Our Expanding Universe by Alex Robinson

    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.