I won’t mince words, I find this book to be a major
disappointment. It’s about a bunch of 40-year-old men who can’t seem to grow up
and act their age, and there’s nothing funny about it. They gather in a
playground to play boxball, which in my view is the equivalent of grown men
playing Candyland. Keep in mind, one of them has children, and another is
expecting one. It’s one thing for men to have hobbies that aren’t traditionally
male (some men like to do needlepoint), but for these guys to play a kid’s game
in a kid’s playground, that’s just plain stupid and immature. There’s a scene
where a parent insists that they leave, which makes sense because playground
signs clearly say “no adults except those accompanying children.” Some arguing
is involved, but I couldn’t help thinking “good for her, and while you’re at
it, make them sit in the corner!” It’s not fun to see grown men who play a game
meant for five year old children.
The next problem
for these defeated Generation-X boys is the job thing. One of the guys is the
manager of a dog grooming (or doggy day care) franchise, which he doesn’t like
much, and isn’t even sure if he wants the child his wife is about to have. Then
there’s the guy with the well-paid teaching job, having an affair with a sexy
blonde teacher at his school. He has a wife who’s overweight, overbearing, and
suspicious, but you can tell she’s not going to leave him. She’s just given
birth to kid #2, and you get the vibe that this is the best she can get.
Maybe the real
problem with this book is the author Alex Robinson? I’m a big fan of his, and I
loved his previous works Box Office
Poison, Tricked, and Too Cool to Be Forgotten. Based on his
previous efforts, Our Expanding Universe
lacks any of the depth of those books. BOP was all about Generation X trying to
find their way in life, and in the process, reconcile the lessons of their
parents. Then came TCTBF, in which Generation X is getting older and coming to
terms with adult responsibility. Now take the protagonist of TCTBF; he’s 37,
losing his hair, working in IT, has a pre-teen stepdaughter, and wants to quit
smoking so he won’t die on his family like his father did. Furthermore, you wonder
if maybe this guy has ALWAYs been a bald 37-year-old, because you never imagine
that he was once a kid. When he travels back in time to when he was 17, he
finds the era to be a silly waste of time. But in OEU, the men want to keep on
being kids. It’s like having dinner with an adult male who only eats fish
sticks and tater tots. I wonder if this book, in contrast to Robinson’s earlier
pieces, could be a study in the lack of adult responsibility in today’s men? Even
the artwork is no good, compared to the others. A lot of it is filler, with
none of the hilarious montages of his previous works.
After finishing
this book (which took a long time because it was so boring) I came to one
conclusion; these people deserve their misery! And if Robinson’s work doesn’t
improve soon, he’ll be in the same position as the characters.
