This book is about the lives of three different people and their professional and personal ambitions. Adam is a doctor who stumbles across a cure for liver cancer. His first wife is a cold woman, but he finds love again with Anya, one of his patients at his fertility clinic. Isabella is a child prodigy. Her father pushes her to excel and she graduates from high school when she is 13. She graduates from college at 16, majoring in physics. But her life is all about study, so her social skills are lacking when she meets up with charismatic Jerry, son of her college advisor. Sandy is also a brilliant doctor who goes into the field of gerontology. He starts studying aging when he realizes his beloved father is getting older. Though he once had a loving wife, he still can't get over the woman that he once loved in school, even though she would never even give him the time of day. With these three characters in the centre erich segal paints a powerful and moving saga where they compete for the ultimate glory: the Nobel prize . we are taken inside the research labs and clinics, the homes and hearts, of the world's most elite doctors and scientists...two men and one woman... whose genius, dedication and passion cannot always win for them the love and recognition they so desperately seek.
"But the path to Stockholm is strewn with a thousand dangers." At first glance, Erich Segal delivers in Prizes his usual mixture of cliche overachievers, perfectionists and geniuses that are impossible to find in real life and only ever alive in stories. Yet, upon further careful reflection of Prizes, I wondered if Segal may not have finally found the right balance between fantasy and reality. Given "Prizes" is the focus of three scientists all aiming for THE prize - the Nobel - it is only natural that he would give us the very best of humanity in this sweet (but still somewhat contrived) saga. Winners of the Nobel are viewed indeed as semi-Gods in our eyes, having made that dent in the universe the rest of us can only strive for, dream of and at times suffer heartbreak over. Perhaps Segal, with his knack for dramatization, intended to magnify for the reader the hard work, devotion and sacrifice these unique human beings' will endure for the sake of their passion and the final ultimate prize.
What do You think about Prizes (1995)?
Ha!!!Another cracker from Erich Segal. . In this book we have three main characters namely Sandy, Adam and Isabella. All the 3 are nice characters and their portrayal in the novel is just superb. They are all trying to get Nobel prize in this book and the book tells whether they get it or not and what are the pressures they have to undergo for getting such a great prize. Indeed all the characters are perfectly wven in this novel Especially the characters of Jerry and Pracht make a great impression . The dialogue between Pracht and raymond when Isabella finds about 5th force is just superb. And Jerrys charecterisation is really nice and needs a special mention. And what to say though this novel is not upto the level of other novels of erich segal its an wonderful read too!
—Bharathkumar
I just re0read this (a phase I am going through, believe me it's over now) and demoted it to two stars - it was the worst of Segal with little of the redeeming qualities - yes it held my interest and yes everyone gets what he deserves (somewhat) but his shaky moral ground got on my nerves even more than usual as well as his one dimensional characters and predictable one liners. His writing seemed even more faulty and the conflicts more grandiose. Yay you, you know a lot of boring science, woo hoo. That's about it.
—M
3.5 stars Doctors is one of my top 10 favorite books of all time, I could probably recite most of it from memory. When I was cleaning out my bookshelves recently, I came across this book next to Doctors and couldn't remember much about it, so I decided to read it again. It's not as good as Doctors, but about on the same level as The Class, and better than some of Segal's other books. It's soapy fun set in the world of high science, As always, Segal creates memorable characters, clear-cut good guys and bad guys, and passionate showdowns between the two. I decided to keep it, and I got rid over over 200 other books, so I guess that's as good a recommendation as I can give.
—Minty McBunny
