Summary | Author | Book Reviews | Discussion Questions
Journal of a UFO Investigator
David Halperin, 2011
Penguin Group USA
304 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780670022458
In Brief
A sparkling debut novel set in the sixties about a boy's emotional and fantastical journey through alien worlds and family pain.
Against the backdrop of the troubled 1960s, this coming-of-age novel weaves together a compelling psychological drama and vivid outer-space fantasy. Danny Shapiro is an isolated teenager, living with a dying mother and a hostile father and without friends. To cope with these circumstances, Danny forges a reality of his own, which includes the sinister "Three Men in Black", mysterious lake creatures with insectlike carapaces, a beautiful young seductress and thief with whom Danny falls in love, and an alien/human love child who-if only Danny can keep her alive-will redeem the planet.
Danny's fictional world blends so seamlessly with his day-to-day life that profound questions about what is real and what is not, what is possible and what is imagined begin to arise. As the hero in his alien landscape, he finds the strength to deal with his own life and to stand up to demons both real and imagined. Told with heart and intellect, Journal of a UFO Investigator will remind readers of the works of Michael Chabon and Jonathan Lethem. (From the publisher.)
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About the Author
David Halperin is a professor emeritus of religious studies at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. He is the author of many nonfiction books and articles about myth and religion. (From the publisher.)
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Critics Say . . .
Set in the mid-1960s, religious studies professor Halperin's gripping debut is less about aliens than alienation. Danny Shapiro, a 16-year-old UFO geek living in Philadelphia, grows estranged from his normal school friends. His dark fantasies lead him to hook up with a crew of teen UFO investigators who are as hardcore as they are precocious. As his seriously ill mother grows worse, Danny encounters the legendary Men in Black, flies a disk, gets lost in the middle of the earth and on the moon as well as strapped down on an alien operating table. A Jewish kid who doesn't believe in God, he studies the Bible and explores his religious heritage. Strange twists abound as Danny becomes the caretaker of a half-alien female child and gets ensnared in regional hostilities in Israel. While the science fiction talk may put off some, this heartbreaking coming-of-age story of a boy losing and finding his way in this and other worlds will resonate with many readers.
Publishers Weekly
Religion scholar Halperin’s rollicking first novel set amid the turbulent 1960s recounts the story of Danny Shapiro, an imaginative teenage loner and self-proclaimed UFO investigator from a small town near Philadelphia.... A thrilling romp through the domain of aliens and spacecraft, Halperin’s highly entertaining coming-of-age tale poses questions about the real and the imagined and suggests that fusing the two might be the only way to survive adolescence. —Jonathan Fullmer
Booklist
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1. Danny encounters his first UFO at age thirteen. What is the significance of him seeing it at that particular age?
2. What is Danny's attitude toward his mother? Does it change throughout the book?
3. What role does Danny's religion play in his identity? In what ways does it help or limit him?
4. Danny's journal pivots back and forth between his otherworldly fantasy and his day-to-day reality. Which world feels more real to you?
5. In the UFO, Danny explores the notion of time. What does he learn and how is it useful to him?
6. This book is very rooted in a particular historical era—referencing Israeli independence, the Kennedy assassination, the Six-Day War, etc. What parallels do you see between that time and our own? Could this story take place in the present?
7. Many of the characters in this book prove to be untrustworthy. Are there any that you would trust?
8.When he decides to go to Israel, Danny seems to willfully ignore the question of his mother's health. Was this decision the right one for him? Why or why not?
9. What is the connection between Danny's search for UFOs and the Cuban Missile Crisis? Why did that event trigger his interest in becoming an investigator?
(SPOILER WARNING) 10. As Danny unravels the truths and falsehoods of his journal, it becomes clear that most of this story takes place in his imagination. How did you feel about this revelation? Did it change the way you thought about the book?
(Questions issued by publisher.)
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