Self Promotion

If you have trundled in looking for a review of a review of The Privileged Planet, that is in the post below. Here you'll find something more personal, another review of my book, Here, Eyeball This!

David Heddle's first novel, Here, Eyeball This! is disarmingly complex. At first blush, it is a “coming of age” story involving the struggles of a group of graduate students trying to make it into the physics doctoral program. The writing is fast paced, the characters are engaging and Heddle obviously knows the graduate school grind. If there were nothing more to this novel, it would be an entertaining and interesting read.

The entertaining story line is not all there is, however. There are several interesting themes that prove to be profound. The first of these is the struggle of faith. The protagonist, Aaron, enters the graduate program as the typical atheistic scientist. He assumes that science has superseded belief in God, especially a God that created the universe. As Aaron encounters fellow scientists, both students and a professor, who have faith, he has to grapple with the credibility of faith in a creating God and the questions that are not answered by the theory of evolution.

The second theme, and the one that affected me profoundly, is that “everything matters”. The novel traces the seemingly unrelated actions of several people that culminate in a tragedy that will affect every reader deeply. Months after reading it, I am still moved by it. It brought home to me how true, and how important, it is that we realize everything we do, everyday, matters even if we do not see it today.

This is a good book that will entertain you, move you, and stay with you for some time.—Larry Thompson