Customer Reviews

A Trip To The Stars: A Novel

5 star:		(26)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

To the punchline, first: if you enjoy the magical realism of Gabriel Garcia Marquez, or loved "Fall On Your Knees" by Anne Marie McDonald, or simply admire a successful poet's translation to prose, you will thoroughly enjoy this book. Buy it, borrow it, look over the shoulder of the person in the seat next to you - just read it. Now the review:

I won't repeat the plot of this book: you can read that above, and it is every bit as complex and fascinating as it sounds. What I will say is that Christopher has created a unique, believable world that doesn't just invite you to suspend your disbelief, it virtually compels you to do so. At every level - the plot, the setting(s), the lush descriptions of events, locations, feelings and people - the author impresses and amazes with his love of language, and his ability to paint with words. Reading this book is like viewing a huge canvas painted by a master, as visually appealing in the mind's eye as it is to the ear (both inner and outer). As a whole, it is impressive; at the detail level, every line counts. I found myself doing something that I absolutely never, ever do unless reading non-fiction or the newspaper: reading sections out loud, to my companion, as if I were reading "truth".

And despite the length and breadth of this novel, Christopher successfully maintains our interest, forcing the reader to choose between moving on quickly, to see what happens, and lingering on the page to enjoy the poetry.

So why only four out of five possible stars? you ask. Well, here's my only quibble: all of the characters speak with the same voice. As well-drawn as they are, as much as they stand out from one another (despite the above-referenced unusual and very similar-sounding names for most of the characters), as soon as they open their mouths, it's as if they have identical histories, training, and IQs. Whether it's a ten year-old boy, a student of arcane languages, a rock star or a ruthless businessman, they all speak with the same cadence, enunciation, and complete lack of stuttering, verbal tics or other identifiers. This becomes a bit of a problem, given the complexity of the story, because without these cues the reader (me) has to periodically look up the page to remind himself of who is speaking.

Frankly, given the evidently incredible talent of the author, I was surprised by this shortcoming. However, don't let this quibble keep you from reading this story, because that is exactly what this book is, in its finest form: STORY. Or, to be accurate: STORIES.

Dazzling! I loved his earlier novels, but this one is SPECTACULAR! If you enjoy magic realism, this is your Summer 2000 beach book. This book is as rare as a unicorn horn -- poetic, yet a page-turner; erudite, yet enthralling. It ranks right up there with John Crowley's "Little, Big," as a classic American fantasy novel.

Some books are like an extravagant eight-course meal. You read the book slowly, savoring each course, and when you've finally finished you sit back in your chair and stare at the ceiling. You've just eaten one of the greatest meals of all time, and it just might have been grand enough to last you for years. Every single meal you ever eat will be compared to this one. It has become a touchstone. For me, books like this are Tropic of Cancer, The Sun Also Rises, Catcher in the Rye, Tender is the Night, Beloved, Of Mice and Men, Crime and Punishment, etc. A Trip to the Stars is more like a giant wedding cake. It's elaborate, carefully structured, multi-tiered, and absolutely beautiful. It won't exactly nourish you, but it will fill you up for the time being. And I've eaten a lot of cakes that are worse than this one.

As you can read on the book's jacket, the novel opens as a young boy, Loren, is kidnapped at a planetarium. He had been in the care of his college-age Aunt, Alma; however, he soon finds himself presented with an opportunity to live a new and exciting life. A life of adventure, wealth, lust, intellectual persuits, and more specifically: lost continents, meteors, vampires, botany, dogs not of this world, and so forth. The book alternates between Loren's narrative and Alma's. The day that Alma loses Loren becomes her defining moment in life. She does not know what became of him, and can never forgive herself for losing him. She drops out of school and embarks on a tremendous journey of her own. On the way to wherever she may be headed, she encounters venomous spiders, eight-fingered men, the Vietnam War, Drugs, Hawaii, and the love of her life. Alma's story and Loren's begin to intertwine as the novel moves along, and uncovering the connections is where I found most of my enjoyment.

This novel is too sprawling to encapsulate in a brief review, so know that any attempt on my part to sum up the story or give you a feel for it will be partially-effective at best. I did enjoy the story, but while I suppose I could take a fair amount of mysticism in a novel, this book might have too much (I started to raise an eyebrow when vampires were introduced a few hundred pages into the book, only to be dropped soon after). The book is also laden with characters who are prone to sitting around over dinner while discussing (at great length) the memory techniques of a Greek scholar or the mating habits of a rare arachnid. There also seems to be a great deal of symbolism for it's own sake (I managed to find the derivatives of most character names, and there is a great deal hidden below the surface here, but in the end, those things don't really add much to the story). If I had any other complaint, it would be that both narrators seem to have the same exact same speaking voice, but I suppose that might only be a minor distraction. Most of what I've said here might come across as major complaints, but the lyrical power of the novel goes a long way.

Overall, this was an enjoyable novel. I cared for the characters, and now that I am through, I find that I miss some of them. There are images that will probably stay with me for months. In a year, I may not remember anything about A Trip To The Stars, but sometimes dessert is just dessert.

A meditation on fate, destiny and love, complete with spiders, vampires, jazz, ancient artifacts and possibly an extraterrestrial dog. What's it all mean? You got me. But that doesn't matter. A Trip to the Stars is weird, wonderful and absolutely original.

I began this book with a little trepidation, as I had found the author's previous work, "Veronica", although enjoyable, marred by a certain deadpan quality in the author's style that created an annoying distance and coldness between the reader and the magical events he chronicled. I am pleased to report that Christopher's third novel does not suffer in this fashion. I found it an enchanting, captivating excursion into homegrown magical realism and highly recommend it. One of the most enjoyable novels I've read this year.

I wanted to live in this novel, to step out of my world and enter the place described by Nicholas Christopher in A Trip To The Stars. It completely swept me away; in fact, in my daily life during the week I was reading the book I walked as if in a trance, as if my real life were the dream and the novel reality. I have never enjoyed a novel more and I rank it with my very favorites.

If you enjoy this book you will also enjoy Mr. Christopher's other novels Veronica, and Franklin Flyer, although A Trip To The Stars is in a class by itself.

Please please please I beg of you Mr. C - write more novels! Not that I want to tempt you, but I find your work as good as Garcia Marquez's (and I have enjoyed it more). Perhaps if you keep writing you will be as acclaimed as he someday. If you ever do read this, would you write a story about a child who escapes from an unhappy home and finds a different world to live in. Thank you.

A blend of mystery and mysticism, adventure and love, Christopher wants to share with his readers a variety of interesting information and give us an entertaining story at the same time. He satisfyingly does both, I couldn't put it down. I will definitely go back and read some of his earlier books.