- Mass Market Paperback: 368 pages
- Publisher: Berkley (TRD); Reprint edition (Nov 1 1997)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 042515999X
- ISBN-13: 978-0425159996
- Product Dimensions: 19.8 x 13 x 2.3 cm
- Shipping Weight: 295 g
- Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (81 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #165,675 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Amazon
Jostein Gaarder had an unlikely international success with Sophie's World, a novelized exploration of western philosophy through the eyes of a young girl. This is an earlier work, translated from the Norwegian by Sarah Jane Hails. This fable-like story dabbles in philosophy too, though more lightly. It tells of a Norwegian boy traveling across Europe with his calm and reflective father in search of his long lost mother. The boy finds a tiny manuscript that reveals the secret of a magic deck of cards that can tell the future.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Publishers Weekly
Admirers of Gaarder's first translated work, the bestselling Sophie's World, will be familiar with this Norwegian ex-philosophy teacher's talent for transforming what is essentially a vigorous round of mental aerobics into unpredictable, absorbing fun. This novel, which was published in Norway before Sophie's World, is another offbeat delight, ontology masquerading as an ingeniously constructed fairy tale. It tells the story of the 12-year-old Hans Thomas, who is driving with his father from Norway to Greece in a quest to retrieve his errant mother. The plot thickens when a midget at a gas station on the Swiss border slips Hans Thomas a miniature magnifying glass, and then the next evening, on a stop in Dorf, a kindly old baker presents him with a correspondingly tiny book and swears him to secrecy. As Hans Thomas sneaks looks at the book, between sightseeing and philosophizing with his father on their trip south, it gradually unfurls a strange story of a shipwrecked sailor and his rather unusual game of solitaire?a story that has puzzling links with Hans Thomas's own life. By the time the mystery is resolved, Hans Thomas and his family learn important lessons about themselves and their past, as Gaarder walks the reader through a complex inquiry into the nature of being and destiny. Less light-footed than Sophie's World, this work relies on fantastical symbolism for its central allegory; some readers will find a plot that hinges on such elements as a magic vanishing island and sparkling Rainbow Soda too corny for their tastes. Others, however, will deem it enchanting, especially since all the whimsy is balanced by deft portraits of Hans Thomas and his gruff, good-hearted father.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Inside This Book
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First Sentence
THE GREAT JOURNEY TO the homeland of the philosophers began in Arendal, an old shipping town on the south coast of Norway. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
THE GREAT JOURNEY TO the homeland of the philosophers began in Arendal, an old shipping town on the south coast of Norway. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Most helpful customer reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
This book really changed my life.,
By A Customer
This review is from: Solitaire Mystery (Mass Market Paperback)
I actually did not buy this book here at amazon.com , but I checked it out of my library. I was looking for a book randomly, and the fish on the cover caught my eye, so i picked it up, and checked it out. Oh my god. This book has changed my life forever. The book made me think so much about the world around me, and to really question life itself. How ignorant we are to walk around in our little lives, completely ignoring the greatness of everything around us, like how the sky stays up there, and how we stay planted on the ground, and how rain falls. After crying a little, and laughing a little, I finished the book with great satisfaction, and whole new persepective on life. If everyone in the world read this book, the world would be a grander place, in which we don't worry about petty differences, but instead wonder. Five stars, and nothing less.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Post-modern fairytale,
By
This review is from: Solitaire Mystery (Mass Market Paperback)
The Solitaire Mystery follows a young boy, Hans Thomas, and his father on their way to find their runaway mother. Along the way, they encounter various people, each connected by a strange world long ago, leading ultimately to the unraveling of the mysterious pasts of Hans and his family.The Solitaire Mystery explores the strange world of coincidences and determinism. It dabbles in the philosophy of consciousness, reminding one of Descartes's elegant statement, "Cogito ergo sum," except declared this time by a pack of living playing cards. While definitely surreal, Gaarder touches questions intrinsic in every culture in the world. The only problem I had with this book was its story-within-story format. This made it somewhat difficult to follow, as it reached the point when Hans was reading a book about someone telling someone else a story told to him by another person. However, despite the heady material The Solitaire Mystery utilizes, it still reads as light and whimsical. This is a fairytale a la Alice-in-Wonderland, but at the same time, deep and profound.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Reasonable,
This review is from: Solitaire Mystery (Mass Market Paperback)
Item was delivered in a reasonably time manner. The book had been slightly damaged on corners, but nothing serious.The shipper could have avoided it thought by choosing appropriate packaging. However, if the seller ever wanted to consider this, it should not cost the buyer higher freight rate, since it is already high enough!
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