Book Review: First Day on Earth by Cecil Castellucci

Title: First Day on Earth

Author: Cecil Castellucci

Genre: Contemporary, Young Adult

Publisher: Scholastic Press
Publication date: November 1st 2011
Hardcover: 160 pages

A startling, wonderful novel about the true meaning of being an alien in an equally alien world.

“We are specks. Pieces of dust in this universe. Big nothings.

“I know what I am.”

Mal lives on the fringes of high school. Angry. Misunderstood. Yet loving the world — or, at least, an idea of the world.
Then he meets Hooper. Who says he’s from another planet. And may be going home very soon.

Stand alone or series: Stand alone

How did I get this book: Bought

Why did I read this book: I have always wanted to try a Cecil Castellucci book and this seemed like a good place to start.

Review:

It’s been a rough time for Mal lately: he is angry, frustrated and lonely. His father up and left a few years before and never looked back. His mother is an alcoholic with serious mental problems and is unable to take care of herself much less tend to her son’s needs. If that wasn’t enough, Mal believes he is an alien abductee but no one would believe him. This heavy secret has been gnawing at him not only because of the trauma but above all because he wants the aliens to come back and take him away from his miserable life. Then one day he joins a support group for alien abductees where he meets this strange guy called Hooper – who may or may not be an alien stranded on earth. When Hooper tells Mal he is leaving soon, Mal decides he wants to join him. Alongside two unlikely friends from Mal’s school, they embark on a road trip through the desert to meet Hooper’s spaceship.

Sparingly narrated, First Day on Earthis a raw, uncompromising story about what it feels like to be an outsider, an alien. Cecil Castellucci’s prose is effective in portraying just how lonely and apart Mal feels at school and at home. He is the sort of inconspicuous kid that everybody writes-off because he doesn’t look good, doesn’t participate, almost living on the fringes of the world, inviting his own loneliness. When he meets Hooper, part of him believes the guy to be a lunatic and part of him hopes he is really an alien not only because it would be a confirmation of his own story but also it could mean he could get away.

The are-there-are-there-not aliens conundrum is probably my favourite part of the novel because of the numerous questions this doubt brings up. WAS Mal really abducted or did he just block out how badly he felt when his father left? IS Hooper really an alien and if he is, would leaving earth and his mother really solve Mal’s problems? I also enjoyed how the last part of the story turned into this road trip with his new friends Posey and Darwyn, with all the usual road trip trappings with all bickering, adventures, culminating in the ultimate resolution breakthrough.

On the down side, because this is such a short story, it felt like certain elements were severely underdeveloped. It was difficult to accept the story’s denouement because Mal’s arc and eventual decisions felt a bit rushed considering the short amount of time it takes for him to reach an understanding. Furthermore most of the secondary characters, including his mother and father but mostly his two new friends Posey and Darwyn read a lot like stock ContempYA characters: the Troubled Mother, the Absent Father, the Misunderstood Popular Girl, the Shy yet Wise Outsider. I expect that a bit more of meaty character development could have turned these into fully fleshed-out characters but as it was they seemed to be merely fodder for Mal’s arc and for the novel’s main theme of how everybody can feel like an alien at some point in their lives.

Despite these misgivings, I actually thoroughly enjoyed First Day on Earthand felt it was a good introduction to Cecil Castellucci’s writing.

Notable Quotes/ Parts:

There is a question that I always ask myself. I ask it many times during the day. How far away from here is far away enough? How far away would I be willing to go?

My answer is always the same.

You? I bet you’d think the moon was far away enough.

I say the moon is still too close.

Here’s the thing with the moon. You can still see it. Mars? Too recognizable. Jupiter is too stormy and everyone is always looking at Saturn’s rings. Maybe Neptune. No one ever knows when Neptune is around. It just sits in the sky, disguised as a star.

But those aren’t the places that I’d go to. Those places are still too close. I’ve got my eye on something farther away than that.

Mr. Cates is discussing Human Mirgration.

He underlines it on the whiteboard.

Human Migration.

I look out the window, letting Mr. Cates’s voice recede to a soft buzz until I can’t even tell what language he’s speaking anymore. I stare at the moon.

It’s sitting there, in the sky, even though it’s morning and the sun is out. It just hangs there, showing its face. Begging to be lived on.

Mr. Cates passes us a handout. He’s pointing to the board. He’s talking about how history changes. Times change. Things change. What was once unacceptable becomes accepted. What was once accepted becomes unacceptable.

“People, they leave the terrible behind. They leave the people who don’t understand. They leave because they’re burned out. They leave for a better life. They leave the way things are, for the way things could be. They start over. They go across the ocean. They discover new lands. They settle the West. You can call them whatever you want – explorers, conquerors, settlers, pioneers,” Mr. Cates says.

He dims the lights and starts up an animated computer slide show that demonstrates the movement of people from place to place. The colors go from one end of the earth to the other. I am transfixed by the swirl of colors.

I think that some people go just because they have to get away.

I think that they were lucky back then. To have somewhere that far away to go. Somewhere totally different. Somewhere totally unknown. Somewhere they could disappear. Somewhere with breathable air. A place that wasn’t even mapped yet – the edge of the world. I’d have signed up for that so fast I wouldn’t have even packed a bag.

But these days, where can a person go? Not even Antarctica is unpopulated anymore.

They only place to go is up. “Every day is different,” Mr. Cates says. “Every day is a new day in history.” The only thing that is different about most days for me is the weather and what class I’m going to fall asleep in.

Rating: 6 – Good

Reading Next: Redemption in Indigo by Karen Lord

Buy the Book:

Ebook available for kindle US, nook and sony