Customer Reviews

The Alien Upstairs

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Pamela Sargent's novel is definitely not "hard" science fiction, but instead, falls into the category of speculative fiction. It is set in a future world which bears strong resemblance to ours, but bad weather and a poor economy have strained the lives of the average person. Into the lives of the main characters comes an interesting figure who professes he is an alien, which starts the couple on a mystery and adventure that eventually leads them into space. The novel is enjoyable in the sense that it is competently written and a quick, absorbing read. The ideas contained in the book are not particularly shocking, or even that imaginative, but they are intriguing even as they are a bit cliched. In fact, the whole novel really reads as a set-up to an unwritten second part, and so many questions (truly, the more interesting questions Sargent asks) are left unanswered and unexplored. All in all, the book provides fans of speculative fiction with a "comfortable" read: nothing too challenging, too fantasy or sci-fi oriented, but capably and somewhat rewardingly utilizing the conventions of the speculative fiction genre.

The Alien Upstairs, is a short but fairly dull read, due mainly to the fact that no one point in the story is explored to any depth. The two main characters are petty and shallow, while the supposedly more intriguing "alien" upstairs neighbor is even more so. What little bit there is of this book is still fairly well written, when all parties involved aren't bickering constantly.