Saturday, April 02, 2011

How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe by Charles Yu

The title of this book caught my attention as a clever idea - I like when authors play around with the meta-components of a story.  In this case, the story is about a boy whose father builds time machines.  As he grows up and goes into the business of repairing time machines, he comes to terms with the complex relationships that define his family.

Yu makes many obvious nods to the pantheon of classic science fiction.  Readers are expected to be familiar with ideas like the paradox of meeting one's self while time-traveling and the alternate realities that spring up every time you make a decision.  The main character has a relationship with his custom computer and his "nonexistent but ontologically valid dog."  All of that was clever and fun to read. 

But what I really liked about the book was that all of this was really a mechanism for writing the story of how someone can grow up and learn about their parents as people.  Certainly science fiction fans would enjoy the setting and innovations, but the story was sweet too.

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