It's all about Life. Review on Prizes - Erich Segal

At first sight PRIZES by Erick Segal seems to be about Science and Nobel Prize. All the major characters are in a rat race to be rich, famous and win the Nobel Prize. The last sentence of the novel reveals its true nature, ?They had won the ultimate prize? which is ?each other?. In our time there is a common perception that one cannot be a good at relationship and profession at the same time. Success in the tough real world comes at a failure to home being a good husband, good wife of a good parent. Tony tried to justify this theory and she found that she was highly successful as a lawyer but not as a wife and mother. Dmitri Avilov always looked for a better deal and at the end he only found nothing but total emptiness. Gregory Morgenstern was a nice man but he cheated Sandy, his own son in law to get the Nobel Prize and this cost him his daughter losing a very loving and caring husband.

On the other hand Adam, Sandy and Isabella believed that success without love and companionship has no value. After the death of Max Adam refused to return to go Washington because he did not want to leave Max?s memories. To our modern busy life Adam?s idea may seem to be a foolish one as he could get much more salary and facilities if he moved to Washington. However, Adam?s main problem was that at the beginning of his life he wanted to walk in a middle way between idealism and opportunism. On the one hand he was deeply influenced by the idealism of Max and at the same time he was charmed by Tony. As a result, he had to pay a very heavy price for a long time. However, it will be injustice if we blame Adam for this. At that time he was a very lonely man and he tried to fill his own emptiness with Tony but that desperate move proved to be fatal later and Adam was not happy until she met Anya. What we should not forget in our own life is that if aloneness is being in a barren desert then having the wrong life partner is similar to cursed to eternity in burning hell. For Adam everything came at a price and this is equally true for Sandy and Isabella.

Sandy was cursed with an inferiority complex from the beginning. Unfortunately he did not fit into the social norm of being attractive from his childhood. Things became more complicated due to his fascination for Kim Tower. After the betrayal of his father in law her wife left him too. He learnt from his own sufferings and later he tried his best to be a good parent and husband- more than that he never tried to take any advantage from the young researchers. Sandy is the luckiest man. He did not get the Nobel Prize but he got everything else- money, fame, love and above all real happiness. Thus it is Sandy who got the real prizes at the end of the day. Isabella got them too but lost her mentor.

In the west books like Prizes are classified as Airport fiction- to be read for few hours comfort. However, Prizes is much more than an airport fiction because the writer tries to cast some deep insights about human life. The novel tells the readers not to make the same mistake that its characters did.