Reviews - On Earth as It Is on Television

666 reviews for:

On Earth as It Is on Television

Emily Jane

3.7 AVERAGE

atlantic_costa's review

5.0

emotional hopeful medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

dana_naylor's review against another edition

5.0

funny lighthearted fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

What a joyful book!
I can see rereading it in the next year. Loved it!!!
Aliens! Cats! Some sections from point of view of the cat!

Told in 4 Episodes, each episode broken up into different points of view. We see the same characters throughout the book. I loved the characters. They have different enough voices that even without the tagline at the start of each section (The Brother, The Stepchild, The Husband), I think I'd have been able to tell who was talking.

Trigger warning: The Prequel has a different feel to the rest of the book. It takes place about 20 years before the action of the book.

It ends in a fatal car crash and abuse (physical and sexual) is in the immediate past of the characters.

I've put Jane's next book on hold at the library but if I see it in a bookstore before the hold comes in, I will likely buy it.

avidreader63's review against another edition

3.0

adventurous hopeful lighthearted slow-paced

smhope20's review against another edition

3.25

adventurous funny lighthearted medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

landonfx's review against another edition

4.0

adventurous funny lighthearted mysterious 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

oysterie's review against another edition

2.0

[2 stars]

Incredible concept for a book that sadly was not executed well. On Earth as It Is on Television is a novel following (primarily) three characters and how their lives and relationships change following the sight of aliens from Earth. I love this concept. The idea of finally finding aliens is such a huge thing for so many people and it is very interesting to imagine how this would change our lives. Beyond that, the idea that we see aliens and that it is clear that they see us but they do not make contact is fascinating. What happens then? How do people deal with this sudden revelation that, despite the magnitude of it, really does not affect their daily lives? I think that certain parts of what the author explores is quite interesting but ultimately misses the mark.

I generally enjoyed the three protagonists of this novel: Oliver, Blaine, and Heather. Each live in different areas across the USA and two of them have pretty decent relationship issues that are tested by the arrival of aliens (Oliver, though it does focus on his relationships he makes, has less of a focus on troubled ones that get tested). Blaine’s story was my favorite. I enjoyed how his suspicions about his wife manifested as well as his reaction to things around them went. Oliver’s parts were interesting, though lacking in the core “troubled relationship” focus that the other narrators were centered on. His sections, though written well enough, felt very out of place and as though a secondary short story was injected between the chapters of a different novel. Heather’s chapters were also pretty decent. I enjoyed her bitterness towards her family and

Each protagonist is somewhat annoying in their own ways, though. Blaine constantly calls his wife “the wife” and rarely says her name (justifying it as her archetype in their typical nuclear family). Heather has moments where she acts more like a 13 year old than an 18 year old (

Spoiler

government agents pull up to her house after her stepfather tells her he's an alien and her mom tells her to quickly leave, Heather responds with like “nooo I don't wanna go anywhere” like please, there are bigger things going on.)

Oliver…

The book did really pick up after the halfway point. Things between the protagonists started to connect and there was a lot more good moments than bad/boring ones (the scene with Blaine's wife that I mention later is really the starting point of this). However, I can't recommend a book with the caveat that “it gets good but you need to get through the slog of the first half” in good conscious to someone.

This book is extremely unfunny. Like, I know that humor is subjective, but I do not think anyone reading could laugh at the “big chonker” “look at our cat’s peets his littol toe beans” beyond the first time. The kids are, in a way, supposed to be annoying (not dislikable, just slightly annoying in the way elementary schoolers can be) but they have their moments of charm (I enjoyed their escapades regarding their fears of aliens being at their school mixed with their love of alien movies leading to them making armor and practicing combat with them before immediately getting distracted by something else). But the way this drags on through multiple chapters with their dads is genuinely frustrating.

Spoiler

Also, the children are explicitly stated to not own cellphones, but they know of this type of internet speech? Of course, they could have just picked it up from friends at school or maybe some TV show, but this is a very specific (2010s millennial) internet lingo. It just comes out odd when elementary schoolers are using it in a time period that is supposed to be within a couple of decades from now.

Before this starts, the author's narration used a bit of “thats wacked out, yo, “ type of speech in an ironic (?) way. It stops after the first quarter of the book, so I’m not sure what that was all about. It was unfunny and honestly just cringe. The rest of this humor in this book was largely the same. Many quips were very unfunny while others were somewhat charming. Definitely not a laugh-out-loud book, nor is it even a smile-while-you-read one either.

One more humorous section that I did really enjoy though was after the halfway point when Blaine’s wife

Spoiler

revealed to him that she was an alien. I thought that this whole section from her POV regarding her first years on Earth was fun and had an almost Hitchhiker's Guide feeling to it. I really enjoyed this section because of it.

Other than this segment, though, the rest of the story fell flat on the comedy front.

Another weird thing about this novel is that, despite the big focus on television and alien movies, this novel takes place in the near future. There are no technological changes that would have required this, nor are smartphones central to the plot in a way that requires them to be used. This story could just as easily have been set in the 90s-2000s and felt more at home. For instance, Blaine’s children are obsessed with television. He credits this to him refusing to allow them to have cellphones (considering that they are in elementary school). The thing is, why not just set this backwards a few decades. This “children who are obsessed with television” detail would feel much more at home in a world where Saturday morning cartoons are still the norm and the popularity of streaming services do not exist. The choice to set this novel in the near future (like very near, 2040s at the latest I imagine) I feel was an unnecessary mistake. Any point where characters use their smartphones could easily be replaced with a wall-phone or other landline with no issue.

Overall, I think that the author missed her mark with this one. She looks at some interesting things throughout and how different people in different life stages would react but I feel that she did not quite succeed in her goals. There is a charm to it though.