My mother was a no-nonsense woman. If it wasn’t in the Bible or on Jerry Springer, then it couldn’t happen. Of course, there’s a lot of freaky stuff in the Good Book, with ladders to heaven and angels with animal faces and such. And crazy, muckraking talk shows probably aren’t the best yardstick for anything short of how depraved humans can be. But the point is that when she was abducted by aliens and impregnated with me, she had some trouble processing. I’m pretty sure Jerry actually covered that one, but I guess she missed the show that day.
This opening quote and the publisher’s blurb that says, “So begins this heartwarming, speculative tale…”, made me think that My Alien Life would be a weird and mindless story to listen to while I got some chores done. But it’s not weird (I don’t know what “speculative” is supposed to mean in this case.) Telling the story of a little girl who was abandoned by her mother, and then taken in by an aged relative after her father died, this is a really sweet novella about building family and making meaning from the seasons of planting and growing on a small patch of North Carolina dirt. Written by J. Martain and engagingly narrated by April Doty in a smooth Southern drawl, this made me smile; I only wish it was longer. This isn’t my idea of great literature, but it was a better story than I had been expecting, so I’m giving it four stars for the entertainment value of what it is. (Note: I listened to an audio-ARC through NetGalley and passages quoted may not be in their final forms.)
Aunt Magnolia held up one wiry, knobby hand and the babble stopped. God bless her.
“Child, how old are you?”
“Nine.”
“Think you can handle yourself by sixteen?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Then I can stay alive seven more years. Come on. I wanna be home by dusk.”
And so I went to live with Great-great-aunt Magnolia Rose McClennan, the older sister of my mother’s great grandmother.
Lynette did love her Daddy — if not his cooking — so when he suddenly died when she was nine, she had no idea what would become of her. Enter Great-great-aunt Magnolia, “Aunt Mags”, six foot tall if she can straighten herself to full height; a straight-talking, “greens” growing, noted seamstress, and the only relative stepping forward to take in little Lynette. The audiobook is only about an hour long, so while there are a couple of setbacks and dramatic obstacles, this is mostly a feel good story about these two characters getting to know and love one another as they garden their patch, collect stray cats, and always keep their promises to one another. And that was more than worth an hour of my time.
