The Humans
Matt Haig
Canongate 2013
Dr Andrew Martin of
Cambridge University is a mathematician. A pretty good one by
all accounts. And on one, not particularly special day, he solves a
mathematical problem almost as old as mathematics. And promptly
disappears. You see, there are folks elsewhere in the chasm of space
who pay particular attention to these types of developments. Folks
who are advanced beyond our comprehending and feel that the sort of
knowledge that Dr Martin had just uncovered may cause the human race
to become a little big for it's boots. And so his body is inhabited
by an alien being with the sole intention of preventing the spread of
this newly discovered information. Basically, to kill everyone who
knows anything about it.
Cue entirely
stereotypical yet humorously haphazard E.T meets gritty crime drama?
Thankfully not. Our extra-terrestrial narrator sources from a planet
conquered by mathematics. A planet without death or decay, without
pain, suffering or emotion leaving him with no understanding of the
motivations of beings who are always on a clock. But he is smart and
a lot more human than he realises.. And it is not long before our
other-worldly explorer begins to deviate from his assigned mission as
feelings for Dr Martin's dysfunctional family begin to form. Much to
the dismay of his compatriots back home.
Matt Haig's writing is,
as always, exceptional. He provides the narrator with such a
convincing and accessible voice that, after only the first few pages,
it is in no way unusual or distracting that he is an alien. And, even
better, he is so, so funny. The narrator's objective point of view
allows for some of the most humorous observations of human behaviour
I think I have ever read (my personal favourites being around the
habit of humans to constantly state the blatantly obvious and the
merits of eating nothing but peanut butter). The juxtaposition
between this observational humour and the narrator's interaction with
Andrew's severely depressed son, Gulliver, is very striking and
extremely thought-provoking. And our narrator's closing words of
wisdom to Gulliver may be the most simultaneously beautiful, poignant
and life-affirming passage in modern literature.
The
supporting cast of Andrew's mentally ill son and frustrated and
repressed wife make for some interesting thoughts around family life
and I think this will make The Humans a great choice for the
book-clubbers among us. But, to be honest, I think it will be a great
choice for everyone. It will make you laugh, it will make you cry
and, most definitely, make you take a look at yourself and what you
are really about. One of the aspects of humans that our narrator
doesn't understand is how we manage to achieve anything in the
constant shadow of our own mortality. Well something that I have
learned from The Humans is that being an average, not particularly
special, mortal human is beautiful and extraordinary and awesome.
Cheers Matt.
This review was brought to you by Polka-Dot Steph. The Humans is available now and all humans should read it. Also now. Thank you to the lovely Caroline at Canongate for sending us a copy of this title to review. You can find Splendibird's review of Matt's earlier book, The Radley's, here.
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