Mr. Spaceman - Softcover

Butler, Robert Olen

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0436205327 ISBN 13: 9780436205323

Publisher: Martin Secker & Warburg Ltd, 2000

Synopsis

Confronts the face of the human condition through the eyes of Desi, an extraterrestrial who has kept a quiet vigil over the planet for decades, seeking a better understanding of its inhabitants. Occasionally he has brought a chosen few aboard his spaceship, and on 30th December, 1999 he beams aboard a tour bus with 12 passengers.

About this title

Review

At the opening of Robert Olen Butler's metaphysical comedy Mr Spaceman, the date is December 30, 2000. Desi is a spaceman who has a way with words. Listening to them, that is. He has been hovering over Earth for years, occasionally beaming up earthlings and telepathically auditing their personal histories. Recently, Desi has beamed up a busload of gamblers bound for a Louisiana casino. His wife, Edna Bradshaw--beamed up earlier from Bovary, Alabama--is making sausage balls, a dish she believes will comfort the astonished visitors. Together, Desi and Edna put everyone so at ease that the abductees quickly become disciples.

Butler's narrator is a happy comic creation, a deadpan alien in love with his wife and her fine set of knockers:

There are three things about this planet which are too wonderful for me. Make that four things. The way of dreams in the mind; the way of tears in the eyes; the way of words in the mouth; and the way of my wife Edna Bradshaw when she acts like a cat and lovenibbles me into her arms.

In a novel that eludes classification, Butler propels Desi's linguistic struggles, busload of disciples and attempts to plumb the mystery of human yearning to a tight climax as he plans his first public appearance on Earth, which his new followers believe is a second coming. Mr. Spaceman is by turns a fond satire of science fiction, an ode to the South, and an exploration of marital dynamics that's as besotted with detail as any Anne Tyler novel--though the perspective does tilt a little off-centre. --Claire Dederer, Amazon.com

Edition details

• Publisher: Martin Secker & Warburg Ltd
• Publication date: 2000
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0436205327
• ISBN 13: 9780436205323
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 240