Reviews

How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe by Charles Yu

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fantasynovel's review against another edition

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5.0

i felt like an actual idiot reading this but i loved it

sarahrheawerner's review

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4.0

Really enjoyed this one. Heavy on philosophy, if light on plot. But it worked. :)

How To Live Safely In A Science Fictional Universe is the story of the man who invented time travel and mysteriously disappeared, and his son, a time machine repairman who tries to find him.

I've said it before and I'll say it again -- I'm a huge sci-fi nut. But even if you aren't, chances are you may still enjoy this book. It's a quick read, full of wit and humor and deep human feeling.

It's also incredibly accessible -- Yu writes with plain language so that even talk of the space-time continuum and matters of physics are easily understood. There's none of the "parsecs" and "terraforming" and characters with a thousand apostrophes in their names (U'Zorge'drr) that can turn people off to sci-fi. Just a really interesting story about a father and a son, and a nonexistent but ontologically valid dog named Ed.

frankofoz's review

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adventurous lighthearted slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.25

skan's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

gcgulick's review

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3.0

A strong first book for Yu, with beautiful and humorous moments How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional universe was well worth the read. The only issue, the good parts were REALLY GOOD and rest was decent. It took some time to get over the use of the phrase "science fictional", and some parts meandered and I wanted there to be more to the interesting world he developed.

rp319's review

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4.0

“In order to qualify as a protagonist, a human must be able to demonstrate an attachment coefficient of at least 0.75. A coefficient of 1.00 or above is required in order to be a hero.

Factors used in calculating the coefficient include
• ability to believe
• fervency of that belief
• humility
• willingness to look stupid
• willingness to have heart broken
• willingness to see U31 as nonboring or, better yet, to see it as interesting, and maybe even important, and despite its deeply defective nature possibly even worth saving”