"The Humans" by Matt Haig - First Impressions *No Spoilers*

[Allison, Fairy Mod-mother]

Come share your first impressions about our Scifi runner up pick!

Please leave specifics around plot points, writing changes, character growth and so on for the full discussion thread open on the 7th!

Content warnings for those who want them:

(view spoiler)[ Torture, self harm, suicide attempt, infidelity, car crash, institutionalization. (hide spoiler)]

[Ricky]

I just read a couple pages this morning. So far it seems something I'd enjoy. Can't wait to get further in!

[Jeremiah]

At the risk of sounding cheeky, my initial thoughts were Mork stars in a Men in Black sequel. I’m a firm believer in the 100 page “prime the pump” with a new read and so far it’s off and running.

[Cheryl]

I've loved what I've read from Haig so far and this is no exception.
However... well, see you in the spoilers thread!

[Dayna]

Just picked up the book from the library and look forward to starting it tonight.

[Raucous]

Jeremiah wrote: "At the risk of sounding cheeky, my initial thoughts were Mork stars in a Men in Black sequel. ..."

I was trying to put my initial thoughts (after the first few chapters) into non-spoilery words and wasn't sure where to start. Then I read this and... yeah. That's it. Thanks.

[E.D.]

Read the first three chapters. It's growing on me as I go. Hope it continues to do so.

[Christopher]

This book immediately made me think of the film "Dave" (1993).

[Allison, Fairy Mod-mother]

The first page I read and was laughing so hard that I gave up trying to be quiet, woke up my spouse, and read it to him. (He wasn't REALLY sleeping yet, just pretending, so I don't feel bad). That changed a bit soon, but idk if it's the allegory I think this is meant to be, or if I just relate to jokes about not being human, but the tone worked for me in the early going.

[Richard]

Fun. Thinky, feely fun, but still really good fun.

[Ricky]

Allison wrote: "The first page I read and was laughing so hard that I gave up trying to be quiet, woke up my spouse, and read it to him. (He wasn't REALLY sleeping yet, just pretending, so I don't feel bad). That ..."

This is such a funny book! I actually laughed out loud during one scene. I'm really enjoying it so far.

[Ryan]

I really enjoyed the humor in the first part. Now I'm about halfway and it's not so funny anymore, and the philosophy is not really engaging me. Hoping for a bit more conflict as the book continues.

[Grace]

I have started referring to humans in the 3rd person. These humans!

[Allison, Fairy Mod-mother]

heehee!

[Ryan, Your favourite moderators favourite moderator]

Oh, it's this story. *half smile *

[Banshee]

Let's just say that I highlighted a lot of passages on my e-reader so I can remember them later and laugh again. Some of them are more like laughing through tears kind of humour, though.

I started early and I'm at 70% now, so I'm looking forward to the spoiler thread.

[Alex]

I'm about a third the way through it already -- very amusing and light, if a little derivative. After the weight of Cyteen and Riot Baby, this is a welcome change.

[Dayna]

So far, I’m enjoying the book enough to keep reading. The style takes some getting used to—I definitely have to slow down and read more closely to catch everything. The POV character’s observations about the human body are spot on.

[Edwin]

Light and quick and a great way to step away and make fun of ourselves. Nanu-Nanu!

[Jasmine]

I'm new to the group and this is my first read with you all. I just started reading this book and the alien POV is hilarious! Us humans are definitely bizarre. Can't wait to see where the author goes with this. You grok?

[Allison, Fairy Mod-mother]

Heehee! Welcome, glad you're getting a laugh in with us as your first read with the group! I think this book helps us grok a lot more!

[Ícaro]

Humour, clever writing, difficult to put down... I have a feeling that this would be fun. Loved the alien PoV.

[Jemppu]

So glad to see people enjoy this <3

[Coralie]

I really struggled through the first thirty or so pages. I found it annoying rather than funny. I'm hoping it will improve as it goes along.

[Chris]

Coralie wrote: "I found it annoying rather than funny."

I also found its humor missed more often than not.

It does have the virtue of being short.

[Grace]

We are eating the breast of a chicken? Well how about the breast of the dog? Are we going to eat that too? -- Don't know why I laughed at this for 5 minutes.

[Oleksandr]

I started it and so far it's a nice easy read for which I'm grateful

[Sandy]

I listened to this book and the narrator was great. Delivery was awesome. His confusion in the first few chapters about his appearance was very well done by the narrator. I really loved the book.

[Jasmine]

lol! The breast of chicken and dog made me crack up out loud as well. I'm a quarter through and I feel like the novelty of the alien pov is slowing down. I hope it picks up again!

[MadProfessah]

I’m only about 25% in but I’m enjoying it. Then again I’m a mathematician! (I had no idea there’d be so much math in this! But I like it!)

Also interested to see his book THE MIDNIGHT LIBRARY won Goodreads best fiction book!

[Oleksandr]

As it progresses it becomes less funny (just a warning, no spoilers)

[Jen]

I'm getting close to 50% and finding this really amusing. Really enjoying the light tone. I think this is my first Matt Haig but looking forward to checking out more.

[Dayna]

Parts of the narrative about humans and Earth are just LOL funny but other parts are dark. Almost finished.

[George]

I am not much into humor Sci-Fi, but I am enjoying this so far. It isn't making me laugh, but the blatant cynicism is enjoyable for me nevertheless. It is smoothly written and immersive. I think I will whip through this one in another day or so. Very good - 60 pages in.

[MadProfessah]

I’m at 55% but it’s a very quick read. I am going to try and finish it this weekend

[Anna]

I was afraid this was going to happen, but I'm struggling with this. I'm only reading it because it's the VBC pick for this month, and I wanted to stop reading before I finished the first page. I seem to be extremely picky about humor, these jokes might work if they were delivered by a different voice, but this just makes me want to complain. I really do try not to crap on group books in public, because I feel that as a mod I shouldn't do that, but I have to whinge a bit so that I can keep trying to get through this. The closest to a smile I've come so far is not looking like Grumpy Cat for perhaps half a second. It's short, but at least ten times too long. I'm going to have a tedious day plowing through this.

(No, I don't DNF group books, if I start it then I finish it. Don't expect me to take in anything, but I'm going to technically finish it.)

edit: I do understand why others might find this funny, but it's just not my type of humor *shrug*

[Ryan]

The humor overstays its welcome slightly imo, but it does dry up - the majority of the book past the beginning has very little humor.

[Philip]

I read the first few chapters last night and I am really enjoying it.

[DivaDiane]

Me too! I don’t think the humor is that over the top. Situational comedy is a type I actually understand, so I’m enjoying it.

[Bonnie]

Started this today. Amusing, and so far an enjoyable read.

[Sparrow Knight]

This book helped me decide I really don’t like books that refer to the reader. I’m not sure what the technical name for that is, but it pops me right out of the story. The humor is ok; I don’t usually like much humor in my reading, but this is actually amusing.

[Jacqueline]

Started listening to it last night. So far so good. I forgot to put it on my thumb drive for my 6 hour drive today so that’s a pain in the butt.

[Ryan]

Sparrow Knight wrote: "This book helped me decide I really don’t like books that refer to the reader. I’m not sure what the technical name for that is, but it pops me right out of the story. "

Second person, perhaps? In any case, this book is different in that regard, since it assumes non-human readers - that is, readers within the story itself. This would only ever be the case in speculative fiction, of course.

[Mel]

I started this one a couple days ago, but alas I discovered once I finished the first few sample chapters that my library only had the audiobook version.

Heaven help me, I'm attempting it, but I can't tell if I've stalled because of the switch to audio, or the content. It's a short book though, so I'll try to make it through.

[Sebastian]

I'm at 17% and it's not really working for me. A few chuckles at some of the humor but most of the descriptions of human life seem either uninventive or too human. I'll keep going for a bit in the hope that the topic of mathematics will play a bigger role. Not sure if I'll finish this, though.

[Rachel]

I thought I’d get into it but I guess it’s too literary fir me? Keep picking up other things instead (first Penric, now oathbringer and The hidden girl) but maybe that’s more about the other books than this one?

[Chris]

Sparrow Knight wrote: "This book helped me decide I really don’t like books that refer to the reader. I’m not sure what the technical name for that is, but it pops me right out of the story. "

It's often called "breaking the fourth wall," originally from theatre:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fourth_...

[Sparrow Knight]

Chris wrote: "Sparrow Knight wrote: "This book helped me decide I really don’t like books that refer to the reader. I’m not sure what the technical name for that is, but it pops me right out of the story. "

It'..."
I know the fourth wall from theater, but I’m pretty sure there’s a literature term for it, too. Whatever it is, I don’t care for it.

[Ellen]

The first couple of chapters I found humorous . Then I started dragging. In fact I've found it a good sleep aid. About 50 % now and it's picking up a bit.

[Dayna]

I ended up enjoying the book enough to add the author’s name to my watch list (after I read the others in the TBR pile. The theme of the otherworldly visitor who “goes native” is a common one, but this one is definitely a different take on that. One the one had, I appreciate the flaws in our physiology and psyche what make us human and there for imperfect. On the other hand, I want to visit the home planet to see what it is like. Maybe the kind of place I’d like to visit but not live.