The Humans: Matt Haig

Product Information

Sent to Earth to destroy evidence that the Professor has solved a mathematical problem known as the Riemann hypothesis, the Vonnadorians have concerns this innovation will advance mankind into a new age of space travel and deploy this alien in an act of subterfuge. The alien race’s main concern with human beings is that they are violent and primitive in nature, so feel their advancement must be curtailed at all costs, starting with ending Andrew’s life. Walt Whitman was right about at least one thing. You will contradict yourself. You are large. You contain multitudes. He and his family moved to Brighton – a place “where no one really fits in, so almost everyone fits in”, Haig says – in 2015. He and Semple home-school their children, 13-year-old Lucas and 12-year-old Pearl. They had been at school in York, but weren’t particularly enjoying it, and their experiences reminded Haig of his own problems at secondary school in Newark in Nottinghamshire, where as a sensitive teenager he felt isolated and directionless in a tough, sporty environment. While science fiction isn’t my go-to genre, I found The Humans to be very accessible given its present-day Earth setting. This is a sleeper of a novel that will continue to gain status as a modern classic as the years go by. Matt Haig is a must-read author for me, as his books make me feel understood, uplifted, and - you guessed it - human. Haig is one of the most inspirational popular writers on mental health of our age and, in his latest novel, he has taken a clever, engaging concept and created a heart-warming story that offers wisdom in the same deceptively simple way as Mitch Albom's best tales"

No one really fits in, so almost everyone fits in’ ... Haig at home in Brighton. Photograph: Sarah Lee/The Guardian You could say that the lead is something of an antihero but the narrative device of showing everything through the Vonnadorian's eyes works in Haig's favour. We sympathise with the alien, despite him initially following his remit closely, and his amazement at certain things is very amusing. But while there is oodles of humour, expect plenty of tears too because Haig doesn't let us get away that easily. Haig's unexpectedly raw tale of love, belonging, and peanut butter . . . Funny, clever and quite, quite lovely" (Sam Baker Sunday Times) There are a lot of idiots in your species. Lots and lots. You are not one of them. Hold your ground. 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.Will he accomplish his mission? Or will he betray all he knows for an alien existence and what would the repercussions of his decisions be?

He is determined to stand up to “mental health snobbery … When you’re feeling a bit rough and ropey, and your mind is distracted, you can’t absorb the most highbrow text. You’re not there reading Freud and Jung and Lacan. A pop song can save your life. An episode of Friends can change your life. But when it’s in the world of books, it becomes this snobfest. I’m resistant to that. I also like confusing people, so I’ll do my big, corny, sentimental, puppy-dog line and then I’ll write a chapter about Aristotle.” I never say I’m a happy person ... It imposes certain expectations The Runaway Troll (Cape, 2008); US title, Samuel Blink and the Runaway Troll LCCN 2008-702 ISBN 9780399247408

Table of Contents

You shouldn’t have been born. Your existence is as close to impossible as can be. To dismiss the impossible is to dismiss yourself.