From her first words to her first day at school, Little Alien can’t help but get things wrong. She doesn’t understand the world the way others seem to, and the world doesn’t seem to understand her either. Her anxious mum and meticulous dad, while well-intentioned, are of little help.
But when Little Alien sees a documentary about the Voynich Manuscript – a mediaeval codex written in an unknown language and script – she begins to suspect that there are other people who feel just like her. Convinced that translating this manuscript will offer the answers she needs, she sets out on a journey that will show her a delicious taste of freedom.
So begins Little Alien’s story, told from the perspective of an older, wiser linguist, whose guidance will help Little Alien navigate a world that makes her feel like she doesn’t belong.
I was gifted an advance digital copy of this book by the publisher via NetGalley for the purpose of review, for which I am grateful. I have reviewed this book honestly and impartially.
I am not sure I have read many books written in the second person before, it is a construction that is rarely used, and I think, for me, this kept me a little distanced from the action in the book. I wasn’t quite sure what the author was trying to do by using second person until the end, where it became evident that it is the main character talking back to her younger self from a more informed position in the future but, as this wasn’t clear to me until almost the end of the book, I found it an uncomfortable approach. However, I believe that this is a large part of the point , the idea is to keep the reader at a distance and in the dark about why things are as they are in the book, because this is how Little Alien feels in the world. From that perspective, it is clever and successful, but doesn’t make for easy reading.
The book wasn’t at all what I was expecting and even by the end, and weeks after I finished reading it, I can’t decide how I feel about it. I think it provides a valuable insight into what it is like to be neurodivergent in a neurotypical world but, as I have no personal experience of this, how would I know? No one seems to care about Little Alien and her struggles, beyond her parents who don’t know how to help and have problems of their own, and no one wants to help. If this is how life is for neurodivergent children in society, it makes me furious. Little Alien does her best; she has one friend with whom she shares her obsession with linguistics and the Voynich Manuscript, but even he annoys her when he tries to be more of an expert than she is and takes over, getting them into scrapes.
I wanted to love this book – I thought I would given I have loved books on a similar theme and the books which are given as comparators to this – but what I mainly feel having read this book is profoundly sad. Sad that someone so disconnected from the world is not really seen or helped by any of the people around her. I didn’t find the warmth and humour that other people seem to have seen – I wish I had – perhaps if you can find it, this book will be more for you than it was for me.
Life Hacks For A Little Alien will be published on 13 February and you can pre-order it here.
About the Author
Alice Franklin lives and works in London. She has an MA in Creative Writing from the University of East Anglia. Life Hacks for a Little Alien is her debut novel.
