From Publishers Weekly Improbable as it may seem， this long， sometimes complex first novel featuring the influential Austrian philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein and his colleagues/friends/rivals， Cambridge philosophers Bertrand Russell and G. E. Moore， is abundant with life and almost unflaggingly interesting. Deviating only when it must from the record， the lightly fictionalized work progresses chronologically through the convolutions of Wittgenstein's career: his early life in Austria; his arrival in Cambridge; his experiences in the first World War; his unhappy memories of his brilliantly gifted older brothers， both homosexual， both suicides; his relations with a rich， powerful， autocratic father; and his succession of young male friends. All the while Russell is reeling from Lady Ottoline Morrell (of Bloomsbury fame) to a series of wives and other wandering women and the good Moore， already far from young， is marrying happily. The enigmatic Wittgenstein could imagine the unimaginable， but never would he have imagined it possible that he would one day appear as the protagonist of a noveland a delightful one， at that. Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information， Inc. From Library Journal "This，" asserts the author， "is fiction." Though a detailed narrative of the life and times of eminent 20th-century philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein， "it is not history， philosophy， or biography." Duffy's first novel is not for the reader looking to understand contemporary philosophy; indeed， philosophers may object to its use as a gloss on a young man's private anguish. And some readers may wonder whether the many characters borrowed from real life are being fairly represented. But readers who like a broad canvas will find this work appealing， moving as it does from uppercrust Vienna to pre-war Cambridge to the battlefields of World War I and World War II. Alas， there is some infelicitous phrasing here， and the discussions of what's doing in philosophy can read like an encyclopedia. But in scope and ambition this work is finally compelling. Barbara Hoffert， "Library Journal"Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information， Inc. See all Editorial Reviews