Sophie's World [Review]
9:58 AMOriginal title : Sophie Verden
Writer : Jostein Gaarder
Language : English
Translator : Paulette Moller
Country : Norway
Genres : Philosophical fiction
Pages : 519
Sophie's world is one of my favorite novel. Through this book Jostein Gaarder wrapped a history of philosophy in great fiction. In the beginning, I thought it was kind of 'a hard lecturer's philosophy book'. But In the middle I feel like I'm reading a disney story cause I found Pooh from Winnie the Pooh, Aladdin, Alice, even Cinderella!
The story begins with our main character a 14-years-old girl, Sophie Amundsen. She arrived from school and got the letter with 3 words written in it "Who are you?". In the other day she also got the same letter written "Where did the world come from?" soon "Was there a life after death?" and many philosophical question like this.
The story begins with our main character a 14-years-old girl, Sophie Amundsen. She arrived from school and got the letter with 3 words written in it "Who are you?". In the other day she also got the same letter written "Where did the world come from?" soon "Was there a life after death?" and many philosophical question like this.
“Was
there a life after death?”
Sophie
stood on the gravel path, thinking. She tried to think extra hard about being
alive so as to forget that she would not be alive forever. But it was
impossible. As soon as she concentrated on being alive now, the thought of
dying also came into her mind. The same thing happened the other way around.
Only by conjuring up an intense feeling of one day being dead could she
appreciate how terribly good it was to be alive. It was like two sides of a
coin that she kept turning over and over. And the bigger and clearer one side
of the coin became, the bigger and clearer the other side became too.
You
can’t experience being alive without realizing that you have to die, she
thought. But it’s just as impossible to realize you have to die without
thinking how increadibly amazing it is to be alive.” (Sophie’s
world, page 8)
As Sophie ponders these questions, a three-page typewritten letter arrives, also unsigned, that turns out to be the first lesson in a course on the history of philosophy. At first by letter and then in person, a mysterious guru who calls himself Alberto Knox guides Sophie through the ideas of great thinkers, from the pre-Socratics to Jean-Paul Sartre. Philosophy's quest for truth, Knox tells his pupil, "resembles a detective story."
Meanwhile, Sophie has to play detective on another front. From time to time she gets postcards that are intended for another 14-year-old, Hilde Moller Knag, who by coincidence also has an absentee father, serving with the U.N. forces in Lebanon. Who is this Hilde? Why is her mail addressed to Sophie? And is it just coincidence that Hilde and Sophie have the same birthday? Suffice it to say that the answers involve a talking dog and a magic mirror, as well as the relation of illusion to reality.
I highly recommend this book for those who wants to learn philosophy or love fantasy novel.
Read the book here:
Sophie's World (pdf)
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