[stylist] Another book review--The Martian Child

[Jacobson, Shawn D]

Below, is a book review I did last year (submitted to Slate & Style but was not accepted).  The book "The Martian Child" is about a single science fiction writer who adopts a boy who thinks he's a Martian.  I found the premise interesting.

Shawn Jacobson
Mathematical Statistician
Phone# (202)-475-8759
Fax# (202)-485-0275

The Martian Child, by David Gerrard
reviewed by Shawn Jacobson
In The Martian Child, David Gerrard writes a novelization of his experience adopting a trouble child.  The child, Dennis is hyper active, has a history of abuse, acts out, and (most disconcerting of all) believes that he is a Martian.
But the Marian part doesn't frighten our protagonist, the adoptive dad.  After all, dad is a science fiction writer and as long as Dennis doesn't bring home giant slugs from space, dad can be cool with Dennis being a Martian as long as he needs to be.  And besides, when dad saw the picture of this little kid, he was in love.
Thus begins what, for the first half of the book, seems an idyllic adventure in which the author adopts Dennis.  Dad loves Dennis, Dennis loves dad and, everything works beautifully.  Problems here are glossed over.
Then troubles come and the narration becomes dark.  The Northridge earthquake wrecks the house.  The dog dies.  Dennis is falsely accused of sexual assault.  Dennis steals, breaks things, and acts out in public.  The adoption is pushed to the brink.  To save the family, the father must dig deep for the answer to why he wanted to adopt in the first place; father and son must renounce their Martian heritage.  Thus, this is a story of acknowledging, settling for, being human.
I came to this book because I am an adoptive father who dabbles in writing science fiction.  I wanted to see the author's unique view of the process.  Though the author's fears of inadequacy mirrored my own, David's domestic adoption of an older child differed from the international adoptions of infants with which I am familiar.
One reviewer criticized the author for writing his adoption story as a novel rather than as memoir.  However, telling the story in fictionalized form fits the theme of this book that the stories we tell ourselves to explain the world and our place in it make us human.  Pre-linguistic children are thus alien until they join our society of story tellers.  In this light, Dennis' story of his Martian heritage may indicate that he came to language late in life.  The author's previous works of science fiction get lengthy descriptions and are significant to in the lead-up to the climactic scene.
Other descriptions, of things, people, and weather are spare, not memorable.  The exceptions, the description of Dennis from his picture, description of the house after the earthquake, the description of the weather on the climactic evening of the story, stand out by comparison.
This book is available through the Talking Book program, DB 67150.  The NLS narrator, like commercial audio-book narrators, uses different voices for the different characters.  The lisping, kiddy, voice used for Dennis is more annoying than cute.  For those interested in reading about a challenging adoption, uniting a troubled boy with a non-traditional home, the book is worth putting up with the annoyance.