Review: Jostein Gaarder's "Sophie's World"

Norwegian writer Jostein Gaarder is undoubtedly an ambitious writer. It's a brave man who will attempt to marry a brief history of the entirety of Western Philosophy with a mystery novel when there is so much to fit in without running the risk of trivialising some of the most profound thoughts mankind has ever been able to come up with.

And does he achieve it? Well... no, not at all actually. Now don't get me wrong, Gaarder does an impressive job of explaining Plato and Satre in an accessible way but the problem is in order to do it properly it takes up a lot of space which doesn't leave much room for character development. Around about the halfway mark events start to take on a more serious tone as the mystery behind why an old man chooses to impart Sophie with his knowledge of philosophy begins to be solved but because there has been very little time spent with either Sophie or her teacher it's very difficult to sympathise with either. To make matters worse Sophie herself becomes something of an irritation when the lessons go from written to verbal and she has to keep interrupting with what can sometimes be rather inane comments.

It also doesn't help that Sophie's character is not established at all before the mysterious letters through which her course begins arrive. We are unable to appreciate how much the new ideas she is being introduced to influence her behaviour because we have no idea what she was really like. Her teacher, Alberto Knox is just as underdeveloped but this is less of an issue as his role is more of a facilitator for Sophie's growth rather than a focal point himself. There is actually a reason why Gaarder may have felt such paper thin characters were necessary (which I can't discuss without ruining the twist) but even with this excuse (and it does feel like an excuse rather than an explanation) the fact is that other writers have tackled similar ideas with far more success.

Once the twist is revealed the novel yet again disappoints by using its concept in a mostly superficial manner and in the most obvious ways possible. It is a novel almost completely devoid of subtlety, particularly in its execution but also in its language as well. At times it reaches for a sort of philosophical depth but instead settles for cheap tricks which don't really add much to the narrative and the sort of boomingly hollow platitudes you would expect to see on bumper stickers and the faux inspirational posters that seem to be doing the rounds on Facebook again for some reason. A whole chapter early on can basically be summed up as "Live every day to its fullest" but is presented as if it is some great truth which nobody in the modern world can appreciate. Sadly I am not exaggerating. It is so saccharine in places as to convince the reader of the very real threat of potential transmission of diabetes through literature.

I am disappointed that with what could potentially have been a very solid basis for a good book Gaarder has shot so wide of the mark. Instead of creating a harmonious mix of all the different elements what we are left with feels more like a child has tried forcing bits from three different puzzles together. It doesn't work at all and my only recommendation is if you are really desperate for a beginner's guide to philosophy you can flick through in a few days.

Rating: 3/10