Review: Martians, Go Home
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
This is definitely not a great book in general nor one of Brown's better books (not sure I know what his better books are, I've mostly read his short stories). It's light fare with a goofy premise that at least sounded interesting enough to buy it at a used bookstore and spend some time with. The story's premise is that out of nowhere, Martians arrive on Earth in full force and out of nowhere. Three things become quickly apparent: they're green, they're small, and they're annoying as hell. They're also intangible which means they can be seen and heard but can't really be touched or interacted with. Of course, alien encounter/invasion novels are always about cultural clashes so the idea that a novel from 1955 had a focus on invading loud-talking but untouchable creatures was fascinating to consider (and also think about in today's context). But interesting premise though it may, it feels a bit flat. The tone is humorous and slightly romantic comedy as the protagonist, Luke Devereaux, is a writer, recently estranged from his wife and trying to find his way back into her heart and his writing. The reader wanders through this world with Luke as the world falls into a deep economic depression with the destruction of the entertainment industry since the Martians can appear anywhere and are set on disrupting and interfering with everything by swearing, sharing secrets, or blocking the view. Luke's journey and the story's resolution are only mildly interesting which is why the book disappoints. Luke's growth doesn't seem the consequence of much and he travels through the post-Martian world akin to Wells' nameless protagonist in The War of the Worlds and it's there that I think the novel is most amusing as a kind of mockumentary form of Wells' classic novel. In fact, I think there could be a good essay that compares the hit-for-hit of each novel to show how they reflect one another that might actually elevate the value of this novel (and as you can see, as I'm reflecting back on this novel, I'm seeing there's maybe a bit more to it than I initial surmised).
View all my reviews
Did you enjoy this read? Let me know your thoughts down below or feel free to browse around and check out some of my other posts!. You might also want to keep up to date with my blog by signing up for them via email.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Comments
Post a Comment