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3.81 AVERAGE
3.81 AVERAGE
A solid and imaginative sci-fi novel. But as for humorous...I'm not sure.
I first read this book around the year it came out or the year after. Most likely sitting on the floor in the sweltering hot youth room of my tiny town library. My mom would drop me off there on her way to work and I'd spend the day reading. The librarians didn't mind that I brought a sack lunch because they knew that I loved the books as much as they did and often I was their only youth patron for the day.
This book left a huge impression on my mind because I wanted to be Barney. I wanted to be invited over by the cool neighbors to hand out and play a mysterious board game. I wanted to go on chic holidays (well it sounded chic to me at the time considering my family never went anywhere!) to beach houses and windsurf. And absolutely I wanted to meet aliens.
Rereading it now Barney seems a naïve and young to be 16 and yet my own children are/will be just this way. So I suppose it depends on the child. I read it at 12 or 13 and saw myself in him so I'd recommend it for that age.
This book left a huge impression on my mind because I wanted to be Barney. I wanted to be invited over by the cool neighbors to hand out and play a mysterious board game. I wanted to go on chic holidays (well it sounded chic to me at the time considering my family never went anywhere!) to beach houses and windsurf. And absolutely I wanted to meet aliens.
Rereading it now Barney seems a naïve and young to be 16 and yet my own children are/will be just this way. So I suppose it depends on the child. I read it at 12 or 13 and saw myself in him so I'd recommend it for that age.
This was my first foray into straight science fiction and it proved to be enjoyable. The plot only covered a few days so I can't say the main character grew in leaps and bounds, but he painted in a realistic way. The tension grew throughout the story and I couldn't put it down at the end; I was too on the edge of my seat. My only major complaint is the cover; it's just terrible and cheesy looking. I never would have picked this up when I was young, which is a shame.
Course evaluation: Barney doesn’t change drastically since the action takes place over a few days, but he is a believable character; teens will relate to his initial boredom, annoyance with his parents, and intense curiosity overcoming any sort of fear about the strange neighbors. The novel is strictly science fiction (there are aliens) and Sleator creates an interesting conflict between Barney and the other characters. He uses the plot to create enough suspense that even a skeptical reader will want to learn the outcome.
Course evaluation: Barney doesn’t change drastically since the action takes place over a few days, but he is a believable character; teens will relate to his initial boredom, annoyance with his parents, and intense curiosity overcoming any sort of fear about the strange neighbors. The novel is strictly science fiction (there are aliens) and Sleator creates an interesting conflict between Barney and the other characters. He uses the plot to create enough suspense that even a skeptical reader will want to learn the outcome.
This is a fun YA book that I had fond memories of and have kept on my shelf for years. I'd read it several times, but the most recent was maybe 15 years ago. Unfortunately, it was one of those that was better in memory than in reality as an adult. (It's not bad or anything now, but just doesn't have the same 'wow' factor.)
As a kid, it was an awesome romp wherea kid just like you uses his wits to get one over on a bunch of space aliens . As an adult, it was a much slower climb where a kid, despite making obvious mistakes, uncovers information that supposedly hyperintelligent aliens somehow miss, and then they leave forever.
Which I guess is fairly standard for YA. 10 year old me rated it 5 stars. But I go with 3 because this list is for my records today.
As a kid, it was an awesome romp where
Which I guess is fairly standard for YA. 10 year old me rated it 5 stars. But I go with 3 because this list is for my records today.
adventurous
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
In Interstellar Pig, William Sleator creates an exciting science fiction story about aliens who can take on human form. Barney is all set to spend his beach house vacation bored. He can’t go out in the sun because he burns badly, so he intends to spend his time reading science fiction novels. When the three attractive neighbors move into the cottage next door, however, Barney realizes his vacation might not be so dull after all. The neighbors are curiously interested in the history of the house Barney is staying in, where years before, a mentally disturbed murderer was kept in captivity. Aside from questioning their motivation, Barney is also intrigued by a board game the trio seems obsessed with called Interstellar Pig. As the novel progresses, Barney realizes that not only are his neighbors aliens in disguise, but Interstellar Pig is a real game, and Earth’s future may depend on the outcome.
Publisher’s Weekly noted that Interstellar Pig will “raise readers’ hackles and incite nervous laughs” (Amazon.com 2004). Indeed, the novel does have moments of humor and plenty of suspense to keep readers turning the pages:
“The others had finished with their envelopes and were complacently sipping wine. They were smiling at me, apparently friendly: Zena, Manny, and Joe, the glamorous people next door, who really did seem to like me after all, forgiving me for this afternoon, including me in the game.
Only right now, they were a hairy spider-lady; a fish-man with a long, razor-sharp horn growing out of his head; and a flying octopus with claws. And they would happily kill me to get the smiling pink thing in my hands” (91).
By having the novel unfold like a mystery, with Barney trying to figure out what his neighbors are up to, Sleator is able to create dramatic tension and suspense. Sleator uses first person perspective, allowing for the reader to discover the novel’s secrets at the same pace as Barney. What is most compelling about the novel, however, are the exciting descriptions of the game being played, with Barney striving to use his wits to keep Earth safe. Sleator peppers his description of the game with action scenes that will keep readers glued to their seats.
The novel is weakened somewhat by the rather shallow character construction of Barney. Sleator jumps right into the plot from page one, and never spends much time developing Barney’s background or interests. We know he is nosy and determined due to his actions, but we don’t know much else about him. Readers will likely overlook this weakness, realizing that this book is one that is meant to be fun and action-packed. The alien characters are somewhat more interesting. Sleator gives them a strange speech pattern, and they often use words in contexts that make sense but seem out of place. This is a subtle way to cue readers to the fact that something is a little off about the neighbors early in the book. Sleator also does a great job with the character of the Piggy, a small roundish object that is the prize players seek at the end of the game. Strange and disturbing-looking, the Piggy’s machinations confuse Barney, making him wonder whether or not the game is as serious as it seems. This leads the way to a somewhat ambiguous ending, allowing readers to decide what may happen to Earth when the game ends.
Young fans of science fiction and fantasy will enjoy this suspenseful adventure and the thrills and excitement of the game.
Publisher’s Weekly noted that Interstellar Pig will “raise readers’ hackles and incite nervous laughs” (Amazon.com 2004). Indeed, the novel does have moments of humor and plenty of suspense to keep readers turning the pages:
“The others had finished with their envelopes and were complacently sipping wine. They were smiling at me, apparently friendly: Zena, Manny, and Joe, the glamorous people next door, who really did seem to like me after all, forgiving me for this afternoon, including me in the game.
Only right now, they were a hairy spider-lady; a fish-man with a long, razor-sharp horn growing out of his head; and a flying octopus with claws. And they would happily kill me to get the smiling pink thing in my hands” (91).
By having the novel unfold like a mystery, with Barney trying to figure out what his neighbors are up to, Sleator is able to create dramatic tension and suspense. Sleator uses first person perspective, allowing for the reader to discover the novel’s secrets at the same pace as Barney. What is most compelling about the novel, however, are the exciting descriptions of the game being played, with Barney striving to use his wits to keep Earth safe. Sleator peppers his description of the game with action scenes that will keep readers glued to their seats.
The novel is weakened somewhat by the rather shallow character construction of Barney. Sleator jumps right into the plot from page one, and never spends much time developing Barney’s background or interests. We know he is nosy and determined due to his actions, but we don’t know much else about him. Readers will likely overlook this weakness, realizing that this book is one that is meant to be fun and action-packed. The alien characters are somewhat more interesting. Sleator gives them a strange speech pattern, and they often use words in contexts that make sense but seem out of place. This is a subtle way to cue readers to the fact that something is a little off about the neighbors early in the book. Sleator also does a great job with the character of the Piggy, a small roundish object that is the prize players seek at the end of the game. Strange and disturbing-looking, the Piggy’s machinations confuse Barney, making him wonder whether or not the game is as serious as it seems. This leads the way to a somewhat ambiguous ending, allowing readers to decide what may happen to Earth when the game ends.
Young fans of science fiction and fantasy will enjoy this suspenseful adventure and the thrills and excitement of the game.
I have no idea if this book holds up, and I don't care. This was one of my favorite young adult books when I was a kid. I think I even made my own version of the game. And today I discovered that there is a sequel.
I think this is the book that woke me up to science fiction. I've never forgotten it.
It had been years since reading Interstellar Pig and while aspects of it seem silly now, I'm continually impressed by Sleator's imagination. His books, for the most part, are very engrossing. Once you start a book like this one, even given some of it's silliness, it's hard to stop. Entertaining, action driven and interesting all at once.
It takes a special book to stick in one's memory for over thirty years. There are some I remember because I read them over and over, but then there are those that I remember because of the sheer ideaness and atmosphere imprinted on my young brain (there's also the category of Awful Things that Happened to Animals genre, which caused a less happy kind of imprinting). I must have read Interstellar Pig shortly after release in 1984, and it has remained one of those books that vividly recall in entire sections now and again. Not the title, of course; but strangely enough, put 'young adult/aliens/pig' into Google, and it comes up with this book in a flash, so it was easy for me to track it down for a wander down memory lane.
It is with pleasure that I realized it was still an interesting, engaging read.
Barney is sixteen, and trapped with his parents at a two-week rental college on the coast coast, a beachfront location that does absolutely nothing for his sunburn-prone skin but seems to serve a purpose for his status-hunting parents, but does give him a chance to catch up on his science-fiction reading. The caretaker informs them that the sea captain who built the cottage kept his brother locked in the front room for twenty years. Barney is hoping for more information, perhaps a ghost story or two, when the caretaker has to abandon story-telling to settle in the next-door neighbors who have an obsessive interest in Barney's cottage. Barney's intrigued by their cosmopolitan personalities and by the game they continually reference.
"But they didn't seem to appreciate my wit. Barely moving their heads, their eyes met; three pairs of eyes meeting equally somehow, as though there were only two of them. And I thought of the jagged pits and troughs in the windowsills of my room, and I felt uneasy for the first time. A curtain flapped gently at the window. The others in the room remained as still as reptiles in the sun."
To say much more would enter spoiler territory, as the plot moves quickly and has a couple of interesting twists with an earlier scene providing nice foreshadowing for the climactic event. Slater builds suspense well, and I think that the atmosphere of fear he created might have helped stick this book in my memory. Characterization is perhaps a weaker point, but its more than adequate for the story. I'd say for my 2017 re-read, although Barney's age is supposed to be sixteen, he feels more like twelve or thirteen in modern terms.
The writing is solid, feeling more sophisticated than most of the young adult I've read in recent years. Like many teens, Barney's descriptions of his parents are ruthlessly honest, but there's also a measure of acceptance there, and eventually fondness, that elevates it above the simple sarcastic dismissal. The three people next door have traveled a lot and "seemed exotic, as though English was not their native language." It is cleverly conveyed through their dialogue, though Barney never remarks on it but that once. "Ugh! You let the milk go sour again, Manny,' Zena groaned. 'Can't you learn to recollect the date?'"
At 197 pages, it goes by too quickly. A fun little book with a great finale, and a final flourish of well-earned humor. You just never know who will win the great game.
Four and a half stars.
It is with pleasure that I realized it was still an interesting, engaging read.
Barney is sixteen, and trapped with his parents at a two-week rental college on the coast coast, a beachfront location that does absolutely nothing for his sunburn-prone skin but seems to serve a purpose for his status-hunting parents, but does give him a chance to catch up on his science-fiction reading. The caretaker informs them that the sea captain who built the cottage kept his brother locked in the front room for twenty years. Barney is hoping for more information, perhaps a ghost story or two, when the caretaker has to abandon story-telling to settle in the next-door neighbors who have an obsessive interest in Barney's cottage. Barney's intrigued by their cosmopolitan personalities and by the game they continually reference.
"But they didn't seem to appreciate my wit. Barely moving their heads, their eyes met; three pairs of eyes meeting equally somehow, as though there were only two of them. And I thought of the jagged pits and troughs in the windowsills of my room, and I felt uneasy for the first time. A curtain flapped gently at the window. The others in the room remained as still as reptiles in the sun."
To say much more would enter spoiler territory, as the plot moves quickly and has a couple of interesting twists with an earlier scene providing nice foreshadowing for the climactic event. Slater builds suspense well, and I think that the atmosphere of fear he created might have helped stick this book in my memory. Characterization is perhaps a weaker point, but its more than adequate for the story. I'd say for my 2017 re-read, although Barney's age is supposed to be sixteen, he feels more like twelve or thirteen in modern terms.
The writing is solid, feeling more sophisticated than most of the young adult I've read in recent years. Like many teens, Barney's descriptions of his parents are ruthlessly honest, but there's also a measure of acceptance there, and eventually fondness, that elevates it above the simple sarcastic dismissal. The three people next door have traveled a lot and "seemed exotic, as though English was not their native language." It is cleverly conveyed through their dialogue, though Barney never remarks on it but that once. "Ugh! You let the milk go sour again, Manny,' Zena groaned. 'Can't you learn to recollect the date?'"
At 197 pages, it goes by too quickly. A fun little book with a great finale, and a final flourish of well-earned humor. You just never know who will win the great game.
Four and a half stars.