Humor | Book Chatter

How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe
By Charles Yu
(Vintage, Paperback, 9780307739452, June 2011, 256pp.)

The Short of It:

Time travel is an entertaining subject in and of itself, but at its core, this book is a collection of moments. Moments of realization, moments of disappointment and moments of loss and regret.

The Rest of It:

Charles is a time machine repairman on Minor Universe 31. Technically, he is like the auto club for time machines. When a machine fails, he travels across time to fix it. But, these “repairs” are often needed because people go back in time to change the past, and that’s something that should never be done. He runs into all types of people, with his robotic dog by his side, but he’s got problems of his own. In a moment of rash judgment, he shoots his future self. Now, THAT’s a problem. To further complicate things, he comes across a book he’s written, a survival guide for living in a science fictional universe. But at the point of discovery, he’s already gone against much of what it recommends.

How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe was wonderful but in a totally weird, quirky way. Parts of it were absolutely touching and sweet and parts of were complete mind benders.

It’s really a book about so many things. The relationship between Charles and his family is achingly sad. Charles yearns for so much more, and he doesn’t really understand where things went wrong, so he re-lives moments over and over again in order to gain an understanding. It’s a book about self-discovery, about love and loss but it’s also very funny. There are lots of funny moments to chuckle over.

Fans of science fiction will certainly enjoy this one, but readers who enjoy “what if” scenarios will enjoy this one too. I found myself working stuff out in my head (sort of like what I did when I watched Back to the Future III and thought, wth??)

This was a fun, completely different book. The story was very unique and thoughtful. I’m so glad I read it.

Side Note: I was looking up information on the author and came across this article. Turns out that Yu is a director for the Oscar-winning Digital Domain, a visual effects company. This article also includes Yu’s top ten time travel books. Very interesting.

Source: Borrowed.

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links.

The Absolute Value of Mike
By Kathryn Erskine
(Philomel, Hardcover, 9780399255052, June 2011, 256pp.)

The Short of It:

Laugh-out-loud funny.

The Rest of It:

When his father takes a teaching job in Romania for the summer, fourteen-year-old Mike is sent to a town he affectionately calls, “Do Over” so he can stay with his grand-aunt and uncle known only as Moo and Poppy.

Moo and Poppy have their own issues. They’ve recently lost their grown son Doug, and Poppy spends his days sitting in his chair, staring at the TV and eating nothing but Scrapple. Sitting in a chair all day wouldn’t be too bad, but there’s a project that the entire town is relying on Poppy for, and he’s in no shape to complete it. Having no other choice, Mike steps in to save the day.

There are some very serious issues contained within its pages, but The Absolute Value of Mike addresses them with humor. The small town feel and the relationship between the town’s inhabitants is at times laugh-out-loud funny, but also very sweet.

I had just begun to read this when The Boy took it out of my hands. He is not a reader, but after reading the opening paragraph, he declared that he would read it after me. Wha?? The Boy said he wants to read it? Wha?? It took a moment for that to settle in.

Isn’t that saying something though? This is clean tween reading. No vamps or zombies here. Just Porch Pals, a car named Tyrone and a Romanian orphan looking for a home. Although it’s geared towards tweens, I enjoyed it too.

Erskine’s name might sound familiar to you and that would be because she also wrote Mockingbird, which I reviewed here.

The Absolute Value of Mike is an Amazon Best Book of the Month and has been chosen by Indie booksellers for the Summer 2011 Kids’ Next List.

Source: Sent to me by the author.