The Humans by Matt Haig

“Loved this. Highly original, quirky and some spot-on observations about human behaviour, shining a light not just on the absurdity of human behaviour, but also the more positive behaviours that are to be celebrated. This is not a book I would have picked up if the plot had been described to me in detail beforehand, but I am so glad we chose and read it.  You wonder what on earth you are reading to start with, but stick with it and the weirdness starts to feel less and less weird.  Just to goes to show the benefit of a BookClub and reading something I otherwise wouldn’t have.”

“I also would not have chosen a book with  a science fiction element, but I really enjoyed it. I listened to the audio version and it made me laugh out loud. I really liked the lessons for humans and found them quite amusing. The observations were spot-on. I found myself warming to the teenage son character as the book went on, and trying to imagine how the Professor’s wife would be processing everything that happens.”

“I really enjoyed this – I found it original and funny. Thought the advice and observations of humans were great and worth sharing. I am going to give it to my daughter to read. Thought it ended really nicely.”

“At the beginning I thought I was never going to get into it, but then I loved it. To start with the writing felt almost teenage, but then it developed into a mature and sophisticated book. 2020 having been a year of such bad news, it was really lovely to read warm and uplifting reflections on the nature of being human. I enjoyed the sense of jeopardy, and I liked that the ending had some sense of resolution but wasn’t too ‘happily ever after’.”

“In some ways it’s a very simple storyline – almost like a topic you would give a primary school child to write about but it’s very clever. I was surprised by how funny I found it and I thought it was very fresh. I would recommend it without any caveats. I found Matt Haig’s notes about his mental health issues at the end of the book very insightful, and it gave me another perspective on the book.”

” I had read an interview with Matt Haig before I read the book, which coloured how I read it – it felt more sad than funny to me in that context. I didn’t not enjoy it though, and I enjoyed the love story element. “

Range: 6 – 8

Overall score: 7.7