especially because the supporting characters were (again, seemingly intentionally) colorful or charismatic or potent. While no one was necessarily stock or cliche, they represented extremes. Yet as the surrounding spokes of our main protagonist, they made the hub of the wheel feel rather weak in comparison.
I liked the ways in which the situation spiraled out of control, but again the way it was written didn't feel powerful or potent. It had notes of social satire, and yet didn't quite have enough bite to feel satirical. There was lots of philosophical musing, and yet didn't quite compel or deconstruct any fresh thought. There was a lot of interesting tidbits on mortality and what makes life worthwhile, and yet these were more window dressing than contemplative. So, like I said above, somehow this tale is less than the sum of it's parts.
And this is the part that haunts me about "Ghost" (see what I did there?); the parts are very interesting, often clever, and unto themselves "make you think." Yet here they are lightweight; they bring an idea of weight, and yet the story feels light. it doesn't quite fully satisfy in spite of promising.
Yet, it is a short, swift novel, and so if the premise makes you curious, then by all means tuck in, It is light and fast, and while it hinges on heavy themes, it is not very heavy at all.
Clever, but only a ghost of what it could have been.
The reason I picked it up is I was drawn to the cleverness of the tale; a man who MIGHT have seen a ghost, and what that can do to one's sense of credibility, mortality, and sanity. The book is not an exploration of the metaphysic, but rather a take on the ways we react and interact.
The main character, who I believe was intended to be just an Everyman type, was just a little too bland. Sure, he was intentionally drawn to be "as normal as it gets" in both his flaws and his character, but he was actually not flawed nor charismatic enough for me to feel like I wanted to go along with him on the whole journey. A weak central character can be the undoing of a clever tale.
Especially because the supporting characters were (again, seemingly intentionally) colorful or charismatic or potent. While no one was necessarily stock or cliche, they represented extremes. Yet as the surrounding spokes of our main protagonist, they made the hub of the wheel feel rather weak in comparison.
I liked the ways in which the situation spiraled out of control, but again the way it was written didn't feel powerful or potent. It had notes of social satire, and yet didn't quite have enough bite to feel satirical. There was lots of philosophical musing, and yet didn't quite compel or deconstruct any fresh thought. There was a lot of interesting tidbits on mortality and what makes life worthwhile, and yet these were more window dressing than contemplative. So, like I said above, somehow this tale is less than the sum of it's parts.
And this is the part that haunts me about "Ghost" (see what I did there?); the parts are very interesting, often clever, and unto themselves "make you think." Yet here they are lightweight; they bring an idea of weight, and yet the story feels light. it doesn't quite fully satisfy in spite of promising.
Yet, it is a short, swift novel, and so if the premise makes you curious, then by all means tuck in, It is light and fast, and while it hinges on heavy themes, it is not very heavy at all.
Clever, but only a ghost of what it could have been.
December 4, 2013
Alan Lightman's new novel, Ghost, does not contain a werewolf, a vampire or Patrick Swayze. It may not even contain a ghost. No knife-wielding ventriloquist's doll carves up these chapters. If you're looking for hell hounds, you're barking up the wrong tree. Ghost is by no means the scariest supernatural tale you could read on Halloween -- King is still king -- but it may be the smartest, and for that reason it ends up being a hell of a lot more unsettling than a horde of flesh-eating zombies.
A theoretical physicist, Lightman is equally comfortable haunting the humanities -- indeed, he was the first professor at MIT to receive appointments in both realms. Although he doesn't believe in God, a lifetime of studying the heavens has given him an infectious sense of wonder; philosophical questions about the nature of reality hover over all his work and are a preoccupation of his fiction. Einstein's Dreams (1993), his first novel, contained a series of fantastical fables about how time might be experienced in other worlds. And now in his fifth novel, he concentrates on the most fundamental issues of epistemology without ever using any off-putting terms like, say, "epistemology." Instead, Lightman explores the liminal state between knowledge and belief in an eerily quiet ghost story.
The time and place are never specified; details suggest a Western city, maybe 20 years ago. The book begins: "I saw something. I saw something out of the corner of my eye." The narrator is distraught, dizzy, on the edge of panic. A week ago, he "saw something impossible," and a friend has recommended he write it all down. "I don't believe in supernatural phenomena," he insists. "I don't believe in magic or hyperkinesis or spirits. . . . Logic is what holds it all together. . . . My hands are shaking. I'm going to go lie down."
After this feverish first chapter, the novel switches permanently to the third person -- a very measured, thoughtful third person -- and we hear the story of what happened to David Kurzweil, a 42-year-old divorced man who lost his mid-level job in a bank and, out of financial necessity, took a temporary position at a mortuary. It's a tenuous story, impressionistic, almost spectral, that barely drifts forward but remains fascinating throughout. Lightman draws this strange place with a quirky mixture of warmth and the macabre. The family-run funeral home is led by a sweet, agoraphobic man who treats his customers with respect and compassion. The building itself seems slightly surreal, "an endless warren of rooms, some of them hidden and accessible only by interior doors, some without windows." Of course, a funeral home is the perfect place for a ghost story -- something of a clich¿, really -- but it offers special attractions to a theoretical physicist writing fiction. Here, after all, under the extreme pressures of grief and loss, the ordinary rules of emotional reality don't apply, time slows down, and the elemental properties of character are revealed.
But nothing particularly creepy happens during David's first few months on his new job, nothing haunted or ghostly. Until one day while he's sitting with a casket in what's called the slumber room. Lightman tells us that it lasted "for only five seconds." He provides no other details until much later in the story, but just that tiny drop of ectoplasm added to the solution of David's dull life transforms his relations with everyone he knows. "How could he expect anything to stay the same after what's happened?" Lightman writes. "The world has been cut in half."
His girlfriend brushes it off, his employer gently suggests he see a psychologist, but other colleagues are thrilled by the news. "You are like . . . a god, or something," one of them tells him. Soon a reporter calls and wants to interview David. The story, full of exaggeration and silly speculation, incites a media circus that mortifies the mortician but causes business to soar. Despite his vagueness, his unwillingness to make any claims about what he saw, David becomes a cause c¿l¿bre among devotees of the supernatural and a scandalous embarrassment to his scientific friends at the university.
At this point, the philosophical questions rise up in a series of cleverly drawn encounters with experts. Two reasonable-seeming officials from the Society for the Second World come to speak with David about his experience. They introduce him to a scientist who uses computers and mathematics to quantify psychic powers. "We don't want to leap to any conclusions," Dr. Tettlebeim says with faux skepticism. "We must treat such correlations with some caution." But soon he points to an unusual row of numbers and announces, "Here is stark evidence of the force of the mind."
There's not really any doubt about Lightman's loyalties in this debate. His description of an annual meeting of "truth seekers" is a brilliant piece of satire, complete with crazy field reports and kooky evidence decorated with scientific lingo. Beneath the comedy, though, one senses Lightman's sympathy with that deep human desire for transcendence. "There has to be another world," one of the attendants tells David, "because there has to be something after we die. Death can't be the end." Lightman is wise enough to hear that sentiment echoing down through the millennia, and he has no intention of dismissing it simply because it can't be confirmed with a microscope.
But what's more surprising is Lightman's willingness to expose the dogmatism of his colleagues. In one particularly damning scene, the university scientists display their unwillingness to consider radical interpretations no matter what the evidence. Like the charlatans they oppose, they're willing to repress and distort anything that doesn't confirm their conclusions. Courted by believers on both sides, poor David remains helplessly suspended between irreconcilable concepts of reality.
These are heavy questions, to be sure, the kind of philosophical conundrums that might fuel a provocative all-night discussion in the dorm but usually doom a novel. The salvation here is Lightman's graceful touch and his tender insight into David's plight. No matter what your position on things that go bump in the night, you'll be left haunted by his question to a skeptical friend: "If you saw something supernatural, what would you do?" Admit it, you don't know. And that's spooky.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/...
A theoretical physicist, Lightman is equally comfortable haunting the humanities -- indeed, he was the first professor at MIT to receive appointments in both realms. Although he doesn't believe in God, a lifetime of studying the heavens has given him an infectious sense of wonder; philosophical questions about the nature of reality hover over all his work and are a preoccupation of his fiction. Einstein's Dreams (1993), his first novel, contained a series of fantastical fables about how time might be experienced in other worlds. And now in his fifth novel, he concentrates on the most fundamental issues of epistemology without ever using any off-putting terms like, say, "epistemology." Instead, Lightman explores the liminal state between knowledge and belief in an eerily quiet ghost story.
The time and place are never specified; details suggest a Western city, maybe 20 years ago. The book begins: "I saw something. I saw something out of the corner of my eye." The narrator is distraught, dizzy, on the edge of panic. A week ago, he "saw something impossible," and a friend has recommended he write it all down. "I don't believe in supernatural phenomena," he insists. "I don't believe in magic or hyperkinesis or spirits. . . . Logic is what holds it all together. . . . My hands are shaking. I'm going to go lie down."
After this feverish first chapter, the novel switches permanently to the third person -- a very measured, thoughtful third person -- and we hear the story of what happened to David Kurzweil, a 42-year-old divorced man who lost his mid-level job in a bank and, out of financial necessity, took a temporary position at a mortuary. It's a tenuous story, impressionistic, almost spectral, that barely drifts forward but remains fascinating throughout. Lightman draws this strange place with a quirky mixture of warmth and the macabre. The family-run funeral home is led by a sweet, agoraphobic man who treats his customers with respect and compassion. The building itself seems slightly surreal, "an endless warren of rooms, some of them hidden and accessible only by interior doors, some without windows." Of course, a funeral home is the perfect place for a ghost story -- something of a clich¿, really -- but it offers special attractions to a theoretical physicist writing fiction. Here, after all, under the extreme pressures of grief and loss, the ordinary rules of emotional reality don't apply, time slows down, and the elemental properties of character are revealed.
But nothing particularly creepy happens during David's first few months on his new job, nothing haunted or ghostly. Until one day while he's sitting with a casket in what's called the slumber room. Lightman tells us that it lasted "for only five seconds." He provides no other details until much later in the story, but just that tiny drop of ectoplasm added to the solution of David's dull life transforms his relations with everyone he knows. "How could he expect anything to stay the same after what's happened?" Lightman writes. "The world has been cut in half."
His girlfriend brushes it off, his employer gently suggests he see a psychologist, but other colleagues are thrilled by the news. "You are like . . . a god, or something," one of them tells him. Soon a reporter calls and wants to interview David. The story, full of exaggeration and silly speculation, incites a media circus that mortifies the mortician but causes business to soar. Despite his vagueness, his unwillingness to make any claims about what he saw, David becomes a cause c¿l¿bre among devotees of the supernatural and a scandalous embarrassment to his scientific friends at the university.
At this point, the philosophical questions rise up in a series of cleverly drawn encounters with experts. Two reasonable-seeming officials from the Society for the Second World come to speak with David about his experience. They introduce him to a scientist who uses computers and mathematics to quantify psychic powers. "We don't want to leap to any conclusions," Dr. Tettlebeim says with faux skepticism. "We must treat such correlations with some caution." But soon he points to an unusual row of numbers and announces, "Here is stark evidence of the force of the mind."
There's not really any doubt about Lightman's loyalties in this debate. His description of an annual meeting of "truth seekers" is a brilliant piece of satire, complete with crazy field reports and kooky evidence decorated with scientific lingo. Beneath the comedy, though, one senses Lightman's sympathy with that deep human desire for transcendence. "There has to be another world," one of the attendants tells David, "because there has to be something after we die. Death can't be the end." Lightman is wise enough to hear that sentiment echoing down through the millennia, and he has no intention of dismissing it simply because it can't be confirmed with a microscope.
But what's more surprising is Lightman's willingness to expose the dogmatism of his colleagues. In one particularly damning scene, the university scientists display their unwillingness to consider radical interpretations no matter what the evidence. Like the charlatans they oppose, they're willing to repress and distort anything that doesn't confirm their conclusions. Courted by believers on both sides, poor David remains helplessly suspended between irreconcilable concepts of reality.
These are heavy questions, to be sure, the kind of philosophical conundrums that might fuel a provocative all-night discussion in the dorm but usually doom a novel. The salvation here is Lightman's graceful touch and his tender insight into David's plight. No matter what your position on things that go bump in the night, you'll be left haunted by his question to a skeptical friend: "If you saw something supernatural, what would you do?" Admit it, you don't know. And that's spooky.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/...
June 17, 2019
J'ai aimé ce livre car il évoque les controversies entre la science et le supernaturel d'une manière romancée. J'y ai trouvé de la profondeur et il m'a donné de quoi réfléchir sur ce que l'ont appelle "preuves". Car si un fait n'arrive qu'une seule fois, cela suffit-il pour le croire vrai ou est-ce juste arrivé par chance? Et si nous arrivions à reproduire ce phénomène, était-ce à nouveau par chance ou bien cela représente-il une preuve?
Un scientifique peut-il réellement être objectif et à la recherche de la vérité ou bien il est comme tout être humain et influencé par ce qu'il croit?
De telles questions qui ne sont pas nouvelles mais plutôt bien amenées dans ce livre par ce professeur de physique à Harvard et MIT, oui rien que ça.
Un scientifique peut-il réellement être objectif et à la recherche de la vérité ou bien il est comme tout être humain et influencé par ce qu'il croit?
De telles questions qui ne sont pas nouvelles mais plutôt bien amenées dans ce livre par ce professeur de physique à Harvard et MIT, oui rien que ça.
February 7, 2021
This is my second book by Lightman and, I don't know, I guess he's just not my author. He's a good writer, but his style doesn't quite get to me. I liked some of the avenues this book delved into—philosophical, paranormal, and psychological avenues—but I struggled with the premise of an anecdote about a man in a mortuary seeing something vague and ghostlike becoming a town-wide sensation that disrupts the lives of everyone in his orbit. Maybe I'm naive about small-town interests, but the stir seemed too far-fetched, and the internal journey the main character went on depended quite a bit on the stir. I didn't overtly dislike the book, but ultimately, it just didn't get to me, as I said above.
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