The Visiting Professor: A Novel of Chaos

By Robert Littell

Book Overview

Lemuel Falk, a Russian theoretical chaoticist on the lam from terrestrial chaos, has been applying for permission to leave Russia every year for the past twenty-three years. Because he knows state secrets, he has not been allowed to cross the state s frontiers. Now, suddenly, his request for an exit visa is approved a sure sign that the situation is even more chaotic than he had imagined. Falk accepts a chair as a visiting professor at the Institute for Advanced Interdisciplinary Chaos-Related Studies in upstate New York. Arriving in the Promised Land under the impression that the streets are paved with Sony Walkmans, he plunges into the heart of another kind of chaos. No sooner has he arrived than he sets off on an academic cat fight, falls in love with a hairdresser half his age, and becomes a self-styled gumshoe tracking a serial killer.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1585678163
• ISBN13: 9781585678167
• Release Date: May 2006
• Publisher: Overlook Press
• Length: 226 Pages
• Weight: 1.10 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 6.3" x 9.2"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

a master wordsmith

I adored this book. My only concern was my fear that I would laugh out loud while reading it during a delay at LaGuardia. I found the characters fascinating, the professor's observations/internal monologue delightful, and the story line engaging. If you are looking for witty and humorous observations about life from a different perspective - all mixed with a bit of romance and "whodunit" - this book is for you. If it is hard-core action/suspense you seek, you'd be better served by some of Mr. Littell's other books. In hindsight, this book may have been better received had he penned it under a female pseudonym. I loved the book and it is receiving rave reviews from my friends as well. How about another one like this for the gals, Mr Littell??

I really like this book

I read the Company a few years ago and loved it. I thought this book was going to be a similar historical/spy/thriller novel. Turns out that The Visiting Professor is nothing like the Company, but I liked it anyway.