2020 EDIT: No longer one of my favourites, sadly, as I didn't enjoy it the more I read it on the second go. I skimmed through A LOT of dense, tedious infodumping. But I still appreciate 'Sophie's World'. It is fascinating, but dry in its complex philosophical and historical teachings. I really must have been as patient as a saint when I was younger; I reckon I'm not so patient now. A sign of lost innocence on my part? Maybe I'm the dull one in my disillusioned adulthood.
In 'Sophie's World', I've noticed a few inconsistencies and contradictions. It reads as a bit pretentious to me now. Plus the ending has some disturbing implications.
Nonetheless, I'm glad I read it. It opened my eyes and made me appreciate more things than I would have before in my life. I do still try to remain thoughtful, open minded and free thinking. And feminism is touched upon - I can't believe I missed out on that the first time! 'Sophie's World' is about progress, but the execution of its millions of ideas and subject matters that are introduced is another kettle of fish.
Whatever anyone may think of 'Sophie's World', it does make you think, which is no doubt the intention.
Final Score: 3.5/5
Original Review:
A wonderful, informative book about the history of humankind trying to discover and understand its own existence.
A cynical look at man, mind, matter, and consciousness.
A story book about philosophy.
A philosophy book with a story.
A story within a story.
There is no story.
A beautifully crafted tale full of twists and turns.
A clumsy mess of a plot trying to teach philosophy to a new generation.
An amazing, intellectual feat with reflections of self-awareness, irony and integrity.
A colossal mind-screw.
A work of art and genius.
An overly-long and awkward clusterfuck of too many different ideas at once.
A novel that teaches us how balance and forward-thinking are everything for mankind to continue to survive and thrive.
But what about it seemingly never making up its own mind about whether it wants to be a story about philosophy, or a history of philosophy book?
'Sophie's World' is all of these things and more. And I loved every page of it.
By the time I was finished with it, I was exhausted, and well-informed about philosophy and the limitless potential of creative storytelling. Like Sophie herself, I was left wondering: Why don't more schools teach children about philosophy and the boundless ways we can look at the world and therefore change it for the better? Why was it that in my university Performing Arts course, I was taught more about philosophy than about performing arts?
I'd say 'Sophie's World' is a very important book to read because, like feminism and imagination, philosophy is something that needs more recognition and understanding in our modern world. What truly makes human beings so fascinating is that each and every one of us has the capacity to think outside the box, to break away from society's monotonous routines and expectations. With the power of independent thought, anyone can be a philosopher. The first step is understanding its meaning, and that there are no limits in its field.
But storywise, what really connected me to 'Sophie's World' was the realism of the characters. Sophie Amundsen is a fourteen-year-old Norwegian schoolgirl who finds two mysterious notes in her postbox one day, saying "Who are you?" and "Where does the world come from?" She is an inquisitive, adventurous and lovely protagonist (or not, as will be questioned when the big twist of the story is known). She possesses hopes and fears and doubts: similar to how any young starting philosopher would feel. Sophie can be mean and reckless sometimes, but she is still a teenager just coming to understand what the non-deep-thinking adult world is like. I could sympathise with her frustration at others; who go about their lives not questioning anything, not wishing for something more, and never working towards their potential. Her relationship with her mother in particular is quite endearing, with more complicated subtext than how it first appears. Reading about how its development plays out was very interesting to me.
'Sophie's World' brings up how children, in their playfulness and freedom, are more curious and imaginative than grown-ups; similar to the theme of Antoine de Saint-Exupery's 'The Little Prince'.
The rest of the characters are not very likeable. Alberto Knox is a philosophy nut, but is also a creepy stalker of a fourteen-year-old girl. Joanna is a faux best friend who makes Sophie feel bad about herself, and yet the blame is on Sophie. It's indicated that Joanna's spoiled personality stems from her being raised by shallow and irresponsible parents, and that Alberto's actions are not entirely his own; so he will try to break away from his "god". So while they may not be likeable, neither of these two are ill-developed nor are they pointless to the book's purpose.
There are a few other characters who will come to light as the novel progresses; ones who are as remarkable as Sophie, and I'm not talking about the philosophers throughout the ages such as Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Spinoza, Humes, Locke, Kant, Marx and Freud.
In terms of plot, the novel definitely has plenty of action and cause-and-effect. It's not all a history lesson. Like I mentioned, Sophie is an explorer who has adventures and comes across mysteries, Nancy Drew-style. There are stakes, such as the ticking clock of Sophie having to learn about the whole history of philosophy before her fifteenth birthday; for something of great consequence is about to happen. Something life changing. What will it be? Read to find out.
There's also a subtext about men looking out for their daughters. Sophie's father is away throughout the entirety of the book, and so Alberto Knox is her only male role model/teacher. I can't really explain any further without giving away major spoilers, but it could be that 'Sophie's World', underneath all its teachings about the importance and relevance of philosophy with mind-warping elements mixed in, is at the end of the day a simple story about an absentee father trying to reconcile with his young daughter, just as she is growing out of innocence and into ignorance. It's a sweet little message for such a complex novel.
The characters and the way the story is structured are what keep 'Sophie's World' from becoming just a textbook of philosophy and history. These two subjects are important to help us understand the world today. However, since 'Sophie's World' is supposedly a starting point for young aspiring philosophers, it helps that a layer of fiction/fairy tales is also prevalent.
There are little touches here and there to delight and set young readers' imaginations going. These include: the Lego/world-creating comparison (very nostalgic and relevant, and I read this at the time of the release of 'The Lego Movie' as well!); the strange inclusions of Alice in Wonderland, Little Red Riding Hood and Winnie the Pooh (I'm not making this up); the "romantic irony" which tells us that the characters (specifically Alberto Knox) know they are in a story (what we would call "meta-humour" today); the videotape showing ancient Athens; the "magic mirror" between worlds; and Alberto dressing in costumes relating to a time period where philosophy had set a new revolution - in order to teach Sophie about how humans had thought and were educated about self-discovery (internally and externally) in that era. After all, children learn more from seeing than hearing.
'Sophie's World' reminds me of why I love to read. Fiction can teach you more about life than textbooks, which, while not necessarily dull, can be very restrictive in learning and development. This book teaches you to think any way you like about humanity, the world and the very universe itself. Did everything start with the Big Bang? Is there an all-mighty and omnipresent God who created all of space and time, and the whole world and the life on it? Did God come from nothing? Did the universe come from nothing? Has it always existed? Has matter always existed? What about nature vs nurture, my favourite discussion topic?
And where do we go with these questions? How do we create and project ourselves onto the ever-mysterious world we live on?
'Sophie's World' is a thinking and speculative reading experience that trusts in its audience's intelligence, like many good literary works do. I did not believe it to be pretentious or even that convoluted; there's a beating heart in this novel about philosophy. I'd go so far as to say it is the best title in the magical realism genre I've ever read. Heck, its mind-scrambling surrealism and layers of subtle subtext would make it worthy of a Coen brother film adaptation.
I like to look deep into the things I read about, and no doubt I show this in a lot of my reviews. This is because I like to think, and because I like to trust in the writer's passion and dedication to create something meaningful and beautiful with his or her story and characters. A written intent that is so powerful that it can perhaps help me to think differently from how I thought before.
I knew about the basics of philosophy before reading 'Sophie's World', but not so much the history of it, nor the hundreds of figureheads who contribute to the way we think and act to this day. This bizarre, confusing yet brilliant masterpiece definitely made me think about all kinds of things during and after reading. It's an eye-opener, a consciousness-awakener, a mirror into the dividing nature of the mind and soul.
And that's what I look for in what I call a "beautiful, five-star quality story".
Of course, like all the philosophers of the past and present, 'Sophie's World' doesn't really go so far as to provide any concrete answers to life's billions of questions. A true philosopher cannot claim to be all-knowing or wise (as Socrates once stated) - he/she can only speculate, create and explore the possibilities of life's meaning. If it has one.
Filled with great teachings (as a start to learning about philosophy) and with real and wonderful characters and environments, I recommend 'Sophie's World' wholeheartedly. Not everyone will love it, that much is certain, with all its many ideas and seemingly random turnabouts (especially towards the somewhat anticlimactic end of Sophie's journey). But it is an experience to behold nonetheless.
It's a novel that thinks it's a history of philosophy.
It's a history of philosophy that thinks it's a novel.
Book reviewer Artemis Crescent thinks it's a little of both of these things. How they balance out in relation to one another is entirely up to the curious, free-thinking reader.
Final Score: 4.5/5
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