The Humans

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I found this novel to be very clever, observant, and highly thought-provoking. Matt Haig is a clever author to have written it, and I loved how he - together with his multiple observations on the human race - was able to provide us with some truths on life and how we live it that you don’t often think about in everyday life. It didn’t at any point become to clichéd in my eyes - instead, it turned into an honest and heart-warming story that I truly appreciated. In a thousand years, if humans survive that long, everything you know will have been disproved. And replaced by even bigger myths. This book kind of reminds me of We Are the Ants in that way. It's a coming of age story that involves aliens... and it has an extremely negative and pessimistic view of the world and humanity, until the main character slowly reaches an arc when they realize how beautiful and wonderful and meaningful life on Earth can be. It has the same overall message, which is probably why I loved this book so much. With Andrew not caring for his family, their son, Gulliver, was left broken. He was bullied and people expected more from him because his father was a genius. And so, Gulliver was depressed and hated the world. Occasionally, in low moments, that headline will become the voice in my head,” says Haig. “But I felt she was saying stuff that has been said about me before, so I was used to it. She was also doing what she said I was doing – being prescriptive. People don’t like to be told not to read things.” Ditum argued Haig’s recovery had no lessons for others, but he insists people tell him constantly that his experience echoes their own.

Book club: The Humans , by Matt Haig - The Church Times Book club: The Humans , by Matt Haig - The Church Times

You shouldn’t have been born. Your existence is as close to impossible as can be. To dismiss the impossible is to dismiss yourself. Haig was 46 last Saturday. For his first 40 years, life was a struggle. In many ways, it is still a struggle – he has anxiety and tinnitus and says he is always alert to the danger of depression returning – but at least now he is riding the crest of a wave of commercial success. A Boy Called Christmas (Canongate Books, 2015) illustrated by Chris Mould LCCN 2015-43442 ISBN 9780399552656

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Haig once said he didn’t want to be seen as “Mr Depression”, but is that now inevitable? “I can’t control how other people see me,” he says. “I’m just grateful that I’ve got the freedom, thanks to my publisher, to write about what I want to write about. If I suddenly want to write a fairytale, or about Father Christmas or vampires or aliens, I can do it.” He enjoys the genre-busting variety, although he jokes about having a less “messy” writing career. “I dream about getting a detective – obviously, a detective with mental health problems – and following him through [all my books], but I haven’t found my magic detective yet.” This book is good. Not classic or timeless, but worth time to read. Interesting perspective on human beings/society.

Matt Haig - Wikipedia Matt Haig - Wikipedia

You shouldn’t have been born. Your existence is as close to impossible as can be. To dismiss the impossible is to dismiss yourself.” In 2020, Matt Haig released his novel The Midnight Library about a young woman named Nora Seed who is unhappy with her choices in life. During the night she tries to kill herself but ends up in a library managed by her school librarian, Mrs. Elm. The library is between life and death with millions of books filled with stories of her life had she made some decisions differently. In this library, she then tries to find the life in which she's the most content. [11] It was shortlisted for the 2021 British Book Awards "Fiction book of the year". [12] The Midnight Library was adapted for radio and broadcast in ten episodes on BBC Radio 4 in December 2020. [13] When an extraterrestrial visitor arrives on Earth, his first impressions of the human species are less than positive. Taking the form of Professor Andrew Martin, a leading mathematician at Cambridge University, the visitor wants to complete his task and return home to his planet and a utopian society of immortality and infinite knowledge. If you peer down the hill from Matt Haig’s immaculate townhouse in Brighton, you can see the sea, which today is shimmeringly blue under a hot sun. “We bought the house for that view,” he says as he answers the door, which is painted turquoise. Bright, alive, vibrant. Haig – novelist, self-help guru, periodic endurer of depression and anxiety – needs these colours, that view, this sun, even the statement-making front door. This book is for everyone, in case you doubt about getting a copy. If you love romance, it definitely has that, and it has the kind that’s bold, fragile, and honest all at the same time. It was as a flower blooming and learning to withstand its new surroundings. If you’re a nerd, then let’s all be nerds and learn through this book! If you’re depressed, let this thing make you happy! Let it give you a new perspective about life. Don’t let depression eat you up; fight it. I think this book will be wonderful for you. If you can’t feel anything towards life, let this story get that heart in your chest beating to life again. That thing just might need some light spilling into you. If you think you’re life is so good, perfect, or that you had it all planned out, let’s put you in the middle of an existential crisis! Grab a copy, and maybe you still have other things to do to make life even better.

OTHER STORIES

Pfft, and just like that Professor Andrew Martin is dead! But, and it's a huge reason for this book but, what used to be well-known and lauded mathematician Professor Andrew Martin is running naked down a motorway mostly because he's scared of rain! Haig identifies as an atheist. [16] He has said that books are his one true faith, and the library is his church. [18] As the daughter of a librarian Jen's love of books started from a very early age. Her reading obsession continued throughout her teenage years when she studied both English Language and English Literature at college. Audrey’s father taught her that to stay human in the modern world, she had to build a moat around herself; a moat of books and music, philosophy and dreams. A moat that makes Audrey different from the echoes: sophisticated, emotionless machines, built to resemble humans and to work for human masters.