Earth to Charlie by Justin Olson

Earth to Charlie

by Justin Olson

A high school outcast spends his life hoping to be abducted by aliens in this funny, quirky novel about finding your footing in a world that sometimes feels like Mars.

Convinced his mother has been abducted by aliens, Charlie Dickens spends his nights with an eye out for UFOs, hoping to join her. After all, she said the aliens would come back for him. Charlie will admit that he doesn’t have many reasons to stick around; he doesn’t get along well with his father, he’s constantly bullied at school and at work, and the only friend he has is his 600-pound neighbor Geoffrey, and Geoffrey’s three-legged dog, Tickles.

Then Charlie meets popular, easy-going Seth, who shows him what real friendship is all about. For once, he finds himself looking around at the life he’s built, rather than looking up. But sooner than he expected, Charlie has to make a decision: should he stay or should he go?

Reviewed by Sam@WLABB on

4 of 5 stars

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Rating: 3.5 Stars

Charlie had been abandoned by everyone he loved. His mother was gone, his neighbor was eating himself to death, his father was disappearing via his drinking, and his grandmother was mentally gone due to Alzheimers/dementia. But, Charlie held on to the hope, that he would one day be reunited with his mother, when the aliens returned for him.

I will start with one of the best things about this book -- Charlie. This kid was living a hard-knock life. Bullied at school and abandoned by his parents, he felt a deep loneliness, which broke my heart. That was probably why I was jumping for joy, when Seth befriended him. I wanted someone to see in Charlie what I saw. Without a lot of support, this kid was keeping his head afloat. He went to school, endured endless mental and physical torture, held down a job, and still had enough love in his heart to share with others. His friendship with his neighbor, Geoffrey, a homebound obese man was very touching, and the love and affection he showed to his grandmother was beyond beautiful. When he was asked why he visited his grandmother in the nursing home everyday, he said it was because he worried that she would be forgotten and become nobody. *tears* That kid had a HUGE heart, and I just wanted to lavish him with hugs and ribs and cornbread and all the other things he loved.

This was Charlie's journey for dealing with his abandonment issues and accepting certain parts of his life, but I was also happy with a lot of the other characters' growth. Both Geoffrey and Charlie's father made some progress during the story, and everyone was heading in the right direction, but that is where I grew a little frustrated too. I have a thing about loose ends, and there was a major one that really worked me. Olson introduced an issue, but then never explored it more. Why bring it into the story just let it fall to the wayside?

Overall, I did enjoy taking this journey with Charlie, and I was really pleased with the progress he made. I was happy that he had a great found family, and that his dad was waking up to the fact that he was an actual parent. The ending might have had some loose ends, but it left me hopeful for Charlie and his "family".

*ARC provided in exchange for an honest review.

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Reading updates

  • Started reading
  • 3 April, 2019: Finished reading
  • 3 April, 2019: Reviewed