Shelfari: Omni Daily Crush: "A Trip to the Stars"

By Anne Bartholomew

Whenever anyone asks me for something good to read, without missing a beat I always recommend A Trip to the Stars. I love any opportunity to talk about this book, although I'm fairly certain that every time I try to capture how totally wonderful and unexpected and alluring it is, I leave my audience bewildered and slack-jawed. (I'll try not to do that here.)

When I moved to Seattle in 2005, I submitted this book for a Powell's
Daily Dose (one of the best exercises out there for writing a
straight-from-the-hip review), saying that "the story is web upon web of
eccentric characters, fantastic events, and unspeakably beautiful
places. It's also an aching and genuine story of love. If Marquez had
an American twin, it would be Nicholas Christopher."

The framework for this novel is deceptively simple. A ten-year-old boy (Loren), twice-orphaned, is at the Planetarium in New York City with his young adoptive aunt (Alma) to see "A Trip to the Stars." The year is 1965. They are separated in the crowd and Loren is taken. Fifteen years pass before they will see each other again, and in that span, Nicholas Christopher introduces a cast of extraordinary characters--some with exceptional talents, others with unusual hobbies, and a few with dark secrets in their hearts. And when I say unusual and exceptional, I'm talking about things like ancient languages, tropical fruit trees, vampire lore, and arachnology--not to mention some serious stargazing. This kind of terrain might sound high-minded or arcane, but I promise you it makes for the most enchanting and fascinating fiction you might ever read. Ever. (But don't just take my word for it: many of our customer reviews of this book augment what I've said here and do much more justice to its style and substance.)

There is little more crushworthy in this world than a book that consumes you on every level--A Trip to the Stars is sensual and smart, imaginative, romantic, and wise. I will never not be in love with it. It's a shame that more people don't know about this book, though I admit I always enjoy introducing people to it. I have my best friend to thank for this, who many years ago grabbed this book from my waiting-to-read stack, ripped through it in one day, and left me a note that effectively said: read this now, it will change your life. I second that emotion. --Anne

Recommended for fans of Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Salman Rushdie, and Mark Helprin's Winter's Tale (also one of my all-time crushes).

Comments

I totally agree with what you have written about this book. I discovered it in 2003 and it is one of my all time favorites. There is just soo much to discover in the books - the significance of the title and the characters names in the book, etc...

I have since loaned out my copy but will definitely be buying another copy of this book!

Posted by: Maggie | June 25, 2009 at 12:42 PM