Curious Arts Festival - author event - Matt Haig

by Maryom

The second author event I attended over the Curious Arts weekend was again held in the "Big Top" tent and pulled in quite a crowd to listen to Matt Haig talk about his latest novel, "How To Stop Time". 

Over the last twelve years Matt Haig has been writing books for both children and adults, but is perhaps best known for his recent non-fiction, Reasons To Stay Alive, dealing with depression and how he came through it. After a book which proved so harrowing to write, Matt decided to turn to something a little more fun - two children's books, A Boy Called Christmas and The Girl Who Saved Christmas - and now one for adults - How To Stop Time, which he describes as a love story/action adventure/philosophy mash up.

It's the story of Tom Hazzard, who may look like an average 40-something history teacher, but has a secret - due to  a rare condition, he ages very, very slowly, and has been alive for 439 years! Asked if this is something that would appeal to him, Matt answered with a very definite "No", as a self-confessed hypochondriac he thought it wouldn't be much fun. 

Writing this story does seem to have been fun though, from creating the character of the "baddy" to indulging in his love of social history, and being "in charge" of Tom's adventures, allowed Matt to visit some of his favourite historical periods and meet the historical figures he'd have loved to encounter - from Shakespeare to Captain Cook, Charlie Chaplin to Ernest Hemingway and F Scott Fitzgerald, Tom gets to rub shoulders with them all!

Matt's future plans include projects as diverse as a third children's "Christmas" book, Father Christmas and Me, and collaborating on song-writing Andy Burrows (who I was to see later that evening as drummer for Tom Odell), while plans are afoot for "How to Stop Time" to be filmed with Benedict Cumberbatch. Exciting times!

The Radleys by Matt Haig - re-read

review by Maryom

To the casual observer, the Radleys appear to be as normal as any of their neighbours in the pretty commuter-belt village of Bishopthorpe. But if they're that normal, then why do they always walk down the shady side of the street, carefully avoid the slightest hint of garlic, and prefer their meat barely cooked? Why can teenage son Rowan never get to sleep at night? and why is it a really bad idea that daughter Clara has become vegan? ... 

Helen and Peter Radley, though, have been hiding a secret, even from their own children - the fact that they are vampires, abstaining ones who never drink blood or kill, but still, at heart, vampires. Clara is about to discover this in a dreadful way; pushed too far by the amorous advances of a drunken bully, her instincts kick in, with horrific, bloody results. Peter's immediate response is to phone his brother Will to come and sort things out - but Will is a practising vampire, addicted to increasingly dangerous kills and more likely to be bring trouble to their doorstep than offer help.

I loved this book when I first read it a few years ago, so given the chance to vote for it as a book club read I did! I have to admit, I wondered if it would seem as absorbing a second time round - but it definitely did.

 It isn't anything like the Twilight novels or an old Bela Lugosi film but, I feel, about an average family with an inherited 'disability'. For anyone who's seen Being Human, there are certain similarities in the situation, (Will definitely has a touch of Aidan Turner's smouldering appeal) though in this case there are no werewolves or ghosts, just a family of vampires trying to live as normal a life as possible. I think part of its continued appeal is that it isn't JUST about vampires. The Radleys may only be acting the part of a normal family, but many of their problems are faced by normal families too. Quietly married with teenage children, both parents feel hankerings for the heady, youthful days of the past; Peter contemplates an affair with a neighbour, Helen dreams of a long ago romantic fling. Will with his vampire lifestyle represents all that they've given up - he darts about all over the world, parties long and hard all night, lives life in a way that seems fuller and more exciting than their middle-class, middle-age life of dinner parties and book clubs.

Also, like any parents, the Radleys want to shield their children from the unpleasant side of life - in their case, the fact that they are vampires  - and from the consequences of a youthful 'slip-up'. Wouldn't any parent behave the same?
It's also funny - not necessarily laugh-out loud hilarity but a quiet, wry observation of family life. So, yes, it's about vampires, but also about that average family that they're trying so hard to be. 

Maryom's Review - 4.5 stars 
Publisher - Canongate 
Genre - YA/adult fiction, vampires, family life

Matt Haig - author event

by Maryom

Christmas came early to Nottingham last Friday - out in Market Square the festive lights were switched on, and on the top floor of Waterstones Nottingham, Matt Haig arrived as one of the many stages of his "Sleigh Bell Dash" tour to promote his latest book, A Boy Called Christmas. It was actually his third event of the day, the first two events were in schools and had included Chris Mould, the illustrator, with one of those events being in front of 300 children. Matt seemed to be finding it a long day and he had yet to catch his train back to London - so don't think it's an easy life for authors on their tours.

The book is effectively part of Father Christmas's 'backstory' - sparked when Matt's son asked what Father Christmas was like as a boy.

Nikolas's father goes away leaving him with his evil aunt Carlotta. Carlotta is not a nice person and doesn't have a nice word to say about Nikolas's father and eventually drives Nikolas to set out to find his father.

Being a children's book it has all those things you associate with Christmas .... reindeer, elves, pixies, and exploding troll heads.... and is also written with humour. The Mole finds many children's books a bit corny on the laughs front but the readings that Matt gave had him smiling with genuine amusement. And those readings... he offered the younger members of the audience choices and went along with their selection. Happily the audience chose exploding troll heads.

Matt Haig is nothing if not versatile as an author having written books for children and books for adults- some to make you laugh others of a totally serious nature and a lot that fall in between somewhere such as The Humans.  I discovered him many years ago in a holiday cottage which had a copy of The Last Family in England - a dog's-eye view of a family falling apart. My favourite is probably The Radleys the story of abstaining vampires living 'undercover' in an English suburb.

A signing followed - with the audience buying copies for themselves and what appeared to be Christmas presents for young friends and relations - while working his way through signing a stack for the store, he said he'd once signed a thousand in an hour!

The Humans by Matt Haig

review by Maryom

 Professor Andrew Martin has solved the world's greatest mathematical riddle, the Reimann hypothesis. What he didn't realise was that out in Space, track was being kept of his research and findings. Someone out there doesn't consider Humans psychologically ready to receive mathematical knowledge of this magnitude, so Andrew Martin is removed quietly and an alien slipped into his body; his mission to find and destroy any evidence of the real Martin's discovery, and to eliminate anyone he may have passed information on to.

The idea of re-discovering and examining our world from the perspective of an Alien is not a new one: there are lots of films and books that have used it; The Day the Earth Stood Still, Starman, K Pax, Stranger in a Strange Land - I could probably go on for far too long. I don't think I've found any of them to be as funny as The Humans though. Trying to interpret the world from his brief reading of Cosmopolitan, the new 'Andrew Martin' struggles with the the inconsistencies and contradictions of human behaviour, with hilarious results. It's not all fun and laughter - 'Andrew Martin' has his task to complete; a task which becomes harder as he gets to know Martin's family. At first he finds Earth to be a dismal, repulsive place and its inhabitants much the same, but gradually through music, poetry and peanut butter sandwiches he begins to understand what exactly it is to be Human - and what Humans have that his more advanced, logical race lack.

 The Humans is a difficult book to pin down and categorise - sci-fi? comedy? Well, it definitely has aliens and it's undoubtedly funny but it's not Mars Attacks. Behind the surface humour lie serious thoughts about what makes life worth living. I'm not sure I'd agree with the specifics - neither classical music or peanut butter is my king of thing! - but if you've ever felt 'What's the point?' then maybe The Humans can give you some suggestions.

I must admit to being a bit worried in the latter stages that things were heading towards a simplistic over sentimental ending but it thankfully managed to pull up short of it.

An engaging, quirky story that will appeal to adults and teens alike - though no one will ever convince me of the delights of peanut butter!

Maryom's Review - 4 stars
Publisher - Canongate
Genre - Adult/teen crossover, Sci-fi, Humour

Buy The Humans from Amazon