jacey | Booklog 34/2019 - David M Barnett: Calling Major Tom (Reply)

You could call this science fiction, or you could just call it a bloody good read and forget categories. It has a spaceman, a slightly mad grandmother, a family in distress, and a hilarious solution. The main protagonist manages all the action by telephone (because he's in space). It's supposed to be laugh out loud funny, but humour is subjective. I laughed out loud once, but I smiled out loud a lot. And it made me cry once, too. It's a feelgood book in which curmudgeonly astronaut Thomas Major (Major Tom) on his way to Mars on a one-way trip, connects with a struggling family in Wigan. Grandmother (Nan) Gladys, children James and Ellie are on their own while Dad's in jail, and they're in danger of being evicted. Ellie is fifteen and holding down three part time jobs (illegally) while barely managing not to fall asleep in lessons, that is when she manages to get to school at all. James is younger and potentially very clever with a real interest in science. Nan is slowly slipping into dementia and Ellie is terrified that Social Services will put Nan in a home, take her and James into care, and split them all up. Thomas hates the world, or is it that he hates himself? Either way, when he gets the opportunity (due to a bizarre set of circumstances) he signs up for a mission to Mars to set up habitats, grow potatoes and prepare for the manned mission. He's on his way there now, in a craft he's called Shednik 1. He will eventually see more people, if he survives that long. How does he end up talking to Gladys, Ellie and James? By dialling a wrong number... except for all of them it turns out to be the right one. Highly recommended.