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The bestselling, award-winning author of The Radleys is back with his funniest, most devastating dark comedy yet, a “silly, sad, suspenseful, and soulful” (Philadelphia Inquirer) novel that’s “full of heart” (Entertainment Weekly).
When an extra-terrestrial visitor arrives on Earth, his first impressions of the human species are less than positive. Taking the form of Professor Andrew Martin, a prominent mathematician at Cambridge University, the visitor is eager to complete the gruesome task assigned him and hurry home to his own utopian planet, where everyone is omniscient and immortal.
He is disgusted by the way humans look, what they eat, their capacity for murder and war, and is equally baffled by the concepts of love and family. But as time goes on, he starts to realize there may be more to this strange species than he had thought. Disguised as Martin, he drinks wine, reads poetry, develops an ear for rock music, and a taste for peanut butter. Slowly, unexpectedly, he forges bonds with Martin’s family. He begins to see hope and beauty in the humans’ imperfection, and begins to question the very mission that brought him there.
Praised by The New York Times as a “novelist of great seriousness and talent,” author Matt Haig delivers an unlikely story about human nature and the joy found in the messiness of life on Earth. The Humans is a funny, compulsively readable tale that playfully and movingly explores the ultimate subject—ourselves.
- Sales Rank: #30490 in Books
- Published on: 2014-08-12
- Released on: 2014-08-12
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Dimensions: 8.37" h x .90" w x 5.50" l, .0 pounds
- Binding: Paperback
- 320 pages
From Booklist
*Starred Review* The alien comes to Earth from Vonnadoria, an almost incomprehensibly advanced world; he comes with a sinister purpose, both to destroy and to collect information, hoping to rob human beings of their future. Assuming the person of Professor Andrew Martin, a celebrated mathematician who has made a dangerous discovery, he sets coldly and calculatedly to work. But there is a problem: though disgusted at first by humans, whom he regards as motivated only by violence and greed, he gradually comes to understand that humans are more complex than that, and, most dangerous to his mission, he discovers music, poetry, and . . . love. Becoming increasingly sympathetic to humans, he will ultimately do the unthinkable. The ever-imaginative Haig—The Dead Fathers Club (2007), The Radleys (2010)—has created an extraordinary alien sensibility and, though writing with a serious purpose (the future is at stake), has great good fun with the being’s various eyebrow-raising blunders as he struggles to emulate human behavior. 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. --Michael Cart
Review
"A literary virtuoso… Matt Haig is a supreme talent and a writer to cherish, and The Humans is undoubtedly his magnum opus." (The Guardian)
“Funny, poignant and full of heart.” (Entertainment Weekly)
“Matt Haig is a novelist of stunning talent, with a laser eye for the absurd and endless reserves of compassion.” (Parade, "Parade Picks")
“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)
“At its heart, this novel is really about the art of being human and all that entails.” (Fort Worth Star-Telegram)
“A surprisingly touching and often hilarious tale….Haig elevates the premise with his deft, humor-rich storytelling skills. A reverence for mathematics and history also runs through the book, cutting through some of the sentimentality with a healthy dose of intellectualism. The Humans is an engaging summer read.” (Bookpage)
“The Humans is a breathtaking novel…eye-opening and endlessly fascinating. Matt Haig has created a masterpiece of fiction that should be required reading for all who inhabit this great big ball we call Earth.” (BookReporter)
“A thought-provoking, compulsively readable delight.” (Booklist (starred review))
"Delightful." (Publishers Weekly (starred review))
“Quick-paced, touching, and hilarious.” (Library Journal (starred review))
“[The Humans] is a poignant and emotional examination into the value of the human experience, complete with a central character that you care for, root for and perhaps even cry for….engaging….a good read.” (Amazing Stories Magazine)
“[Matt Haig has] a keen eye for homo sapien goofiness, spot-on observations on our foibles, and satire you could spread with a knife….There’s cleverness and wit all over each page.” (Naples News)
“Haig writes with wit and surety, so convincingly other-worldly that it could cause a person to wonder.” (Diesel Newsletter, #1 recommended read)
“Beautifully written…inspiring.” (Parallel Worlds Magazine)
“Matt Haig's The Humans boasts the best sci-fi concept we've heard in years.” (Complex.com, "Best Beach Reads")
“An engrossing new novel.” (RedCarpetCrash.com)
“A funny and touching tale about an alien who visits and experiences the weird and often frightening beauty of being human.” (Shelf Awareness)
“Matt Haig’s keen sense of observation stands out….[The Humans is] a careful examination of the very things that make us human….Haig has written a book that causes readers to consider the flaws in humanity while also appreciating its powerful beauty.” (RVAnews.com)
"The Humans is a laugh-and-cry book. Troubling, thrilling, puzzling, believable and impossible. Matt Haig uses words like a tin-opener. We are the tin." (Jeanette Winterson)
"A brilliant exploration of what it is to love, and to be human, The Humans is both heartwarming and hilarious, weird, and utterly wonderful. One of the best books I've read in a very long time." (S.J. Watson New York Times bestselling author of Before I go to Sleep)
“The Humans is tremendous; a kind of Curious Incident meets The Man Who Fell to Earth. It’s funny, touching and written in a highly appealing voice.” (Joanne Harris award-winning author of Chocolat)
“Lovely stuff. So heartfelt, touching and funny.” (Patrick Ness author of The Crane Wife)
"Utterly wonderful." (Mark Billingham)
About the Author
Matt Haig is the bestselling author of several children’s books and novels, including The Radleys, winner of the ALA Alex Award. An alumnus of Hull University and Leeds, his work has been translated into twenty-nine languages. He lives in York with his wife, UK novelist Andrea Semple, and their two children.
Most helpful customer reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful.
A Paean To Human Happiness
By Amazon Customer
I read a lot of books, one or two a week. I don't tend to review them because I know my reactions are personal, and attempting to assign a number of stars is torturous. However, every year or so, one truly stands out for me and I find myself recommending it to everyone I know. A couple of years ago, it was *Defending Jacob* by William Landay. In the past year, it was *The Humans* by Matt Haig.
I was initially interested in reading *The Humans* because the topic reminded me of "3rd Rock From The Sun", one of my all-time favorite TV sitcoms (at least the first season). Both premises are based on an outsider's interpretation of the human condition. The TV show was hilarious; this book is less so, but it has its moments. It is basically the story of an alien coming to earth on a serious mission. However, I found myself laughing almost to tears at one point as the alien was attempting to interpret a dog's conversation based on facial expressions since he couldn't decipher the dog's spoken language. The scene involves peanut butter. The alien has never experienced joy. Then on earth he discovers music! He is mesmerized by Debussy, feeling he has captured all the most beautiful aspects of the universe in his music ... but, then, wow, the alien hears the Beach Boys! And discovers the aforementioned peanut butter! And poetry! Etc. Mainly it is about what it is to be human and how it is our mortality that makes happiness possible. At one point the alien marvels that he has said "me" -- it has always before been "we". (That was thrilling.) I have inspired at least a dozen friends to read this book, and so far I think everyone likes or loves it, but for all different reasons. Some liked the collectivist vs. individual aspect, like I did. Some liked the human joy aspect, as I also did. One friend was just thrilled with all the wise observations that the alien made, his unique point of view. Another was tickled by all the Emily Dickenson quotes and references, most not attributed, and most of which, I must admit, I missed. One friend chose it for his book club, and said it was a success, both because people liked it and because it inspired lively discussion.
Be aware that the novel starts slowly and is rather dark. I wasn't liking it at first, and others said the same thing. My cousin put it aside for several weeks, not enjoying it, then picked it back up one day, and stayed up most of the night with it, enthralled. The alien isn't likeable. His mission is to murder. But once the story is set, it is a compelling read, and one I will revisit. It is an easy read, but interesting and thought-provoking, at times touching, at times profound. The idea that mortality is essential to human happiness is not a theme often explored. The book is a paean to human happiness.
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful.
Maths to kill for
By Marty
All visible objects, man, are but as pasteboard masks. But in each event--in the living act, the undoubted deed - there, some unknown but still reasoning thing puts forth the mouldings of its features from behind the unreasoning mask. If man will strike, strike through the mask!
Herman Melville
First off, let me say that I kind of liked the book. It was a sweet (if slightly sappy) love story about a godlike creature from beyond the stars that gave up immortality for love – the love of a woman, the love of the “finite spaces” that make up the story. A little like City of Angels…
But what truly ignited my interest was in the afterward. The author says he got the idea for the book during a period in his life punctuated by anxiety attacks. These “spells” are characterized by a sense of unreality, dissociation and a whole host of physical symptoms. But what really makes these episodes “special” is the unrelenting perception of a meaningless universe.
We’ve all heard about the ravages of bipolar disorder or the crippling effects of schizophrenia. But in panic disorder, one looks at the world through a telescope backwards. You see everything projected in your eye in all its tininess and everything means nothing. You are a dust speck looking out on an infinite, meaningless space. There’s no value, no “reasoning thing” – good or evil – that lies behind that pasteboard façade.
But the book asserts otherwise. It takes the position of the Melville quote. The main character breaks through the façade of time and distance to find “the reasoning thing.” And that was apparently love, family and a sense of belonging. Perhaps that was the author’s wish, to live in such a world.
The issue of mathematical truth plays an interesting counterpoint to this position. The main character was sent to earth to erase all traces of a proof of the Riemann hypothesis developed by a Cambridge mathematician. The idea is that the proof could unlock a torrent of scientific advancement that would propel an an immature, violent species into the stars sowing havoc along the way. So the proof had to be erased, and the man and his family as well.
Anyone who has worked in abstract mathematics knows its utter sterility. Are we really amazed to learn that there is some order to the placement of primes on the real number line? Think about the proof of the irrationality of the square root of two. Assertion that the root is rational leads to a fatal contradiction in the nature of reality. Is this meaning? It gets worse in physics, where the delusion of reality becomes broadened. According to the “Standard Model” the meaninglessness of phase in a wave function satisfying the quantum mechanical wave equation “requires” the existence of photons. But the thing of it is this. Photons exist, whether or not we know what necessity propels them into existence. If Einstein hadn't realized the equivalence of mass and energy, we'd still have atomic bombs - remember the Curies, Otto Hahn and Lise Meitner? The building blocks of destruction are at hand. We just have to pick them up and put them together.
So the universe evolves out of necessities beyond human meaning, beyond human feeling. Is that the knowledge that drove Riemann, Cantor and their colleagues to madness? Probably not. More than likely, it was the necessity to concentrate so hard with such focus that something just snapped. Or, just maybe, people drawn to that line of work are, by nature, prone to panic disorder or have self-destructive tendencies to begin with.
In any event, the book paints an alternate universe in which love and community are possible (though not assured.) Is this a fantasy, a pasteboard mask? I guess we all just have to puzzle that one out for ourselves. But if you look at it at this angle, the book transcends its somewhat worn plot line. It was worth the read.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful.
Starts strong, fizzles midway
By CTMom
Really 2 1/2 stars- Amazon, when are you going to start allowing half stars?
I am a big fan of Matt Haig's The Radleys so I was eager to read his take on an alien among us. For the first half of this book, I was not disappointed. I loved reading about "Andrew Martin's" view of our very human world and seeing how he navigated a life that was unknown to him (how do you step into the body & life of someone with only a basic knowledge of their past?). His revelations on humanity were often sharp & tinged with humor.
At the midpoint though, the story took a strange turn and became somewhat of a philosophical journey as our alien begins to learn and appreciate the power of love. There was page after page of his rationalizing his behavior (oh how human he has become!) & philosophizing on the beauty of connection. Blah, blah, blah...
In the end, the story came around to make sense and finish strong but getting through the middle of the tale was a chore.
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