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4.01 AVERAGE
4.01 AVERAGE
maybe it's not high on a plot but the all the thoughts about humans from an alien perspective? yeah my type of book (you know the answer is 42, we just don't know the question heh)
This was a really sweet story. Helps you appreciate the small things and what it means to be human.
I’ve noticed with this book and the Midnight Library, Matt Haig likes his cheesy and cliche quotes, but appreciated the Midnight Library’s cheesiness a bit more.
I’ve noticed with this book and the Midnight Library, Matt Haig likes his cheesy and cliche quotes, but appreciated the Midnight Library’s cheesiness a bit more.
beautiful, moving..a little like the "man who forgot his wife" with aliens, science, peanut butter, Talking Heads and Prince
Liked it better than I expected! Very funny, if not hugely enlightening . The basic premise is that of ‘agent gone rogue’, done many times before but it’s a new twist. The teen son character was a dull stereotype, but the dog was fun.
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Self harm, Suicide attempt
Moderate: Violence
Really enjoyed it, would give it 4 1/2 stars if I could.
Combines the basic plot of Mork and Mindy with the sappiness of the guy who wrote Tuesdays with Morrie. Quick paced read, except for the chapter of 97 pieces of advice to be a human, which probably could have been taken out and put on a page-a-day calendar to break it up a bit. Otherwise, decent story, but humanity has already been more succinctly described in the Hitchhikers Guide as:
Mostly Harmless.
Mostly Harmless.
So beautiful, definitely makes you stop and examine human existence and realise that despite war and misery that we inflict on each other, love is as important as always. Only given 4 stars because of how rushed it was at the end!
"Being human is being a young child on Christmas Day who receives an absolutely magnificent castle. And there is a perfect photograph of this castle on the box and you want more than anything to play with castle and the knights and the princesses because it looks like such a perfectly human world, but the only problem is that the castle isn't built. It's in tiny intricate pieces, and although there's a book of instructions you don't understand it. And nor can your parents or Aunt Sylvie. So you are just left, crying at the ideal castle on the box which no one would ever be able to build"
How is this book so underrated!?
I absolutely adored and loved every minute of it. A wonderful wonderful piece of work by Matt Haig. Matt Haig's simplistic style of writing and story telling has such a unique charm. This book is one of those that would make you want to laugh, and also make you want to cry.
It makes you laugh and giggle at the 'bizarre' things humans do, things that are completely normal and standard to us but just odd and funny when we actually think about it. From those bizarre things, to the serious flaws in human and the way they behave (or the way they treat their others or the way they hurt their love ones), this story reminds us the flaws and the irrationality are "twisted by product of love, serving no rational purpose. And yet, there was a force behind it as authentic as any other".
Matt Haig did a stellar job in presenting the idea that "the ability to love is what makes us special" in the most un-cliché way. Through the lenses of an alien, we saw its bafflement with the concept of 'love', to its urge to lie to make someone happy, to its care for another person, to its care for a dog, and to its guilt when hurting others.
"To experience beauty on Earth, you needed to experience pain and to know mortality. That is why so much that is beautiful on this planet has to do with time passing and the Earth turning. Which might also explain why to look at such natural beauty [of Earth] was to also feel sadness and a craving for a life unlived".
On Earth, "tragedy is just comedy that hasn't come to fruition. One day we will laugh at this. We will laugh at everything."
How is this book so underrated!?
I absolutely adored and loved every minute of it. A wonderful wonderful piece of work by Matt Haig. Matt Haig's simplistic style of writing and story telling has such a unique charm. This book is one of those that would make you want to laugh, and also make you want to cry.
It makes you laugh and giggle at the 'bizarre' things humans do, things that are completely normal and standard to us but just odd and funny when we actually think about it. From those bizarre things, to the serious flaws in human and the way they behave (or the way they treat their others or the way they hurt their love ones), this story reminds us the flaws and the irrationality are "twisted by product of love, serving no rational purpose. And yet, there was a force behind it as authentic as any other".
Matt Haig did a stellar job in presenting the idea that "the ability to love is what makes us special" in the most un-cliché way. Through the lenses of an alien, we saw its bafflement with the concept of 'love', to its urge to lie to make someone happy, to its care for another person, to its care for a dog, and to its guilt when hurting others.
"To experience beauty on Earth, you needed to experience pain and to know mortality. That is why so much that is beautiful on this planet has to do with time passing and the Earth turning. Which might also explain why to look at such natural beauty [of Earth] was to also feel sadness and a craving for a life unlived".
On Earth, "tragedy is just comedy that hasn't come to fruition. One day we will laugh at this. We will laugh at everything."