The Humans Book Review
““The single biggest act of bravery or madness anyone can do is the act of change. I was something. And now I am something else.””
After reading How to Stop Time in 2020 and The Midnight Library as my first book of this year, I knew I had to include another Matt Haig book in my TBR. Haig’s writing style is quippy, satirical, and leaves you teetering on the verge of, “whoa this is kind of dark, should I be laughing here?” Enter, The Humans, another novel by Haig with a pretty simple premise—a lifeform from a different, way more advanced planet where there is no pain or death, comes to Earth to destroy a mathematical advancement that a regular human mathematician named Andrew Martin recently discovered. This unnamed lifeform, who also serves as our main character, has one and only job: kill any and all human begins who know of the advancement and then travel back home. Seems pretty simple and straight forward.
““To be a human is to state the obvious. Repeatedly, over and over, until the end of time.””
As the narrator from an alternate planet explores Earth after inhabitanting Andrew Martin’s body, he finds that it’s just as mundane and unadvanced as he thought it would be. The reader is along for the hilariously relatable ride as he experiences human life up close, both in his interactions with others, and while in his own human body. The narrator truly doesn’t see the point of human existence, doesn’t understand why humans think or act the way they do. He doesn’t really believe there is much to being a human and can’t for the life of himself figure out why human bodies look the way they do. But of course, as you can most likely imagine, after spending time with real humans, our narrator begins to understand that being a human is actually more than just a weird arrangement of bones and skin and sinew.
““A human life is on average 80 Earth years or around 30,000 Earth days. Which means they are born, they make some friends, eat a few meals, they get married, or they don’t get married, have a child or two, or not, drink a few thousand glasses of wine, have sexual intercourse a few times, discover a lump somewhere, feel a bit of regret, wonder where all the time went, know they should have done it differently, realise they would have done it the same, and then they die. Into the great black nothing. Out of space. Out of time.””
Haig’s ability to showcase what humans are really like from the outside looking in is astounding. This book made me laugh out loud at the reality of humanity and yet through the giggles, it also made me weep, thinking deeply about what it truly means to exist on this Earth as a human, connecting to other humans while we all just try to make sense of what we’re doing here. I’m a deep thinker and all of Haig’s books have left me thinking critically about the meaning of life.
Knowing Haig’s personal experience with mental health issues and suicide, this book hits differently and it brings me joy to know that his experiences have allowed him to create something so true and potentially healing to not only himself, but to others as well.
If you’re looking for a humorous, shorter read about what it would be like for a creature from another planet coming to Earth, experiencing life as a human, look no further. But don’t be surprised if you want to pick up other books by Matt Haig when you’re finished.
I gave this book 4 stars.
