Pros: Gem of a book, honest, funny, never quite heartbreaking.
Cons: ...
The Bottom Line: Required reading for all who oppose gay adoption -- and for those who don't. (A "quasi-entry" for the 4th Annual Pride W/O; see ed_grover's profile for details.)
rmthunter's Full Review: David Gerrold - The Martian Child: A Novel About a...
(Spoiler Alert: This review reveals major elements of the book’s plot.)
David Gerrold is a well-known science-fiction writer, among whose credits are the widely acclaimed When Harlie Was One and the most popular Star Trek episode of all time, “The Trouble with Tribbles.” Under these circumstances, the title of his latest book may be somewhat misleading: The Martian Child is not a science-fiction story (except insofar as raising a child can become a somewhat surreal experience). It is a fictionalized account of Gerrold’s adoption of his own son, Dennis, an eight-year-old boy with a multiplicity of syndromes, most significantly attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, and the first two years of their life together. At 190 pages, it’s a slim little book, but no less potent for that. It might even be within the intellectual range of the Florida state legislature and those others who claim that gays are by definition unfit parents: there aren’t that many big words.
To be honest, I cried my way through this book – there is that much joy in it, and there is that much to identify with, from Gerrold’s insecurity when making his application to be an adoptive parent – middle-aged single gay men are not always the prime candidates for adoptive parenthood, and we have a lifetime behind us of being second-best – to the deal-making (Gerrold calls it the “family contract”) involved in establishing the ground rules of the relationship between parent and child.
The book’s title comes from Dennis’ belief that he is a Martian – a syndrome, as it turns out, that seems to be quite common with children. It’s the current version of the “foundling” fantasy that is almost universal among children – someday our real parents will appear and take us away to our castle, because we were all really princes and princesses stolen away and left with the people who are raising us; these days, apparently, the Martians will come back in their spaceship to claim us and take us home.
Gerrold takes us through what is really the “Child Fair” at the National Conference of the Adoptive Families of America. He’s there because he wants to adopt a child; he has made his application, he’s been approved as a potential adoptive parent, and now has to find a match. Leafing through one book of available children, he is struck by the needs of these children: “Johnny was abandoned . . . Janie, age nine, is severely retarded . . . Michael suffers from severe epilepsy . . . Linda needs . . . Danny needs . . . Michael needs . . . So many needs.” Enough to make any prospective parent wonder if he’s up to the challenge. And then he sees Dennis’ picture.
There is the initial visit, at the group home in which Dennis has been placed, followed by day-long visits on Dennis’ part to Gerrold’s home, and finally, when they are planning the first overnight visit, Gerrold receives a call from Dennis’ caseworker: the group home is being closed within the month, and they need a decision because they have to place all of these children. There it is: Gerrold is standing at the edge of that high cliff, that leap into the unknown that wasn’t supposed to happen yet. He says yes.
There are crises – Dennis acts out, is regularly suspended from school, breaks things. There is the night they are roused at 4:30 a.m. by a massive earthquake; Gerrold’s house is literally atop the epicenter, and we see the emotional reaction of a child who has never had any permanence in his life surrounded by the chaotic litter of what had been, maybe, a home. The worst crisis happens when Dennis turns ten, and breaks a scale-model spaceship that was to be used in filming a pilot for a proposed TV series based on Gerrold’s “Star Wolf” novels. Gerrold comes home to find an empty house; Dennis’ battered suitcase is gone, as well as the few belongings he brought with him – the only other thing he has taken is a stuffed Easter bunny that Gerrold gave him. It is also the last serious crisis: Gerrold finds him in the park, waiting to be picked up by the Martians.
The one element that threads its way through the entire book, and it is the key element, although never articulated until the end, is simply that Gerrold is capable of loving. He recognizes the element of magic in loving someone – that necessary spark that turns acceptance into passion, makes another person central to your life. When the magic happens, that answers most of the questions. Magic happens when he sees Dennis’ picture – he knows Dennis is his child. Gerrold is also capable of receiving love honestly, which is almost as important. And he is strong and resilient, even when Dennis has him believing that he may actually be a Martian.
There are some dark things in this story – not only the darkness in Dennis, but the dark side of Gerrold himself. He doesn’t gloss over them, but he doesn’t dwell on them, either: they are in perspective. Indeed, it is from a tragic incident in his own past that Gerrold realizes that he can love, that he can create love. Darkness is, after all, the reason for growth: if our lives were perfect, we wouldn’t need to do much about them, would we? We wouldn’t even know that they can mean something.
“Heartwarming” is such an overused term that it has become meaningless, and it’s not even really accurate here. More truthfully, The Martian Child will fill your heart to overflowing.
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