Publisher:
Cannongate
Books
Release
Date: 9th
May 2013
Edition:
ebook,
review/purchased copy
Other
Titles by this Author: The Last Family in England, The
Dead Father’s Club, Samuel Blink and the Forbidden Forest, The
Runaway Troll, The Radleys, To Be a Cat
It’s
hardest to belong when you’re closest to home...
One
wet Friday evening, Professor Andrew Martin of Cambridge University solves the
world’s greatest mathematical riddle. Then he disappears.
When
he is found walking naked along a motorway, Professor Martin seems different.
Besides the lack of clothes, he now finds normal life pointless. His loving
wife and teenage son seem repulsive to him. In fact, he hates everyone on the
planet. Everyone, that is, except Newton. And he’s a dog.
Can
a bit of Debussy and Emily Dickinson keep him from murder? Can the species
which invented cheap white wine and peanut butter sandwiches be all that bad?
And what is that warm feeling he gets when he looks into his wife’s eyes?
The premise of The Humans is both startlingly original
and completely obvious and it drew me right in!
The new version of Andrew
Martin that narrates The Humans made
me think about just how damn weird we humans are. Our rules and regulations,
spoken and unspoken, are strange and even a little unnatural; our actions make
no sense most of the time; we can be pretty damn stupid; but we’re also pretty
wonderful because of that. The kind of everyday things that we do, say and
think on a daily basis are given a new light in a way that only through the
eyes of an alien would be see.
To give you a taste of the
brilliant humour in The Humans: when
the alien that takes over Andrew’s body first arrives on earth he reads a copy
of Cosmo. That is what he initially
bases his ideas of love, sex and relationships on. Naturally, some mishaps ensue.
Watching him learn the confusing ways of the world was so endearing and occasionally
frustrating, especially involving his new family.
The
Humans is
thoughtful, hopeful and honest and I loved every page. I now plan to go and
devour Matt Haig’s backlist while I wait for his next book.
Thanks to NetGalley/Cannongate
for the review copy. However, it wouldn’t download so I had to buy it!
Sophie
Wow! This is something that is beyond out of the ordinary. Definitely something I should check out when I find the room and the reading time. I like this concept of the human mind.
ReplyDeleteDude, this sounds so cool!
ReplyDeleteI've been wondering about this. The premise sounded just so different. Thanks for boost Sophie. I will definitely read it. Might gift it to a friend too.
ReplyDelete