The Martian Child

Title: The Martian Child
Author: David Gerrold
Series: N/A
Rating: 3/5 stars
Review:

David Gerrold is a single gay man who wants to have a family. After searching for the perfect child to adopt, he stumbles upon a picture of Dennis. After looking into adopting Dennis, he begins to have second thoughts. Dennis is a hyperactive child who has a habit of getting into trouble. Oh yeah, and he thinks he's a Martian.

I enjoyed this book for the first half. I like how neither David nor Dennis were perfect - each one had his own flaws. Dennis is hyperactive and can't help but get into trouble and David is constantly worrying that he'll make a mistake and ruin Dennis's life - he desperately wants to help his son.

Like I said, I enjoyed the first half. I wish I could give this book two ratings - one for the first half and one for the second half. (WARNING! Possible spoilers!) In the second half of the novel, Dennis is still insisting that he's a Martian and can make things come true with Martian Wishes. Instead of trying to help Dennis understand himself, and try and help him fit in in the world, David starts to believe his son really is a Martian. I swear, this author started doing drugs while writing this. The dude sits there and starts watching his son closely and comes to the conclusion that his son is an alien that was implanted into a human's womb. The whole Martian thing was a cute subplot about Dennis trying to find himself and explain why he doesn't fit in. It got way out of hand when David started believing that his son really was a Martian.

I still recommend this book. It's a cute story about a man who wants to adopt a son. It shows the feelings that both man and son are going through. Most books will focus on the impact of one or the other, but this novel gives us both sides of the story.