Review: The Humans
SERIES : STANDALONE
AUTHOR: MATT HAIG
RELEASE DATE : JULY 2, 2013
GENRE : SCIENCE FICTION, FICTION, HUMOUR
PAGES : 285
OTHER BOOKS BY AUTHOR : THE RADLEYS
“Knowledge is finite. Wonder is infinite."
Body-snatching has never been so heartwarming . . .
The Humans is a funny, compulsively readable novel about alien abduction, mathematics, and that most interesting subject of all: ourselves. Combine Douglas Adams’s irreverent take on life, the universe, and everything with a genuinely moving love story, and you have some idea of the humour, originality, and poignancy of Matt Haig’s latest novel.
Our hero, Professor Andrew Martin, is dead before the book even begins. As it turns out, though, he wasn’t a very nice man--as the alien imposter who now occupies his body discovers. Sent to Earth to destroy evidence that Andrew had solved a major mathematical problem, the alien soon finds himself learning more about the professor, his family, and “the humans” than he ever expected. When he begins to fall for his own wife and son--who have no idea he’s not the real Andrew--the alien must choose between completing his mission and returning home or finding a new home right here on Earth.
The Humans is a funny, compulsively readable novel about alien abduction, mathematics, and that most interesting subject of all: ourselves. Combine Douglas Adams’s irreverent take on life, the universe, and everything with a genuinely moving love story, and you have some idea of the humour, originality, and poignancy of Matt Haig’s latest novel.
Our hero, Professor Andrew Martin, is dead before the book even begins. As it turns out, though, he wasn’t a very nice man--as the alien imposter who now occupies his body discovers. Sent to Earth to destroy evidence that Andrew had solved a major mathematical problem, the alien soon finds himself learning more about the professor, his family, and “the humans” than he ever expected. When he begins to fall for his own wife and son--who have no idea he’s not the real Andrew--the alien must choose between completing his mission and returning home or finding a new home right here on Earth.
Typically, I’m a hard critic of book premises and summaries. When I catch a hint of the usual YA romance love decagon, along with flowery dark-light juxtaposition imagery, I cringe, and put the book down. Not a fan at all. This is not one of those.
The Humans is written in a half satiric, Douglas Adams sort of humour. Down to earth, ironic, and in the end, very heartwarming. My verdict? Easily one of my favourite books.
It all begins with our protagonist: An alien from a distant planet, sent by higher-ups to destroy the completed formula of the Riemann hypothesis, which is apparently very important. Too important for the nasty, brutish humans to get their hands on. (See 'Humans Are Flawed'). Ergo, this alien is sent to Earth to serve as his replacement, and destroy all evidence of the formula. This begins a comical series of events as he struggles to adjust to the backwards ways of human life, which really seems strange in retrospect. Hence, the trope: 'Alien Among Us'.
The man who the alien impersonates, Andrew Martin, is not a very good man. He is a renowned mathematician in Cambridge, has a failing marriage, and a son, who, quite frankly, hates him. Totally not a family man.
Between his growing relationships with his wife and son, and the pressing demands of the higher-up aliens, this book is guaranteed to leave at least a fuzzy feeling in your heart.
One of my only quips with this book is with the description of the aliens. No background - nothing much is explained about them - except their obsession with the 'purity' of math, and their lack of any sort of emotion. Purely rational, and completely over-powered. See Sufficiently Advanced Alien. Their use of their technology as an explanation for ridiculous powers seems a tad contrived. Along with the rate that the dear professor picked up the English language, this book goes slightly into the unrealistic areas of science fiction. I wish that the concepts of the aliens were fleshed out more than sociopaths, a device for tension.
Overall, I give this book a 4 out of five stars.
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