Customer Reviews

The Dark Side of Nowhere

5 star:		(35)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Neal Shusterman is a skilled YA writer, with the ability to blend the surreal and the everyday. One of his better-known books, "Dark Side of Nowhere" is an unusually good kids' SF story, about a group of teenagers who begin to wonder what the strange secrets in their town mean.

Billington is incredibly dull in the opinion of young Jason Miller. The only lull in his Norman Rockwell lifestyle is the sudden, violent death of his friend Ethan by appendicitis. But after that, things began to seem strange. The new girl Paula points out that not everyone in the world receives special allergy shots. Jason finds a picture of a classmate -- from the 1970s. A sinister janitor gives Jason and the other kids "training gloves" that shoot BBs like bullets from the fingertips. And then Jason's parents reveal the stranger-than-fiction truth to him: They, and the families they are close to, are all alien beings stranded on Earth.

Now the janitor Grant says that alien ships are coming to conquer Earth, and strange changes are taking place in the bodies of the alien-human teens. Jason and his friends must learn more about the terrifying and beautiful alien beings that are their own species, and how to stop Earth from being threatened.

It's the dream of every small-town boy who felt that his life is too incredibly dull to be believed, and that "you'll live nice, die nice, and your life will have been a nice waste of time." It may not be every boy's dream to find out he and everyone he knows is an alien, but it's an unusual adventure. Shusterman's writing varies nicely between everyday (burgers, breakfast, baseball, and a father who always calls him "son") and absolutely surreal (such as the scene with a certain transfigured character, a scene where the kids discover their body hair falling off).

Jason is a likeable hero, very realistic. At first he mainly seems interested in breaking out of his dull life by being sarcastic and cocky, but when a real crisis arises he is an intelligent and resourceful person. Paula is pretty good as the human girl he has a sneaking liking for, and Grant is creepy and very believably alien. The kids around Jason are also realistic, although they seemed to be falling into line with him a little too unquestioningly.

Fans of fantasy and SF will undoubtedly enjoy the haunting SF story "Dark Side of Nowhere," with its intriguing plot and good characterizations. Great read.

This story is about Jason, a boy who is captivated by the death of his best and closest friend Ethan, who supposedly died of a burst appendix . He and Paula, his girlfriend, investigate this mysterious case. They go to Old town house where surprises await for the two kids. After they went there many clues appeared before them like the killing of two local boys in the town and when suddenly the school janitor approaches Jason and tells him that he has gotten this surprise from him. Afterward he and his friend Paula tried to find the mystery of the missing people but they can't because someone is trying to prevent them from finding the clues that will automatically lead them to this case. The school janitor approaches Jason again, and he gives him this magical glove which can fire pellets when you tense any of your fingers. He then tells Jason to go to Old Town where he himself would be waiting for him. When he arrives there he sees the school janitor among many other children in the camp. Mystically the other children in the camp were exactly the same children that went to their church. This really creeps Jason out and then he sees that all of them had gloves like the ones he had and he gets worried about this whole case.
He tells his parents about what happened and then his parents started to get freaked out at the whole case. They told Jason the truth about everything, what had happended to them before Jason had even been born. Jason freaks out and he doesnt know what to do. He tells Paula the breath taking secret... he was an alien!!!!!!
She couldn't believe what had just come out of Jason's mouth, she was petrified. He then told her that the aliens were going to rule the planet. she got terrified and stopped seeing Jason. Will Jason and his fellow aliens conquer the Earth and make the earth people leave????
Neil Shusterman really exceeded his way of writing in this novel, he puts a bit of him in every page of this book. When you have finished reading a chapter you feel like if you want to read more more more and more. I would really recommend this book to people of all ages because it is a wonderful thriller filled with a magical touch that penetrates you into this book.

I have read many books by neal shusterman, but thisis the very best, in fact the best book I ever read, I bet there are alot of adults who would love to read this book. I stayed up half the night and read it when I was supposed to be sleeping, if you like sci-fi or fantasy, you absolutly have to, with out a doubt read this. I am recomending it to every body I know.

This is a clever science-fiction novel, full of double-entrendres, about a 14-year-old boy who finds out the the true value of his friends and family members. The plot starts out a little slow, due to the main character's feeling about how BORING and ORDINARY his life is. Then, one day, everything changes. He finds out that he is really part of a group in the town of aliens, who have to take monthly shots (which he had previously thought were allergy shots) to maintain their human image. Jason and his friends are the children of an advance force sent before a planetary invasion of the Earth. As they undergo a process that turns them back into their "natural" forms, Jason wonders about his girlfriend, who is a normal human, and part of this group. He has to lie to her repeatedly, and finds that it gets easier and easier. But at a certain point, the realization of what he is doing wakes him up, and he decides to go against the alien group. He later comes to find that his parents also, were secretly sabotaging the alien group.

I am a teacher, and HIGHLY recommend this book. I am not surprised to see that it has won a number of awards. Neal Shusterman is a VERY entertaining writer. His use of language contains a lot of double meanings which are quite funny. I would only recommend this book to younger readers with an extremely good vocabulary, or a lot of the meaning will go over their heads. This book would be of interest to anyone between grades 6-12, who is interested in science fiction, aliens, or how a boy's boring life could suddenly change. In addition, it would be of great interest to any kids who are anti-authority, or like to look for "kicks," as this is the character's prevailing attitude during the first two-thirds of the book. Extremely entertaining, yet teahces a good moral lesson, and kept me thinking about it for several days afterward.

I am currently reading this book to an instructional level reading class full of 7th grade boys. They can not get enough of this book! It is so enthralling to see them borrow this book to take it home and read ahead. It's ride up their alley - high interest!

Jason Miller lives in a normal town called Billington. He feels his life is too normal and boring. When his friend Ethan dies of what the doctor says is an appendix burst, Jason realizes that his life might not be so normal. The janitor of his school approaches him after Ethan's funeral and gives him an unusually heavy glove in a paper bag. When Jason puts in on, he realizes that it can shoot deadly steel bullets. Things start getting very abnormal in Jason's life. Then he figures out that the glove is a training glove and that he is part of a secret army.
It is a very suspenseful book. I like it because each chapter answers many questions but always gives you more questions.
So, you always have perplexing questions that need answering. Since you always have questions, it's hard to stop reading. I wouldn't be surprised if I saw someone walking down the sidewalk reading this book because they couldn't put it down when they left the house.

Imagine your school janitor mysteriously gives you a bag with a heavy steel glove in it, which goes clear up to your elbow. Jason, the main character, is a ninth grader who finds that this glove shoots BB's when he flexes any one of the fingers. When his best friend, Ethan, bursts his appendix, everyone is told that he died. But what Jason found out was far from the obvious. These two friends train to take over the world and to ultimately live on another planet. They are being forced to do it; sort of. The clumsy steel gloves that Grant, the janitor, is passing out are only the beginning of warrior training.
I loved this book -- out of ten stars, I would give it fifteen. I liked the fight between Billy, the bully, and Jason because I thought it was funny. They were slowly became warrior fools (the aliens who were taking over the world. Each chapter always ends with a cliffhanger, tempting you to want to read more. For example, chapter 2 ends with the explosion of a mirror, but you have to read the next chapter to find out what caused the explosion. The Dark Side of Nowhere is packed with action and it puts you right in every scene.
I recommend this book to almost everyone. Ages eight through fourteen will like this book. It is a science fiction story that has mystery, action, fantasy, and even a little romance. Again, I loved this book.

Neal Shusterman made my imagination run wild in this ill-fated novel he produced in "The Dark Side of Nowhere". Throughout the course of the storyline the main character, Jason Miller who is bored with life in Billington and his fellow friends and classmates come across the master plan of extraterrestrials pushed by many of the people from his community. These people maintain the human body by a DNA strand they inject into themselves monthly. Jason though is introduced to his janitor through mere luck and finds out about this glove that is used for shooting BB's. The reading level in this book was definitely around my level or maybe a tad bit below so I would recommend it to pretty much anyone who's looking for a good read and a great plot. I liked how Neal Shusterman put so much details into what the aliens looked like or the humans that were aliens on the inside. He described them so greatly that I could picture them by each word he stated. I also like how he talked about the other kids attitudes on how Jason hung out with his girlfriend, even though he had the right too, but everyone looked up to him because the janitor who proposed the whole thing appointed him leader of the whole group of kids. The plot in this book gave me much interest in the book and made me look at life a lot different. It made me think about aliens and extraterrestrials and if they're really out there in the universe. The book made my imagination flourish and I would really say to read this if you've ever thought about aliens in general. I give this book a 4 out of 5 because of it's in depth quality and great word usage.

As many people would assert, The Dark Side of Nowhere is a thrilling book for a very specific reason. This science-fiction novel is about a young adult named Jason Miller, whose life is very, very "nice." But in his opinion, "nice" would refer to neither good nor bad. His best friend, Ethan, has perished of a burst appendix. This occurrence leaves Jason terribly hurt and saddened, and then starts to call his life plain and simple. It is tedious and monotonous. The teenager lives in a small town called Billington, which is, according to him, the most boring place in the world. But as he learns from his father and the school janitor that he is one of the Warrior-Fools, alien group that has failed its invasion of planet Earth, his life becomes an awful perplexity and bewilderment. He is the most "normal" person on the face of the globe, and yet, he is forced to believe the unbelievable. He finally decides that he really is an alien after all. As the school janitor reveals this fact to him and gives him a special metal glove shooting BBs, Jason meets his friend Ethan, who hasn't genuinely died. He has just taken the appearance of an extraterrestrial. The Warrior-Fools had been treated with a special DNA injection that kept them in "human shape." They had taken the external looks of the people who were killed during their attack. But as the quantity of DNA injections lessen, Ethan, Jason and all of his friends commence to show symptoms of creatures from outer space. The Warrior-Fools were ready for another invasion, but Jason refuses...
This book is one that many reluctant readers will surely enjoy. I am very unwilling, but I liked it. It is a piece of literature which "hooks you up" and almost forbids you to leave it aside. Knowing that it is a novel of man vs. himself made me read it in three days, staying until five in the morning in order to finish it completely. At numerous intervals during the story, Jason always inquires himself whether or not he is right about his decision-making, and whether he is human. He almost asks the reader for his opinion on the dilemmas he encounters. In addition, I enjoyed the suspense that the author used. At every single point during the course of the tale, I was always "drooling" to learn what would transpire next. An example is when Jason is given the metal glove. Nevertheless, The Dark Side of Nowhere was a little bit confusing. I had to read the book four times to understand it accurately, which I personally consider as normal for me. It is a novel for ages 12 and up, but sometimes I seriously ask myself how kids younger than me could ever grasp the meaning of the story. Although The Dark Side of Nowhere is a puzzle to decipher for me, I think that it's a great interpretation of the average teenager's adolescence.

This is great sci-fi. The pace is heart-stopping, but the action never leaves deeper issues behind. Buried within this story of alien invaders are themes of self-image, self respect, peer pressure, and the refusal to accept the seemingly inevitable. I enjoyed this book from start to finish and can't wait to share it with my class.