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A review by uosdwisrdewoh
Our Expanding Universe by Alex Robinson
4.0
This is probably my favorite of Alex Robinson's works since Box Office Poison. BOP knocked me over when I read it almost 20 years ago, and while Robinson's works since have been good, it's telling that I can't even recall the names of characters in Tricked or Too Cool to Be Forgotten, whereas I can describe Sherman, Ed, Dorothy, and Stephen from BOP as if they were old friends. It almost works against Robinson at this point. Each new book is a dare to himself that he can make you care about these new guys as much as you loved his first characters, and in Our Expanding Universe, I feel he's gotten closest to that goal yet.
If I step back outside of my gut feeling for the characters, it's obvious how much Robinson's storytelling techniques have grown over the past two decades. Pages are masterfully composed and the tour-de-force centerpiece in a planetarium stuns. As his cast of New Yorkers inching towards middle age navigate the big questions in their lives, everyone's expressions strike the exact right indelible chord. I wanted to clip and frame so many of these perfect reaction panels.
I didn't know these people (and had a slight resistance to do so), but by the end, I really felt for everyone, even the kind of annoying blowhard friend, who I hoped would meet his comeuppance, but who turned out to be just muddling through life like everyone else.
If I step back outside of my gut feeling for the characters, it's obvious how much Robinson's storytelling techniques have grown over the past two decades. Pages are masterfully composed and the tour-de-force centerpiece in a planetarium stuns. As his cast of New Yorkers inching towards middle age navigate the big questions in their lives, everyone's expressions strike the exact right indelible chord. I wanted to clip and frame so many of these perfect reaction panels.
I didn't know these people (and had a slight resistance to do so), but by the end, I really felt for everyone, even the kind of annoying blowhard friend, who I hoped would meet his comeuppance, but who turned out to be just muddling through life like everyone else.