Ms. Hen reviews The Humans

 

The Humans

Matt Haig

Simon & Schuster

2013

Ms. Hen decided to read this because she saw it at a Little Free Library near where she lives, and she grabbed it. She read THE MIDNIGHT LIBRARY by the same author earlier this year, and she loved it. She loved this book, too.

THE HUMANS is about an alien who comes down to Earth, and takes over the body of a mathematician, Professor Andrew Martin, because this person solved the Reimann problem, which is about the pattern in prime numbers. The alien is sent to earth to stop Andrew from publicizing his findings, because the society from which he comes believes that if Earth has this answer, they will enter into a new age, and the Universe is not ready for that.

The alien in Andrew's body is sent to Earth to kill the people that know about his discovery. But the alien is fascinated by the imperfections and messiness of humanity, he finds that music, poetry and peanut butter sandwiches are things humanity should be proud of. The alien comes from a planet where there is no strife, pain or death, and everything that exists is perfect because of mathematics. He calls TV The War and Money show, because that's what he believes is the highlight of the news. He learns about love, however, and that changes his mind about humans.

Ms. Hen is fascinated by this character. He comes from a world completely different from Earth, and he doesn't come in a ship. She thinks this is more of a novel about philosophy than science fiction. She thinks this is an important book because it looks at humans as if from an outside point of view, what would aliens think of Earth? This is an honest depiction of what an outsider would think.

Ms. Hen loves the description of the alien's home planet. Ms. Hen has been watching a lot of STAR TREK lately, and the description of this planet is the opposite of anything on STAR TREK. In this novel, the beings live in peace, and they don't have to worry about anything. In STAR TREK, the universe is full of humanoids who fight with each other like humans fight on Earth. If the aliens in this novel absorbed STAR TREK, they would think it's ridiculous that humans believe that the universe is full of creatures like them.

The alien does not eat meat, and is disgusted when his wife is making a stir fry with chicken, "The breast of a chicken. The breast of a chicken. 'That looks like meat,' I said. 'I'm going to make a stir fry.' 'With that?' 'Yes.' 'The breast of a chicken.' 'Yes, Andrew, are you a vegetarian now?' The alien could not bring himself to eat meat, and Ms. Hen admires this.

This is a novel that could change the way humans see themselves. Ms. Hen doesn't think that this book could be a film, but it's possible. Anything is possible, including aliens living amongst us, watching us, and judging us, and possibly falling in love with humanity, imperfect as it is.