Reviews for The Martian Child: A Novel About a Single Father Adopting a Son

The average rating for The Martian Child: A Novel About a Single Father Adopting a Son based on 2 reviews is 3 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2009-07-11 00:00:00 Stephen Costa David Gerrold calls his book a novel. I would like to suggest that he wrote a memoir instead. He definitely touched me. I know this kid, his martian child. I know this kid well. I spent 16 years of my life, more actually when adding volunteer work and additional contacts, with this kid. My martian came in all shapes and sizes and displayed multiple behaviors, but I cared for this kid so tenderly. While I can provide individual names and tell kids stories, I must admit I loved collectively, and truly admire David Gerrold, who adopted his martian, loving day and night, uniquely and individually. It is David Gerrold, not I, who made a real difference. Certainly, I hope that for many, I was part of a process. However, I loved hearing David's voice. The daddy who followed through with all that was taught to allow him to continue the process, yet never lost himself, although he gave himself wholly as any parent filled with love and attachment. I admire and thank David Gerrold for writing his book, for sharing and revealing his heart.

Review # 2 was written on 2007-06-04 00:00:00 Kelly Silva This book was incredibly frustrating. I stumbled across it at the library and picked it up because I'd heard that it's being made into a movie starring John Cusack. I was also somewhat intrigued by the premise, which is based on the author's own life: a single, gay sci-fi writer decides he wants to adopt a kid, but the boy he becomes committed to is very troubled and thinks he (the boy) is a Martian. My main worry going in was that it was going to be too saccharine (favorable comparisons to Tuesdays with Morrie on the front cover are actually more likely to deter me than make me read something); it mostly wasn't. Instead, however, it's incredibly scattered. The book starts out at a fairly normal pace, but halfway through Gerrold abruptly changes gears and goes from describing how he tried to help his adopted son, Dennis, to adjust, to actually'though self-consciously'thinking that Dennis may really be from Mars. Then that line of thought is abruptly abandoned. Other seemingly major incidents'like a conflict with intolerant neighbors that we're told resulted in legal action'are glossed over in a paragraph or two, while other (lame) running jokes and frankly irrelevant thoughts on the nature of storytelling are given pages of pages of time. It's a mess. A well-intended mess, but a mess. Oddly, I do think this could make a good movie, if whoever's adapting it gives it some badly-needed structure. Although'guess what?'a quick check of IMDb reveals that in the film, Cusack's character is suddenly straight. Sigh.