The Universe Versus Alex Woods Review

TITLE The Universe Versus Alex Woods
AUTHOR Gavin Extence
PUBLICATION June 25th 2013 by Redhook
READ July 01 to 03, 2013
SOURCE From Hachette Canada for review

A rare meteorite struck Alex Woods when he was ten years old, leaving scars and marking him for an extraordinary future. The son of a fortune teller, bookish, and an easy target for bullies, Alex hasn't had the easiest childhood.
But when he meets curmudgeonly widower Mr. Peterson, he finds an unlikely friend. Someone who teaches him that that you only get one shot at life. That you have to make it count.
So when, aged seventeen, Alex is stopped at customs with 113 grams of marijuana, an urn full of ashes on the front seat, and an entire nation in uproar, he's fairly sure he's done the right thing ...
Introducing a bright young voice destined to charm the world, The Universe Versus Alex Woods is a celebration of curious incidents, astronomy and astrology, the works of Kurt Vonnegut and the unexpected connections that form our world.

In the midst of the worst reading slump I have ever encountered (not finishing a book in nearly 2 weeks and abandoning 3 titles in that time) I picked up The Universe Versus Alex Woods and was taken by the story from the very beginning. In the end I came out of this one very torn, thus the middle ground rating. Because of this I am going to be doing a very basic review of what I did/didn’t like.

What I did like: I loved the relationship that was built in the novel between Mr. Peterson and Alex Woods. Alex was the definition of socially awkward because of his interests and his general naivety when it came to relationships with others. But in Mr. Peterson he really came into himself and found out exactly what he wanted in life and what was important and what wasn’t. Going on the journey that Mr. Peterson and Alex go on together was absolutely heart wrenching and I found myself getting misty eyed at numerous parts. I also adored the relationship between Alex and his mother. She was a free spirit and she wanted to raise her son to be whomever he wanted to be. She had some strong outlooks on life and the afterlife but she never forced her ideals onto her son and happily sat & watched as his ideals took on very different forms from hers. She was constantly there to support her son in any way she could when he would let her in on what was going on with him.

Finally, I absolutely appreciated how the story focussed on friendship and mother/son love and there was never a romance to be found. I had worried at some instances that a romance was about to take the stage and that it would feel so out of place for Alex, but rest assured that never happens. I guess to sum up what I liked about the novel it can simply be put as the relationships. Even his awkward semi-friendship with goth/emo girl Ellie was done very well. I don’t think these two could ever figure each other out but Ellie was always very open and honest about how good she thought Alex to be. There was a level of respect between them, she respected him for his intelligence and kindness and I think Alex really admired her honesty and her way of being herself no matter what. These characters were just written so well that their emotions were palpable and I really came to feel like I knew them.

What I didn’t like: Now, I know that the story was written the way that it was because it was from Alex’s perspective and he was very much so a I-Need-To-Explain-Everything kind of guy but the constant straying from the plot to explain very trivial things had me wanting to skip some portions of the book altogether. At first I did find it endearing and thought that it really added to Alex’s voice but I think had a lot of this been cut out the book could have been much shorter and still conveyed all of the emotion that it did. This, being the only element of the novel that I wasn’t a fan of, ended up having a pretty big impact on my overall enjoyment of the story. During these sections I found myself to be incredibly bored and so it made the book feel as if it was much more draining than it should have been.

There was definitely more that I liked about this novel than what I didn’t like but I feel that the unnecessary strays from the plot had such a huge impact on my enjoyment of the story that it will be affecting my star rating. I will still be highly recommending this one for anyone looking for a break from the cliche romances that seem to be thrown at us at every turn and instead looking for a solid story of friendship. This one ends up being pretty heavy as it ponders the afterlife and deals with issues such as bullying and assisted suicide. But all of this is dealt with in a really great way and I am happy to have been able to go on Alex Woods’ journey.