A review by whpltab
Neanderthal Opens the Door to the Universe by Preston Norton

emotional funny hopeful sad medium-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? It's complicated

4.75

Neanderthal Opens the Door to the Universe, is a book about the worst parts of life in highschool. The main character, Cliff, has been put through the wringer throughout his whole life, and the only person who ever really cared was his older brother. 

Cliff Hubbard is the neanderthal of Happt Valley High School, at 6’6’’ and 250 pounds. He has no friends, and is disliked by most of the students and teachers at HVHS. His home life is somehow even worse. His older brother committed suicide a year ago, his father is a drunkard who doesn’t care about anything, much less his family, and his mother can’t bring herself to leave him. 

His whole life is basically just waiting for high school to end so he can get out of there, until something strange happens. Aaron Zimmerman, the football team’s quarterback, returns to school after a near-death experience, and claims to have seen God. He tells Cliff that God had given him a list of things to do to make HVHS a better place, and that Cliff was supposed to help him. Cliff agrees, to his own confusion. However, over the course of the book, Cliff and Aaron find out that they have a lot in common.

They become very good friends, but underneath the friendship is the fear that they’re only friends because Aaron has a head injury that may or may not be messing with his brain.

Despite Aaron and Cliff being the main characters, Preston Norton explores the back stories of not just side characters, but supposed antagonists too. Instead of the antagonists being 2d villains, they have their own stories and backgrounds that are explored throughout the book. The ending of this book explores not just the hardships of school and the deaths of loved ones, but the power of friendship, love, and faith, and what it can do for not just you, the people around you. 

What I love about this book is how despite Cliff starting out as a loner whom everyone supposedly hates, when he opens up, and everyone else opens up, he finds out just how much he has in common with so many of his peers, who have also been hiding who they really are. It wasn’t the list, in the end, that brought out the best in HVHS, but the true sincerity in Aaron and Cliff’s actions that convinced the students and teachers that they could have a second chance.