3.5 

Jumping Off the Planet

By David Gerrold
Jumping Off the Planet by David Gerrold digital book - Fable

Publisher Description

A trip to the Moon? Sounds like the perfect family vacation. Only, for 13-year-old Charles "Chigger" Dingillian, life is anything but perfect.

His parents fight so much, they put the "dis" into dysfunctional. His brothers, Stinky and Weird, are impossible to get along with. And his neighborhood is a down-trodden tunnel community on Earth.

It's supposed to be a short vacation—a trip up the Line, Earth's space elevator, and then home again. Halfway there, Chigger hits on a plan: if his parents can't find a way to work things out, why not just divorce them? The idea sounds crazy . . . until it works.

But Chigger soon realizes he has much bigger problems: The people they meet on the Moon seem overly friendly and way too interested in his family. Suddenly, the quick pleasure trip takes a detour into danger as Chigger suspects they are targets of an interstellar manhunt. Their only hope may be to jump off the planet.

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Jumping Off the Planet Reviews

3.5
“Okay there was a lot to like in this book. Loved the space elevator and loved the overall premise. I’m a big fan of Heinline Juveniles, so I was excited to read this. The problem was the more you found out about the characters and their home life the more depressed I became. I missed the one essence found in the juveniles, that was missing from the book, the fun of the adventure. In the juveniles, there was always something fun going on, i don’t mind the author taking a serious tone, but all the fun that Heinline put into his novels was missing from this one. I still recommend the novel, as it was very well written.and will appeal to many people.”
“in print, originally included in Science Fiction Age June 1996 (#6.2) included in https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/247130.The_Far_Side_Of_The_Sky”
“This book won the Gaylactic Spectrum Award in 2001 for positive explorations of LGBT issues in SF, Fantasy, and Horror. I chose to read it in my own little challenge to read as many of books on the Worlds Without End LGBTQ Speculative Fiction Resource list as I could this year. Not all books that win awards are my cup of tea, but this one was very tasty. It’s primarily about the breakup of a family told from the viewpoint of Charles, the middle child. I found it a very good read, but difficult because of the subject matter. Come visit my blog for the full review… http://itstartedwiththehugos.blogspot.com/2016/05/jumping-off-planet.html”

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