The Humans

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A lot of this could be construed as sappy -- the bonding with the dog, the life lessons list and all that. And it was. But I lapped it up. 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 humor, originality, and poignancy of Matt Haig’s latest novel. Problems occur when our friendly alien finds he cannot carry out his mission in the way his superiors wish. He falls in love, discovers peanut butter sandwiches, befriends the family dog, and discovers that being human is not such a bad thing. In a thousand years, if humans survive that long, everything you know will have been disproved. And replaced by even bigger myths.

I'm not certain about the narrator being first part (I might have missed it). But when it comes to the second part, the aliens weren't completely against the advancement of humanity..."New technology, on Earth, just means something you will laugh at in five years. Value the stuff you won’t laugh at in five years. Like love. Or a good poem. Or a song. Or the sky.

The narrator arrives on earth, looking exactly like Professor Martin. (We are never told how the real Martin was done away with. He never puts in an appearance in this novel.) I like the flow, the voice, and sometimes the snark. I liked the exploration of love and honesty. I felt the interactions with the son were believable and endearing. As I read this, at first, I thought it was about mental health, but by the end I felt it was about morality, ethics and just plain being decent. It could have been about mental health, but my takeaway was that it was not. The Humans is by turns silly, sad, suspenseful and soulful….Haig manages…to burrow beneath clichés as he explores the meaning of sentimentality, loyalty, love, and mortality….Haig's insights are often compelling.” (Philadelphia Inquirer)Haig strikes exactly the right tone of bemusement, discovery, and wonder in creating what is ultimately a sweet-spirited celebration of humanity and the trials and triumphs of being human. The result is a thought-provoking, compulsively readable delight. Starred Review, Booklist Politeness is often fear. Kindness is always courage. But caring is what makes you human. Care more, become more human. characters - from broken-hearted Isobel, depressed Gulliver, even pretentious alien, "Andrew", with his oblivious mannerisms, I had a connection to them all; and, I might have found this book funnier if I had never seen stand-up comedy. Yes, human beings and the human condition are weird, screwed-up, nonsensical, etc. That's 90% of comedy - laughing at ourselves and at people we recognize in the routines. Andrew Martin, a mathematician at Cambridge University, was married before the alien took his identity. He had a wife, Isobel. Their marriage was in shambles, but they stayed together for the sake of appearances and because Isobel loved him. The two of them were famous in their fields of education, Isobel on history and Andrew on Mathematics, and as authors of bestselling books.