A Trip to the Stars [Paperback]

Nicholas Christopher (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: New York, Dial Press; First Printing edition (2000)
• ASIN: B002ACY9US
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (44 customer reviews)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Could not put this book down, June 25, 2002

By 

Karen Bierman Hirsh (Greenwich, CT) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A Trip To The Stars: A Novel (Paperback)

Although I had to wait several (ok, more than several) years for Nicholas Christopher to write A Trip to the Stars, the wait was well worth it. Christopher obviously spent the time wisely, researching numerous topics, ideas and folklore. He let his fabulous imagination run wild.

A Trip to the Stars is the fantastic (and fantasy) journey of Loren (who is renamed Enzo) and his aunt Alma (who renames herself Mala). As Amazon has done a wonderful job trying to encapsulate the beauty, wonder and joy of this book in their description above, I won't waste my time trying to do the
same.

Christopher has a melodic voice and an imagination that does not quit. Readers will find themselves transported from New York, to the desert outside of the Las Vegas, to New Orleans and Vietmam and to the mysteries of the extraordinary Hotel Canopus and somewhere in between they will fall in love with Enzo and the unique characters that inhabit his world, a world
that the reader will not want to return from.

Much like Neil Gaiman, Christopher is unique with his novels, not an easy feat in this day and age where a good idea gets reproduced in a hundred different ways. I highly recommend this book - it can be read over and over again and the reader will still feel the excitement and wonderment that they felt the first time they discovered A Trip to the Stars. If you purchase
this book - I promise that you will not regret it.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "Somewhere to sink a stone", April 28, 2002

By 

lb136 "lb136" (New York, NY USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: A Trip To The Stars: A Novel (Paperback)

Magic realism that's truly magic. Nicholas Christopher's stunning novel has none of the overweening cuteness that is often found in this genre. Instead, you'll encounter in "A Trip to the Stars" a lush, shimmering novel--its prose hypnotic, its characters and settings unforgettable--that you won't want to come to an end. It's the story of Alma and Loren, separated by a kidnapping at a planetarium in New York, who become Enzo and Mala and spend 15 years wondering what happened to each other--she needs an island, he thrives in deserts--all the while having adventures and meeting interesting people (among them an eight-fingered piano-playing arachnophile, a woman who turns into a vampire, and a wheelchair-bound pool hustler).

And the tale is instructional too: you'll learn something about the habits of spiders, go behind the scenes at a mentalists' act, and you'll also be presented with two differing theories on the fate of Atlantis.

The tale is told in first-person narratives by Enzo and Mala, in alternating chapters (plus an epistolary interlude that evokes Conrad). The two are writing at some unspecified time in the future of events that take place between 1965 and 1980. A few of the characters turn up in both Enzo's and Mala's narratives, which helps unify the tale.

It's a long trip, but it's one that charms as it thrills, and you'll not quickly forget it. And of course if you find that you are forgetting parts, you can always read it again. So the advice here would be: do _not_ loan this book to anyone who isn't likely to return it.

Notes and asides: the sun _does_ shine on the dark side of the moon (it's the earth that doesn't); Alfred Hitchcock's wife was named Alma Reville; there was never a planetarium at Manhattan's northern end. Best read outdoors as spring turns into summer, with Heather Nova's "Oyster" on your portable CD player.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Superb storytelling and enchanting story, March 21, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: A Trip To The Stars: A Novel (Paperback)

In Nicholas Christopher's latest novel, we have storytelling at its best. Layers of plots and sub-plots weave this magical story together, and take the reader on an incredible journey.

NH's writing style is gifted and the themes in A Trip to The Stars are also compelling. This book is written in the most accessible style of magical realism I have ever encountered. Many of the stories of the different characters mirror those of the person missing from their life. This technique doesn't seem forced, and only reinforces the strong feeling that fate controls your destiny, and that even if a twist of fate seemingly alters your course, you really will end up with the right people and doing that which is predestined for you.

The characters populating this novel are intriguing and believable (although to believe most of them live under one roof maybe pushes the envelope). These are the sort of people you wish you could dine with every night, just to listen to their stories, and hope a fraction of their incredible intelligence will stay with you. As each resident has 'lost' a piece of their life, they are all inextricably linked to one another, and possess pivotal answers for questions which are never asked of them.

This is by the far one of the best five books I've read in the past year (Several Deceptions by Jane Stevenson is another). This is strong and thoughtful writing, and I eagerly await reading his other novels.