Twice Baked Thursday: The Humans by Matt Haig (Guest Baker:Susanna)

Title: The Humans

Author: Matt Haig

Pages: 304
Publisher: Simon & Shuster 
Publishing Date: July 2nd, 2013
Genre: Science Fiction

Audience:  Adults

Source: Library (Susanan & Becky) 

Rating: 5 stars-I'd marry this book (Susanna)
6 stars I'd fight anyone who thought they loved this more than me (Becky)

Summary: The narrator of this story is an alien, and this is clear from the very beginning.  His people are mathematical geniuses and have advanced far beyond what humans could ever hope to achieve, that is, before one of them figures it all out. Andrew Martin cracks the Reimann Hypothesis and  someone has to clean up his mess so that humanity can't bring its chaos any further into the universe.  To do this, however, the alien must remain undercover and pretend to be from the culture his people fear so much.


Our Thoughts:

Susanna in black 
Becky in red

The Humans was definitely one of my favorite recent reads. I really liked Matt Haig’s previous work, The Radleys (oh my gosh me too), so I had high expectations for this one. I was not disappointed. There was enough of a plot to keep the pace moving, but it wasn’t really the central focus of the book . For me, this was a positive. (Bah, plot, who needs it.  If the characters and conflict are strong enough I can swim in the world of a book for hundreds of pages) I enjoyed reading the narrator’s interpretations of human behavior and social structure (Maybe I'm an alien, but I totally agree with so many of his outside assessments.  Or maybe we all do because we all feel alienated to some extent.  Ahhh the refreshing depth of concepts in this book, I needed them after so many shallow reads) His interactions with Andrew Martin’s best friend were particularly enjoyable to me. I loved his relationship with his dog, too (Dogs are really what's holding humanity together). I would have liked perhaps slightly more information about the world from which he came, but then it would have been a different book (I agree on both counts.  I do think part of what made his choices easy to empathize with was that we really didn't know much about his culture/planet/people). My favorite thing about The Humans was how well Haig can build a cozy, homey feeling. He paints everyday life so well, and Andrew Martin’s wife and son display realistic human feelings and reactions (even if the narrator doesn’t quite understand them). I got invested in the characters and what would happen to them, and the last section of the book got me rather emotional.( I know!  I was freaking out as I read this about how much I loved it.  I zoomed through it in roughly 2 days.)  Overall, this was a strong five star read for me.  (This was probably a six star read for me, out of five. Thats' right Susanna, I just one upped you. Please write more soon, I have an author-crush on you Matt Haig).