I just finished reading Sol Luckman’s book BEGINNER’S LUKE. I have to confess, by the time I started reading the book I was already very positively biased, having read Sol’s various articles and excerpts from his book CONSCIOUS HEALING: BOOK ONE ON THE REGENETICS METHOD. At this stage I was already aware that Sol is one of the most articulate, deepest and most comprehensive writers of this age, with the ability to express the spirit, mechanic and scientific perspective of this very crucial era humanity is undergoing.

To my delight, I discovered that Sol can also tell a compelling tale seasoned with good-natured humor and colorful characters, keeping it light hearted but at the same time sharply insightful. I was pleasantly surprised that the same brilliant mind that can outline complex issues such as the mechanics of DNA can explore basic human predicaments ranging from sexual encounters to scenes of smoking and drunk college experiences, conveyed naturally and graphically, the way one would describe them to one’s closest friend.

The self-seeking Adventure of Luke, a man groping his way around the confusingly metaphorical “New Age,” is, in a way, the story of every enlightened soul finding their way around these confounding metaphysical times. In conclusion I read the book, couldn’t put it down, had a lot of fun with it, and can’t wait to read the next one.

Yael Lewis, Tel-Aviv, Israel

By Thomas Gabrielli for Reader Views, Austin, Texas

Luke Soloman's chronicles of starting a new life–backwards–begin as a beggar in New Age City, where everything is almost perfect. Perfect, except for his new career; the residents of this town are frugal when it comes to charity. To escape, he passes through a brick wall and lands in Perver City, where he joins a group of people known as the Folarians. (You'll have to go with me on this one, please.) After being busted by a licorice twist, he takes up with a vagrant known as Blue, whom he stays with until Blue decides it's time for Luke to move on. When he leaves Blue, he ends up back in college as an eighteen-year-old, where he meets an assortment of still stranger characters.

Okay, so maybe the synopsis in the above paragraph isn't really “selling” this novel quite the way it should. Trust me on this one: this is a very unique and entertaining read. Think modern-day ALICE IN WONDERLAND, where anything can come alive when you start with a blank page. The author, Sol Luckman, warns from the very beginning that as a writer, he can do whatever he wants with his characters or the storyline. And he substantiates that feat throughout the novel. He needs a new character for a plot point? Poof! He invents one. I half expected him to give Luke wings and have him fly.

This book to a conventional novel is what an animated film is to a documentary. It is creative, imaginative, humorous and very distinctive. Sol Luckman's character, Luke Soloman (notice the similarities in names?) could be described as the author's inventive alter-ego. Yet all the time, the author makes the reader aware that he is in control here. He steps out from behind his craft to announce a twist in the plot, or new character development. Think of the final chapter of Armistead Maupin's THE NIGHT LISTENER.

However, while the novel meanders to over-the-top places and possibilities, this reader found himself asking, “So, what's the point?” Perhaps to show the reader that as individuals, we, too, have choices and potentials. There are no boundaries or rules to limit us. If this was the lesson in Book I of this six-part series, then I can't wait for my next one. Or, if I totally missed the point, if indeed there is one here, I need to read the next installment.

I recommend BEGINNER'S LUKE for Luckman's sheer brazenness in stepping out of the box and ending up somewhere out in the stratosphere. This is a good place for the reader to go, where, like me, there is a curiosity about where else Luckman will take us the next time around. Just think of the possibilities!

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Robyn Bridgett, Cape Town, South Africa

Amazing! I have tried writing short stories and it is really difficult unless you have an incredibly open imagination. Lack of inhibition and willingness to make subjective characters is first and foremost for any good novel. I couldn't put BEGINNER'S LUKE down. It was very intense reading because the stuff happening to Luke is at times so dreadful you can't imagine it getting worse or more adventuresome. But it does! Sol Luckman is a rare talent. I have only come across one other author who has made me look at humour in this way.

BEGINNER'S LUKE is a unique, unflinchingly original and thought-provoking story or set of stories. Combining mystical insight and a wonderful sense of humour, albeit very unusual, the author displays great imagination in compiling a story that could be seen as a definite reality in some circles and completely foreign and frightful in others. The technique of entering different “dimensions” from story to story is extremely fascinating. It's very rare indeed to encounter such a captivating novel, one that is quite unlike the thousands of adventures and dramas out there.

BEGINNER'S LUKE is unpredictable and full of surprises to the point where you laugh out loud and cannot wait to read the next bit. Some of the situations Luke finds himself in are quite eerie and shocking and leave you wondering whether they actually happened, whether some were aspects of his real life story or maybe stories he heard from friends over the years-as if he were walking around with a notebook, taking everything in and then combining it into a novel.

Even the sex scenes are very descriptive, real and blunt, as if you are there with Luke and can actually see it all taking place. I found the writing very easy to read and engaging. The experience is like being in Luke's mind, being in the story and not the reader. This inspirational and darkly fun novel is a “cannot put down” book that is definite movie material. I loved every minute of it and can't wait to read the rest of the novels in the series. And I can't wait to see it at the box office!

Finally, we entered Chetaube County, my imaginary birthplace, where the names of the little winding roads and minuscule mountain communities never failed to inspire me: Yardscrabble, Big Log, Upper, Middle and Lower Pigsty, Chicken Scratch, Cooterville, Felchville, Dust Rag, Dough Bag, Uranus Ridge, Big Bottom, Hooter Holler, Quickskillet, Buck Wallow, Possum Strut … We always say a picture speaks a thousand words, but isn’t the opposite equally true?

Later, it would occur to me it's the emptiness we mistakenly call Innocence.