'Cosmic'
By: Frank Cottrell Boyce
(Hard Cover / 320 pages / Walden Pond Press / ISBN: 0061836834 / $16.99)
Description: 'Cosmic' focuses on a twelve-year-old boy who convinces everyone he's the chaperone on the first spaceship to take civilians into space.
Verdict: Liam is the leader in Boyce's book Cosmic. He is quite tall. His female friend is short and this accentuates the male/female couple appearance of the pair. Liam's facial hair accentuates the illusion of Liam's tallness compared with Florida's normal height. They hang around with a theatre group and eventually win a prize as part of a four-father/four-child-group.
Part of the prize is a ticket to ride around the moon but before they venture out each parent-child becomes very involved in the type of activity they enjoyed at home before they commenced on the trip This rocket is based in China and is used as a base for trips to outer space.
Differing perceptions between those who are included in the group and those who are left behind, create plenty of chances of fun, tensions, misinterpretation and many of the fears and opportunities which humans live through as they go through these stages of their life.
This is a story of a young person who has been pushed into growing up too quickly and having to sort out his life quickly and effectively while dealing with the difficulties of life on a day-to-day basis.
There are many very funny and bittersweet lines on growing up and being a Dad in a place called Cosmic. One reviewer recommends obtaining an audio version of the book for the long trips in car, train or just being lazy and this seems to me to be eminently sensible.
In the mind of an expert story teller this book becomes a vehicle for the characters to experience confusion, excitement, achievement and satisfaction. [TH]