about the book
With the nation in an uproar, seventeen-year-old Alex Woods’ photo is being flashed in every newsfeed possible. So it isn’t surprising when he is stopped and detained by the authorities at Dover, England, after driving Mr. Peterson’s ashes and his car from a Swiss clinic in Zurich. Incidentally, there are 113 grams of marijuana in the glove box. Can you imagine why Alex is in so much trouble?
In order to learn the truth, the author leads the reader backwards through the last seven years of Alex’s very unconventional life, discovering how the present situation influenced Alex’s personality and his views on life, death, free will, and morality.
Alex is an unusual kid. His father was a stranger his mother coupled with at Stonehenge. His kooky mother is a fortune teller, a clairvoyant, and a possible witch. At the age of ten, a rare meteorite crashed through his bathroom ceiling and hit Alex on the head, leaving him comatose for weeks and brain injured. He ended up with lots of scars, a diagnosis of severe epilepsy, and national celebrity status. The encounter with outer space transfigured his outlook on life; unfortunately, it also made him the target of every bully.
Bookish and naive, Alex was more comfortable with adults, especially his doctors, science mentors, and Isaac Peterson, a reclusive and crotchety dope-smoking Vietnam vet. After one really nasty bullying incident, Mr. Peterson encouraged Alex to read Kurt Vonnegut’s books and do something extraordinary with his life. What Mr. Peterson…or anyone else…didn’t expect is that Alex would create a book club called the Secular Church of Kurt Vonnegut!
Still, Alex was only trying to do the right thing, especially when curmudgeonly Mr. Peterson became ill. The leadership role in the church helped as Alex navigated his friend’s long illness, with quite a few major missteps along the way.
By the end of the book, reader, you will be back in the interrogation room with Alex and left with just one question. How far will you go for a friend?
about the author
Born and raised in Swineshead, Lincolnshire, England, Gavin Extence wanted to be a novelist for as long as he can remember. His first book at six was about Blanche Hortense de Vere Montmorency Jones Edwards Dragon. It was about a King and his “wif”. Luckily he eventually learned to spell and edit!
A geeky kid, he loved reading, astronomy, and chess, which he played internationally. By his teen years, he was ashamed of his literary tendencies and just tried to fit in with the rest of his mates. He didn’t pick up a pen again until he was twenty-seven. Just finishing his PhD in film studies at the beginning of the recession, he couldn’t find a job, so he wrote instead. Gavin’s first novel, which took him two years to write, was a complete disaster and rejected by every publisher he submitted it to.
For his award-winning second novel, The Universe Versus Alex Woods, Gavin started with the idea of getting hit on the head with a meteorite and the character, Alex. He wanted this naive boy to do something unconventionally heroic. Gavin has never been a fan of “writing what you know” and enjoys research and letting his imagination take him where it wants to go. Hence he wrote about marijuana factories and euthanasia! Working full-time six days a week, it took Gavin a year to write the first draft, another six months to edit, and a month before it was accepted for publication. His advice to rookie writers: don’t be afraid of failure and rejection. It is all part of the learning process. Everyone has to go through it!
If you’re looking for a second Alex Wood novel, you’ll be disappointed; Gavin plans for Alex to live the rest of his life off the pages. Gavin is too busy working on a new novel.
Besides spending time with his wife and infant daughter, Gavin enjoys cooking and going to the enchanted village theme park, Alton Towers. Curious about Gavin’s last name, Extence? His granddad told him it comes from shipwrecked pirates!
Sources:
Author biography: Goodreads
Author biography & interview: Foyles
Author interview: YALSA
Author interview: BookTopia
Book trailer: The Universe Versus Alex Woods
Also by Gavin Extence:
The Mirror World of Melody Black. Hodder and Stoughton. 2015.
read more!
Darius & Twig by Walter Dean Myers
Darius loves to write; he hopes to someday get his creative fiction published. Twig is almost a polar opposite, with stellar grades and athletic ability in middle-distance running that is already getting him college scholarship offers. These two are best friends, and as their high school careers are coming to an end, they face tough decisions together.
I Was Here by Gayle Forman
After her best friend Meg’s suicide, Cody questions what she actually knew about Meg and their relationship. On Meg’s laptop, Cody finds an encrypted file titled “The Final Solution” and an online support group for those contemplating taking their own life. Playing a dangerous cat and mouse game, Cody goes after the person who encouraged Meg to end her life. In the process, she makes some startling discoveries about her friend.
The Last Great Getaway of the Water Balloon Boys by Scott William Carter
Charlie, a straight A student and an artist, just learned his divorced mom is remarrying. His best friend Jake is in foster care and constantly in trouble. When a bully threatens Charlie, Jake comes to his friend’s rescue in a stolen Mustang, and off they go on a road trip from Oregon to Denver—in the principal’s car! Meeting stoners, helping a depressed lady, and running from the police, they want to deliver one of Charlie’s drawings to his estranged dad.