Rating: 
Summary: An Inspiring Read
Review: Beautifully written paragraphs jump of the page throughout, I had to put this book down from time to time, to think over and enjoy what I had just read.So well written, if you like quality literature you will like this novel. The Novel touches on various historical figures bringing these famous true characters to life, in what is obviously Findley's personal opinions of their persona's based on historical knowledge. My only negative criticism of this book is that it moves a little slow in a few places, which made me a little impatient as to what was to happen next in the story. If you like quality literature, have any interest in psychology and/or history then this is the book for you, you will need a quiet room, roaring fire and a big mug of tea.
Rating: 
Summary: I couldn't put it down
Review: I actually started riding the bus to work as an excuse to keep reading this book. Rather than putting me to sleep, it kept me up at night, so badly did I want to know where Findley was going with this story. I promised myself that each page would be the last, and THEN I'd go to sleep, but then the next chapter would come, and I'd still be reading. Think of the book the way you'd think of a movie like The Remains of the Day with Anthony Hopkins. The beauty is slow and quiet and found in the dialogue and the costumes and in the buildup of information. I think it's a fantastic read.
Rating: 
Summary: Decent Diversion
Review: I always plan - carefully - which books I intend to purchase. Usually, this process takes me through dozens of reviews (which I often disregard) and, where applicable, excerpts. Rarely have I ever found myself so wholly in want of a book as I was when I first discovered Pilgrim. Penned by one of my favourite authors, with whom I have found very little fault, I began reading with heightened expectations. Findley combines the past with an interpretation of Jungian psychology, exploring elements like the naturality of polygamy and the power and extent of the theory of a collective unconscious. For the first 90% of the story, everything works together wonderfully; events are tied together or created with a level of believability that can, at times, astound the reader. Unfortunately, much of the story proves to be a cop-out. I won't spoil the ending here, but will say that it comes off as lazy. Overall, it's a good read ... if you don't mind the disappointment that comes after it ends.
Rating:
Summary: Intellectually nimble
Review: I found Pilgrim to be a fascinating read. Part history, part psychology, part mystery, Pilgrim leads the reader on a circuitous journey. One needs to be intellectually nimble, to be able to suspend disbelief, and to have either a quick grasp of the wide historical range addressed...or have access to a good encyclopedia. Pilgrim is a man/woman/spirit/consciousness who has been admitted to a Swiss psychiatric hospital because of his repeated suicide attempts. All attempts, though seeming at first to have succeeded, actually failed, thus "condemning" him, somewhat like Woolf's Orlando, to live forever. His encounters with famous people throughout history constitute a remarkable chronicle of certain historical periods. His relationship with C.G. Jung, during the years when the latter was developing his theory of the collective unconscious, is particularly intriguing. I couldn't categorize this book as history, biography, fantasy, psychiatry, psychology, mystery. It defies many of the basic "rules" of any one of these designations and may, therefore, cause some discomfort in a reader who prefers strict logic, easy-to-follow story line, or predictable form. But it's quite a ride for those interested in the exploratory!
Rating: 
Summary: PIGEONS or this book will not die (or end soon enough)
Review: I started out thinking this might be a four star book then three and as the plot got more and more ridiculous and the writing more and more disappointing I was thinking two, by the time I had finished this book I was thinking how did he get this thing published. Here is some of Findley's plot, Pilgrim can not die and has lived during many different time periods as either a man or a women. In fact he was Mona Lisa ( or was Mona Lisa's hisher mother) as a young girl dressed as a boy, whom Leonardo De Vinci made sexual advances on. Ok that's something I guess but what's with the ash trays, the pigeons, the list, music,and the general bad writing?I.E. Oh, the feel of them and the smell of them, and me lying out along their necks...the black steeds, the roan steeds, the greys and the rare, rare whites. If I could have it back, it was the best of my lives-the simplest of all I ever had, though I don't know when it was, or where, precisely....pg 431. He played with this image the way a child will play with imagined fairy-tale locales. It was his Camelot and his Atlantis. It was his Emerald City of Oz..pg 431. What we have here my friend is bad writing. ... Please!
Rating:
Summary: Enigmatic and Problematic
Review: Pilgrim begins quite enigmatically and I began it with a lot of hope for one very special book. Unfortunately, the book's enigmatic qualities soon fizzle as the plot veers off course only to finish with many dangling threads. I do not mind dangling threads if the plot supports and calls for them, but Pilgrim seemed to need a little more. We simply don't know what Findley is trying to tell us. Findley's writing, as always, is truly first rate and the book is enjoyable to read for this reason alone. While I found it difficult to identify with the character of Pilgrim (this could have been deliberate on Findley's part, I know, given the book's nature), I did enjoy the "intimate" look at Carl Jung and his long-suffering and loyal wife, Emma. How true this account of the Jung's is is not really important. This is fiction, not fact. What is important is that Findley gives us an engrossing portrait of a marriage that could stand a little work, especially on the part of Jung. Pilgrim is a good book and one that I don't think anyone will regret reading. It is definitely not Findley's best and contains some plot holes that I think would have been better had they been filled.
Rating:
Summary: Doesn't live up to potential
Review: Pilgrim is the story of a man who can not die. After his latest suicide attempt, Pilgrim is brought to a sanatorium in Switzerland by his friend Sibyl Quatermaine, and comes under the care of Carl Jung. Throughout the story we are given glimpses of Pilgrim's past lives - imagined or real; but the majority of the story is actually concerned with Pilgrim's incarceration and Carl Jung. This is the most disappointing aspect of the story - the tantalising glimpses of Leonardo da Vinci, Teresa of Avila, the Cathedral at Chartres - none of this is really developed. Rather, we have long passages on the turmoil in Jung's mind (which I found quite boring) and fragmentary insights into Pilgrim's thoughts. I kept waiting for the story of these past lives to be more fully developed, but nothing ever comes of it. The other disappointment with this book is the main characters- you cannot sympathise with them. Jung comes across as a right prat, probably because he was in real life. Pilgrim is just too absent and intangible, you can't feel anything for him. Even Sibyl Quatermaine comes across as a self-absorbed, silly woman when she really could have been something else. Rather, it is the secondary characters that were most interesting - Jung's long suffering wife Emma, Pilgrim's attendant Kessler. But because they are not primary characters, they are treated like the stories of Pilgrim's past lives - we are only given tantalising glimpses and left wishing we were given more. I feel that this was a brilliant premise, but Findley has missed the mark either by trying to be too clever ("look how much insight I have into the mind and motivations of Jung" type of thing) or by trying to fit too much in and never developing one idea enough to be fulfilling. I kept reading, waiting for the really interesting part to start. Yet it never did. And the ending - I don't want to give anything away, so I will only say that it was just too silly.
Rating:
Summary: Pilgrim: A Timeless Character
Review: Timothy Findley has written another great work of art. Pilgrim, the central character, is a tragic figure not because he gave his life for a great cause; but he is tragic because he cannot seem to die (or is he just a bit schizo?..hmmm). The novel focuses on themes of trust, loss and redemption. In the end, though, I began trusting more of the bit characters (ie. Jung's wife) and empathizing with her loss more than the central figures. One note of dissappointment. The book tends to lose a little steam at the end. We simply just wish Pilgrim could successfully end himself and thus the novel. Does he succeed? We are still uncertain.
Rating: 
Summary: On the whole, a dissapointment
Review: To begin with, a very nice premise. But Findley just doesn't deliver. It's not that I need every question answered after all life's not like that, no reason literature should be. But a little more in the way of resolution would have been nice.
Mr. Findley also gets too wrapped up with being a writer sometimes...you know what I mean. You've got an interesting idea now just tell the story.
Rating:
Summary: Pop Fiction
Review: When I picked up the book and read the jacket, I was all excited to read it. It looked right up my alley; a psychiatrist with a patient that seemed to live many past lives. On top of it all, the psychiatrist was supposed to be Carl Jung, a major pioneer in the field. The problem for me occured almost immediately from the first page. The story seemed to be written in a "painfully" boring manner. The Pilgrim, a man who cannot die, has just survived hanging himself. He doesn't talk. Carl Jung is assigned his case and tries to draw him out. Sounds exciting? It should have been but I just could not get into it. I think it was just the author's style of writing. I tried over and over to finish this book but I never could go more than halfway. And I am usually the type of person that must finish a book no matter what. I see most of the reviews here were pretty good so it may just be a case of the writers particular style and my brain being incompatible.
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