You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
4.01 AVERAGE
4.01 AVERAGE
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
fast-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
funny
lighthearted
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
run-on sentence summary : Alien takes over math professor’s body and life to ensure humanity doesn’t solve one of the world’s most important math problems, that if solved, would lead human beings to explore other planets and universes, which the aliens would rather the humans not do because to them, humans are still a very immature, violent specie.
condensed rant :
I would be interested to read about a character who sees humanity and thinks it all too much. There is always a redemptive element to these stories - war is compensated by acts of kindness, hate with love…and I get it. Ultimately, readers want a story where flaws and imperfections do not outweigh the good - a story where humanity, where WE are worth saving. And so many stories play at this angle, like in The Day the Earth Stood Still where Keanu Reeves sacrifices himself to save the Earth, or in The Fifth Element, where Dallas (Bruce Willis) convinces Leeloo (Milla Jovovich) to save the planet because of all the good things on earth.
I suppose good and bad are two sides of the same coin, and always go together. But sometimes, the world is getting harder to believe in and I just want to read a story about a character who sees that - all the hatred in people - and says enough. Maybe, it’s all the more reason to read these humanity redemption stories.
favorite thing : “Advice for a human,” the near-end of the book
favorite quote(s) :
condensed rant :
I would be interested to read about a character who sees humanity and thinks it all too much. There is always a redemptive element to these stories - war is compensated by acts of kindness, hate with love…and I get it. Ultimately, readers want a story where flaws and imperfections do not outweigh the good - a story where humanity, where WE are worth saving. And so many stories play at this angle, like in The Day the Earth Stood Still where Keanu Reeves sacrifices himself to save the Earth, or in The Fifth Element, where Dallas (Bruce Willis) convinces Leeloo (Milla Jovovich) to save the planet because of all the good things on earth.
I suppose good and bad are two sides of the same coin, and always go together. But sometimes, the world is getting harder to believe in and I just want to read a story about a character who sees that - all the hatred in people - and says enough. Maybe, it’s all the more reason to read these humanity redemption stories.
favorite thing : “Advice for a human,” the near-end of the book
favorite quote(s) :
13. You shouldn’t have been born. Your existence is as close to impossible as can be. To dismiss the impossible is to dismiss yourself.
48. No two moralities match. Accept different shapes, so long as they aren’t sharp enough to hurt.
60. Obey your head. Obey your heart. Obey your gut. In fact, obey everything except commands.
75. Politeness is often fear. Kindness is always courage. But caring is what makes you more human. Care more, become more human.
86. As civilization advances, so does indifference. It is a disease. Immunize yourself with art. And love.
I'm rereading this book for the second time and it's still amazing, entertaining, funny and you get to discover the humans and their behavior.
Love it!
Love it!
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
An interesting book, sometimes funny and sometimes profound. An interesting point of view on humans and what makes us imperfect but special.I liked this book and there are good points of reflection on mankind and the importance of love.
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
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
Witty, funny and insightful. The setting of Cambridge made the read especially enjoyable as it was easy to imagine the book playing out. I loved the joking between the dog and “professor Martin”! Whilst this may not be true for everyone, endings which leave the future particularly unknown aren’t my favourite.
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Professor Andrew Martin just solved a complex maths problem and caught the attention of an alien race that decides the rational path is to murder him and anyone he may have told in order to prevent humanity from making technological advancements that would lead to space travel and eternal life. If this sounds densely sci-fi, then you have been fooled, because this actually follows the alien who is masquerading as Andrew Martin as he discovers what humanity is all about, and what it means to be human, even though he's meant to be murdering people and returning to his own planet - NOT experiencing emotions and reading poetry.
The plot practically necessitated it, but I felt such a disconnect from the main character of this book. Granted, he's literally an alien, so I guess Haig achieved what he meant to achieve there, but in this book I feel like it was a failing. Alien Andrew loved listening to music deeply and getting in his feelings about everything, but I didn't feel connected to his feelings or to him. It's like we were meant to grow more attached to Andrew as the book goes by and believe his decline into being a human because he starts having emotions and feeling protective over the family he's been dumped into, but he never felt any more or less human throughout the book compared to any other point.
The alien was immediately weirdly aware of a lot of weird shit humans do and say despite the reader not being shown how he picked these things up other than by reading one magazine and watching the news once. So it's very plot convenient that he learns to act like a human so quickly (he's apparently been trained to blend in as quickly as possible) except for the occasional weird foible like not understanding what clothes are all about until he gets arrested. Hm. It doesn't make sense narratively, so it must've been thrown in solely for humour purposes. Which didn't sit right with me.
In terms of the human and not sci-fi aspect of the story, it was in its stride when dealing in interactions between alien father and suicidal son. Watching them develop their relationship through the trust issues incurred by the dad's pushy behaviour before he was replaced regarding his son's academic future was heartwarming. The relationship between husband and wife was less so, because I just felt like the alien decided he must love the wife for no reason. The love wasn't built or shown, they just started sleeping togetherand then he cheated on her because, despite being on the planet for a while at that point, he didn't realise he shouldn't have sex with another woman apparently. Again, the weird inconsistencies with his gaps in knowledge on human behaviour.
I'm not clear on what I wanted from this book but I feel like it didn't fully deliver. It didn't massively disappoint me either though.
The plot practically necessitated it, but I felt such a disconnect from the main character of this book. Granted, he's literally an alien, so I guess Haig achieved what he meant to achieve there, but in this book I feel like it was a failing. Alien Andrew loved listening to music deeply and getting in his feelings about everything, but I didn't feel connected to his feelings or to him. It's like we were meant to grow more attached to Andrew as the book goes by and believe his decline into being a human because he starts having emotions and feeling protective over the family he's been dumped into, but he never felt any more or less human throughout the book compared to any other point.
The alien was immediately weirdly aware of a lot of weird shit humans do and say despite the reader not being shown how he picked these things up other than by reading one magazine and watching the news once. So it's very plot convenient that he learns to act like a human so quickly (he's apparently been trained to blend in as quickly as possible) except for the occasional weird foible like not understanding what clothes are all about until he gets arrested. Hm. It doesn't make sense narratively, so it must've been thrown in solely for humour purposes. Which didn't sit right with me.
In terms of the human and not sci-fi aspect of the story, it was in its stride when dealing in interactions between alien father and suicidal son. Watching them develop their relationship through the trust issues incurred by the dad's pushy behaviour before he was replaced regarding his son's academic future was heartwarming. The relationship between husband and wife was less so, because I just felt like the alien decided he must love the wife for no reason. The love wasn't built or shown, they just started sleeping together
I'm not clear on what I wanted from this book but I feel like it didn't fully deliver. It didn't massively disappoint me either though.
Read in June 2018:
In a word: Brilliant
Re-read in September 2018 for Neighborhood Book Club:
My second reading of this book and I still give it 5-stars.
In a word: Brilliant
Re-read in September 2018 for Neighborhood Book Club:
My second reading of this book and I still give it 5-stars.