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Member Reviews
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⭐ 5
From one Little Alien to another.
I was lucky enough to be accepted as an ARC reader for this book! When I first saw this title I felt an instant connection as I refer to myself as an alien and quite frequently a “Little Alien”. I was so excited when I got the email saying my request was accepted.
I found pieces of myself while reading like when the narrator kind of goes off on mini tangents, it felt very relatable. I also related when Little Alien responds without talking and the adults around them get frustrated with them for not verbalizing their response, I still get that to this day as a 23-year-old. I really like how the book illustrates the disconnect that can come with neurodivergence and and neurotypical’s lack of understanding and unwillingness to learn. I found myself equally enraged and amused at the audacity of others in this book.
There was one chapter that focused entirely on the manuscript that I didn’t feel was necessary but I was here for it nonetheless.
This book was very healing to my inner child, as well as my present self. I felt very understood and seen.
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Thanks to Little Brown and Co and NetGalley for this ARC of 'Life Hacks for a Little Alien' by Alice Franklin.
This is a lovely, poignant, sad, funny, and enjoyable book.
'Little alien' (we never learn her name) lives with her mother and father in southeast England. Her mother - a loving and hopeful woman - suffers from depression and other mental illnesses and her father - a loving and caring man - is an actuary. Both parents love their daughter but her mother's mental illness means that she's not as attentive as maybe she could be and her father's attention is split between taking care of her, her mother, and his job.
Although it's not explicitly stated, all of the descriptions of little alien point in the direction of her being somewhere on the autism spectrum and we experience her trying to make her way through childhood through that lens. Her autism is not recognized in school and, surprisingly, doesn't appear to be recognized much at home until much later in the novel. I don't know whether it's a case of her parents not wanting to acknowledge it or being too distracted by life to notice. Having been wrongly identified as a 'slow learner' little alien becomes obsessed with words and language and, by extension, the Voynich Manuscript, which she comes to think of as related to her - as she sees it - literal alien-ness.
She has a best friend - Bobby - and together they get into a couple of notable adventures which have a significant bearing on little alien's life in her earlier childhood and teenage years (and beyond, we suspect).
I found the family dynamic between little alien and her parents and between her parents very real and authentic. As I said above it's also - by turns - sad, poignant, and funny. It's very believable. Her treatment and her mother's treatment by society and the people who are part of the machine - schools, healthcare, policing - all seem right on the ball. Although it seems to be set beginning maybe 15-20 years ago, the consistent lack of empathy we witness throughout just seems to echo that lack of empathy which has become so prevalent in the past decade.
I very much enjoyed this hearbreaking and heartwarming book - thank you to Alice Franklin and her creativity.
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Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC which is coming Feb 2025. I really wasn’t sure what to expect with this debut book however I ended up really enjoying it!
Life Hacks for Little Alien is a story told from the perspective of a young girl who feels like she is not human but doesn’t know why other than she isn’t like everyone. She struggles to speak and interact with others and therefore has decided she must be an alien. This is a story told from the POV of someone who clearly struggles with a disability but doesn’t know it as that or what it is. Therefore the writing is written in a way that is also different as if the main character is sharing their story in the way they best think.
Written with a lot of love and humor this one was really enjoyable for me!
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I liked this book but I don’t see it as having a lot of potential for many audiences. The narrative trope of the narrator really worked for me, and the writing about childhood from a child’s perspective really felt authentic. But it wasn’t super memorable overall, the plot wasn’t dynamic enough. But I absolutely appreciate the chance to have read the ARC.
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3.5*
Life Hacks for a Little Alien was a surprisingly compelling read and I got the same feeling I did after reading this as I did after reading Remarkably Bright Creatures.
The story starts with the nameless protagonist (referred to as little alien) as a toddler, and the narrative takes you throughout her childhood as she struggles with feelings of isolation and alienness. While it is never explicitly stated, it is obvious that little alien is on the autism spectrum as she struggles with speaking, and stims by making noises and rocking back and forth when stressed.
The storytelling really allows you to feel the depth of frustration that little alien has since as the reader you can see all of her thoughts and feelings, but she is hampered by the inability to express them verbally. When rationalized by little alien, her actions make perfect sense to the reader, but her limited explanations fail to satisfy the people around her. I especially appreciated this since it really exemplified how being not just a child, but a child with autism, caused people to infantilize her due to this communication barrier. The number of times people said "use your words" in this book still enrages me, which I think is the point.
I did find that the story dragged a little bit in the middle, and a lot of the narrative gets taken up by one of little alien's special interests. I wish her relationships would have been a little bit further developed, especially with her parents and friend Bobby.
I'm also not a big fan of second person narration and footnotes, but I did appreciate the purpose of having both.
Overall a solid read and I would definitely read another book by this author.
My thanks to NetGalley and the publisher (Little, Brown and Company) for this ARC!
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Have you successfully recovered from your childhood trauma? Are you an autistic adult that was an autistic child? Be prepared to feel every type of way when you read this book!
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At first look, this book could be mistaken for one that doesn’t really go anywhere, as it doesn’t follow the typical story structure we are so used to. However, in this one humble reviewers opinion, that first look could not be further from the truth.
This book reveals in layers a nuanced and complex view of someone who feels different, “other”. Someone who can NOT understand what compels people to say what they say or do what they do or how to react in a way that was randomly decided to be the socially correct way. Someone whose family is trying to figure them out, who loves them, who has issues of their own to contend with. It’s fascinating, it’s moving, the footnotes and suggested reading at the end of every chapter are fantastic and usually hilarious. I did not expect to be as enamored with this book as I ended up being.
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This one had a lot of potential and really just didn't deliver. Initially I was loving the book, I loved the unique voice it had - clearly the girl, or "alien" as referred to in the book, is on the spectrum and one of her main struggles is language and speaking. I also thought the footnotes and "further reading" after each chapter were quirky and cute and very Where'd-You-Go-Bernadette-esque. And that's about where my likes stopped. I would have loved to have gotten more of an insight into our main character and her home life/growing up, but the book completely turned into an over analytical piece on this manuscript that we really never get an answer about. Things just kind of fell off. It was, however, a super quick read and I would definitely try something else from this author again.
Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC!