"Ghost Crab" Book Review

I hope my feature story on author Paul Magnus Lefcourt, aka Pablo Lefkowitz, aroused some curiosity for his novel "Ghost Crab." If so, great news! I have finally finished the final draft of my book review for "Ghost Crab." It was a fun process, and my first time reviewing a novel.

Review

“Ghost Crab,” the debut novel by Pensacola author Pablo Lefkowitz, is more like a wacky, although scientific, autobiography of sorts than your usual fiction. Lefkowitz, a marine biologist who earned a Ph. D in environmental sciences from Rutgers University, said that his own personal experiences are the foundation of “Ghost Crab,” namely his near-death experience, a debilitating accident in 1987 on his boat that left him paralyzed from the neck down.

“Ghost Crab” opens in a state of utter confusion, with the narrator, Max Nordstein, waking up from what at first seems be a coma, to find himself in a new oceanic environment—and in a new ghost crab body. Max then learns from the deeply analytical Peaches, who is a woman’s spirit trapped inside a ghost crab, that he and his beautiful girlfriend Gretel were both killed by an explosion on his boat, the R/V Gaea, and that he has been reincarnated as a ghost crab.

After their encounter, they engage in a passionate mating scene, and Peaches becomes Max’s lover and only companion, acting as a psychotherapist, explaining to him the concept of reincarnation.

“Every human soul that has ever occupied a human form is now either in another human form or an animal like us,” Peaches explains to Max. “It is the way of Karma.”

Ever the logical scientist, Max is bewildered by this philosophy of reincarnation and renounces belief in the supernatural, mystics, witch doctors, or keepers of the occult, but Peaches tells him that he must keep an open mind—or else get lost. Once Max regains his memory, he embarks on an adventurous trip through a mental videodisc, which reveals the events of his life. These events include his birth in Norway to an American Jewish mother named Anna and Sven his Norwegian father, who is a chemistry professor and scientist, to his early, incestuous love affair with his cousin Aimee, his tedious graduate research studies at Rutgers University, and his experiences and relationships formed at High Thor, a rehabilitation center.

Lefkowitz’s writing style is unique but awkward to read because the story flows like a drawn-out interview, with Peaches, whose dialogue is in bold print, asking Max foreboding question after question as if they are in a never-ending, redundant therapy session.

Max’s life is a dizzying tale of a complex intellectual who goes through phases of self-destruction, self-renewal, and self- discovery. Not for the faint of heart, “Ghost Crab” contains graphic sexual descriptions and themes of incest between Max and both his sister and his cousin that can be uncomfortable to read.

Lefkowitz said in a recent interview that “Ghost Crab” is the product of invention and real-life happenings. He said he had no fear of inventing things such as making Max a genius, and his father, who is also Max’s son, one of the most famous scientists in the world.

Although the plot of “Ghost Crab” is captivating and exciting at some turns, it is a story that warrants interest in the life of the author himself, or in the theme of reincarnation, to which Lefkowitz takes an unusual approach.

“Read this book, and you’ll find out what a screwball I really am, but I’m very lovable,” Lefkowitz also said.

The first edition of “Ghost Crab,” published by Xlibris Corp. on September 22, 2000 is currently available only in hardcover on Amazon for $32.99.