honestly 2.5 stars but I can't bring myself to round up on this one.

the spoiler part below is about to be the most in depth part of the review because I can't talk about any part of it without talking about all of it.

Spoiler

first what i enjoyed: the writing style was fine. low low bar but necessary due to some of the books my book club has picked, but you know. i also liked the first third a lot!! i love a time travel plot and the slow reveal of who the strangers are who showed up on evvie's lawn was gripping to me. how do you reckon with this? DO you reckon with this? trying to figure out the wider plot from just evvie's limited perspective was a great intro.

of course after her section ended i slowly started to hate this book. alas. most of the 2.5 stars are for this section.

so, kalp's story and the rest. first off, you introduce him by him explaining that human gender roles and norms don't fit him at all, and he's only even using the english pronouns he chose because it was easier. but then throughout his ENTIRE part of the book it treats gender roles as innate?! carrying a baby -> woman -> being the primary parent to raise the child????? human gender norms and roles mean nothing but he and basil leave up the toilet seat after pissing, har har har. oh those silly women wanting the toilet lid closed!!

and related, he says his genitals are not in the same place on his body (implied to be just below his ribcage) so why would he stand up to piss? wouldn't their toilets be completely different than a human toilet?! there's a long section of the book discussing how he feels physically uncomfortable sitting an a standard height table/desk but no consideration of toilets except a cheap joke. just felt very lazy.

also in the sex scenes really felt like the author forgot where she had written his dick was. pretty funny. also basil is like "i don't need a condom because gwen you're already pregnant" HELLO THERE'S AN ALIEN THERE?? YOU'RE GONNA HAVE SEX WITH AN ALIEN UNPROTECTED???? they LITERALLY mentioned being worried about alien STDs like 40 pages before.

i think it would be really interesting if you have a character who goes "Ah Yes Gender Norms Are Fake" but then upholds them as a way to illustrate that he's an unreliable narrator but this did not seem to be the case in any way. if kalp upholds gender norms wouldn't they be completely different from human ones?

i dunnoooo. it just feels like the author wanted to write about alien gender/sexuality but then put no deeper thought into both the writing and challenging her own internal biases.

also i didn't like basil at all but it was because i thought he was annoying. not a deep take

also didn't like how the book ended with gwen's dad going "basil you should marry my daughter" why not about basil and gwen talking about their future together? gwen's reconciliation with her mother is fully off camera?! no thanks.

best moments in the book are as follows:
-kalp (alien) is eating yogurt. gwen puts sunscreen in basil's hand and he glops it all over his face. kalp looks at the sunscreen and then at the yogurt and is grossed out and stops eating
-basil is shoveling manure out of cow stalls with mark (farmer). mark takes his work gloves off by biting the fingers of the glove and pulling his hand out. NASTYYYY LMAOOOO