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A review by thedarklady
Buddy Holly is Alive and Well on Ganymede by Bradley Denton
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Alternative title: Buddy Holly comes back from the dead and doxes a 20-year-old man because of aliens.
In between the randomness of this book and Michelle‘s diary entries, this was a weirdly good book if you are into sci-fi and can handle Rock ‘n’ roll references every turn of the page. Even though I side-eyed some of the dialogue in this book, I love Oliver and his mother’s relationship and at some points made me want to cry.
I don’t know if it was tended by the author but between Oliver reading Michelle’s (his mother) diary entries you get to see her perspective during the 60s,70s, and 80s up till her death.
I feel bad for both Michelle and Oliver because Michelle was never able to cope with the death of her boyfriend and Oliver’s father, she ended up fixating on predominant rock and roll figures (like Buddy Holly obviously) to UFOs and aliens. This was also her downfall because she ended up projecting this to Oliver who later stated in one chapter when he was getting glasses that he didn’t want to be the spitting image of Buddy Holly and just wanted to be himself which Michelle wasn’t helping with that ( she compares him to Buddy Holly when he was getting picked on because of the glasses).
But it’s not her fault because she was 17 and pregnant with Oliver and her boyfriend killed himself after he impregnated her, it could have been traumatizing for her and a lack of support from her family wasn’t helping, so she turned to rock and roll and spiritualism as a coping mechanism so she doesn’t have to face the reality that everyone dies (including herself and Oliver).
In my perspective Oliver, while also being on the run from the police and trying to figure out how to stop the aliens, is also trying to figure out if his mother had been right about all of this happening or was disturbed as a person.
Either way, this is just my theory but the main point Is that I enjoyed the book.
In between the randomness of this book and Michelle‘s diary entries, this was a weirdly good book if you are into sci-fi and can handle Rock ‘n’ roll references every turn of the page. Even though I side-eyed some of the dialogue in this book, I love Oliver and his mother’s relationship and at some points made me want to cry.
I don’t know if it was tended by the author but between Oliver reading Michelle’s (his mother) diary entries you get to see her perspective during the 60s,70s, and 80s up till her death.
I feel bad for both Michelle and Oliver because Michelle was never able to cope with the death of her boyfriend and Oliver’s father, she ended up fixating on predominant rock and roll figures (like Buddy Holly obviously) to UFOs and aliens. This was also her downfall because she ended up projecting this to Oliver who later stated in one chapter when he was getting glasses that he didn’t want to be the spitting image of Buddy Holly and just wanted to be himself which Michelle wasn’t helping with that ( she compares him to Buddy Holly when he was getting picked on because of the glasses).
But it’s not her fault because she was 17 and pregnant with Oliver and her boyfriend killed himself after he impregnated her, it could have been traumatizing for her and a lack of support from her family wasn’t helping, so she turned to rock and roll and spiritualism as a coping mechanism so she doesn’t have to face the reality that everyone dies (including herself and Oliver).
In my perspective Oliver, while also being on the run from the police and trying to figure out how to stop the aliens, is also trying to figure out if his mother had been right about all of this happening or was disturbed as a person.
Either way, this is just my theory but the main point Is that I enjoyed the book.