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Journal of a UFO Investigator
A sparkling debut novel set in the sixties about a boy's emotional and fantastical journey through alien worlds and family pain.
Against the backdrop of the troubled 1960s, this coming-of-age novel weaves together a compelling psychological drama and vivid outer-space fantasy. Danny Shapiro is an isolated teenager, living with a dying mother and a hostile father and without friends. To cope with these circumstances, Danny forges a reality of his own, which includes the sinister "Three Men in Black", mysterious lake creatures with insect-like carapaces, a beautiful young seductress and thief with whom Danny falls in love, and an alien/human love child who-if only Danny can keep her alive-will redeem the planet. Danny's fictional world blends so seamlessly with his day-to-day life that profound questions about what is real and what is not, what is possible and what is imagined begin to arise. As the hero in his alien landscape, he finds the strength to deal with his own life and to stand up to demons both real and imagined. Told with heart and intellect, Journal of a UFO Investigator will remind readers of the works of Michael Chabon and Jonathan Lethem.
Against the backdrop of the troubled 1960s, this coming-of-age novel weaves together a compelling psychological drama and vivid outer-space fantasy. Danny Shapiro is an isolated teenager, living with a dying mother and a hostile father and without friends. To cope with these circumstances, Danny forges a reality of his own, which includes the sinister "Three Men in Black", mysterious lake creatures with insect-like carapaces, a beautiful young seductress and thief with whom Danny falls in love, and an alien/human love child who-if only Danny can keep her alive-will redeem the planet. Danny's fictional world blends so seamlessly with his day-to-day life that profound questions about what is real and what is not, what is possible and what is imagined begin to arise. As the hero in his alien landscape, he finds the strength to deal with his own life and to stand up to demons both real and imagined. Told with heart and intellect, Journal of a UFO Investigator will remind readers of the works of Michael Chabon and Jonathan Lethem.
304 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2008
24 people are currently reading
397 people want to read
About the author
David Halperin
27 books21 followersOnce upon a time, I was a teen-age UFO investigator. Later I became a professor of religious studies — my specialty, religious traditions of heavenly ascent.
From 1976 through 2000, I taught Jewish history in the Religious Studies Department at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. Now retired from teaching, I live in North Carolina with my wife Rose.
I've written five non-fiction books on Jewish mysticism and messianism. Journal of a UFO Investigator is my first novel.
From 1976 through 2000, I taught Jewish history in the Religious Studies Department at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. Now retired from teaching, I live in North Carolina with my wife Rose.
I've written five non-fiction books on Jewish mysticism and messianism. Journal of a UFO Investigator is my first novel.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 90 reviews
February 22, 2011
When I won this book through FirstReads, I had no idea how it would be. From the blurb, it sounded kind of weird and depressing. Well, it is weird and depressing. It's also very well-done.
Danny Shapiro's mom is sick. She has a heart problem that was aggravated by Danny's birth. His dad yells at him for not going to bed and forces him in to the bathroom to lance his zits on a semi-regular basis. Danny's only two friends have grown away from him. So, he keeps a journal of his life as a UFO investigator. His journal is the ultimate in escapism. The scary things he writes about parallel what is happening in his real life. As his mother grows more and more ill, the journal gets more intense.
I'm never really clear on whether Danny believes the story he's writing in his journal. I don't know if Julian and Rochelle are real people or if they just symbolize the two friends he no longer has. The author did a great job of blurring the line between reality and imagination. His use of symbolism is sometimes subtle and sometimes obvious. I liked the way he made Danny's fantasy seem like the reality and his reality seem like an intrusion.
Despite the title, the spaceships, and the aliens, Journal of a UFO Investigator: A Novel is not science fiction. It is a novel about a teen escaping from and coping with harsh reality with his imagination.
Danny Shapiro's mom is sick. She has a heart problem that was aggravated by Danny's birth. His dad yells at him for not going to bed and forces him in to the bathroom to lance his zits on a semi-regular basis. Danny's only two friends have grown away from him. So, he keeps a journal of his life as a UFO investigator. His journal is the ultimate in escapism. The scary things he writes about parallel what is happening in his real life. As his mother grows more and more ill, the journal gets more intense.
I'm never really clear on whether Danny believes the story he's writing in his journal. I don't know if Julian and Rochelle are real people or if they just symbolize the two friends he no longer has. The author did a great job of blurring the line between reality and imagination. His use of symbolism is sometimes subtle and sometimes obvious. I liked the way he made Danny's fantasy seem like the reality and his reality seem like an intrusion.
Despite the title, the spaceships, and the aliens, Journal of a UFO Investigator: A Novel is not science fiction. It is a novel about a teen escaping from and coping with harsh reality with his imagination.
January 24, 2012
this is a messy story. as such it's hard to give a rating to and ratings will be alllll over the map. it is a messy story -disjointed and fragmented- filled with unlikely events and holes an 18 wheeler could drive through. it asks the reader to take a leap of faith. it's like the bible that way.
it blends the most mundane of teenage life with the most fantastic other-worldly adventures, and the author doesn't always have clear divisions between the two. like i said, it's messy and the line between what is fantasy and what is reality becomes increasingly blurred. so much so, that towards the end when our narrator begins to confess that certain events never happened, i don't entirely believe him. look up unreliabe narrator in the dictionary and you could find a picture of Danny Shapiro. the sooner the reader relinquishes the need to know what's real and what's not, the sooner the reader can sit back and enjoy the ride.
it doesn't surprise me to learn that the author is a professor of religion. sure Danny is jewish and the story is rife with judaism, but it goes way deeper than any one particular brand of religion. Danny finds solace in his faith in the Roswell spacecrafts and aliens in exactly the same way others find solace in their faith in god.
i am reminded of that saying: 'if god didn't exist we would have to invent him' .... in Danny's case the same can be said of aliens.
it blends the most mundane of teenage life with the most fantastic other-worldly adventures, and the author doesn't always have clear divisions between the two. like i said, it's messy and the line between what is fantasy and what is reality becomes increasingly blurred. so much so, that towards the end when our narrator begins to confess that certain events never happened, i don't entirely believe him. look up unreliabe narrator in the dictionary and you could find a picture of Danny Shapiro. the sooner the reader relinquishes the need to know what's real and what's not, the sooner the reader can sit back and enjoy the ride.
it doesn't surprise me to learn that the author is a professor of religion. sure Danny is jewish and the story is rife with judaism, but it goes way deeper than any one particular brand of religion. Danny finds solace in his faith in the Roswell spacecrafts and aliens in exactly the same way others find solace in their faith in god.
i am reminded of that saying: 'if god didn't exist we would have to invent him' .... in Danny's case the same can be said of aliens.
December 6, 2017
Onvan : Journal of a UFO Investigator - Nevisande : David Halperin - ISBN : 670022454 - ISBN13 : 9780670022458 - Dar 304 Safhe - Saal e Chap : 2008
June 29, 2016
Holla die Waldfee!
Dieses Buch habe ich einzig und allein wegen des herrlichen Covers aus dem Büchereiregal gezogen und mit nach Hause genommen - manchmal wird man dadurch mit kleinen Juwelen belohnt, die noch lange im Gedächtnis bleiben.
Auf dieses Buch muss man sich einlassen, das sage ich gleich. Es geht in dieser Geschichte um einen sechzehnjährigen Jungen, der, als großer Tagträumer, sein reales Leben mit Träumen und Phantasien vermischt, bis beides so eng miteinander verwoben ist, dass er kaum noch weiß, was Realität und was Illusion ist. Genauso wird die Geschichte aufgebaut, und das ist zu Beginn nicht ganz einfach nach zu vollziehen. Wenn man sich aber darauf einlässt, entwickelt das Ganze einen Sog, dem man sich schwer entziehen kann.
Der junge Danny Shapiro lebt mit seinen Eltern in einem kleinen Haus in Philadelphia, die Mutter ist schwer Herzkrank, der Vater ein zynischer Mensch, der mit seinem Leben hadert. Danny und sein bester Freund Jeff interessieren sich sehr für UFOs und die verschiedenen Theorien darüber, und möchten sogar ein Buch darüber schreiben. Sie treffen sich mit Rosa, einer sehr guten Freundin der beiden, in der Bibliothek - und ab hier verschwimmen die Grenzen zwischen Realität und Fiktion.
Danny lernt Julian kennen, der in einer Spezialabteilung der Bibliothek an der Büchertheke sitzt und Mitglied der SSS ist, einer semi-geheimen Organisation, die sich der wissenschaftlichen Aufarbeitung von interstellaren Vorkommnissen widmet. Zumindest habe ich das so verstanden. Er bringt Danny mit Tom und Rochelle zusammen, ebenfalls Mitglieder dieser Vereinigung, und Danny verliebt sich in Rochelle. Als er sie eines Tages vom Flughafen abholen soll, gerät er in die Fänge der "drei schwarzen Männer", die immer dann auftauchen, wenn irgend etwas, das im Zusammenhang mit UFO-Vorfällen stattfand, vertuscht werden soll. Eine Jagd beginnt, die immer mehr science-fictioneske Formen annimmt, und in der Danny sein reales Leben mit hineinstrickt. Er verliert den Halt zu allem, was für ihn Stabilität und Sicherheit verkörpert hat, sieht sich von fremdartigen Wesen bedroht, wird Vater eines ausserirdischen Babies, das er letztendlich nicht retten kann. Und damit Bezug nimmt auf seine Mutter, die er, seiner Ansicht nach, im Stich gelassen hat, als er die Möglichkeit wahrnahm, nach Israel zu fahren.
"Der Tag, an dem das UFO vom Himmel fiel" ist ein wunderschönes Debut, die Geschichte eines Teenagers, der, als ewiger Aussenseiter, als Fremder im eigenen Haus, in seinen Tagträumereien und Phantasiegebilden ein Ventil für seine Gefühle findet, und trotzdem letzendlich in der realen Welt ankommt und dieses Leben anpackt. Für mich als ebensolchen leidenschaftlichen Tagträumer waren seine Gefühle und sein Verhalten sehr gut nachvollziehbar, dafür gebührt dem Autor ein großes Kompliment. Auch für die sehr komplexe Geschichte, die immer wieder zum Ausgangspunkt zurückkehrt und absolut logisch und nachvollziehbar aufgelöst wird, empfinde ich große Bewunderung. Auch wenn das Verweben von Illusion und Realität das Lesen ein bisschen schwierig, weil ungewohnt macht, so entschädigt die eigentliche Geschichte und der Erzählstil für vieles - wenn nicht, so wie bei mir - für alles.
Absolute Leseempfehlung von mir!
Dieses Buch habe ich einzig und allein wegen des herrlichen Covers aus dem Büchereiregal gezogen und mit nach Hause genommen - manchmal wird man dadurch mit kleinen Juwelen belohnt, die noch lange im Gedächtnis bleiben.
Auf dieses Buch muss man sich einlassen, das sage ich gleich. Es geht in dieser Geschichte um einen sechzehnjährigen Jungen, der, als großer Tagträumer, sein reales Leben mit Träumen und Phantasien vermischt, bis beides so eng miteinander verwoben ist, dass er kaum noch weiß, was Realität und was Illusion ist. Genauso wird die Geschichte aufgebaut, und das ist zu Beginn nicht ganz einfach nach zu vollziehen. Wenn man sich aber darauf einlässt, entwickelt das Ganze einen Sog, dem man sich schwer entziehen kann.
Der junge Danny Shapiro lebt mit seinen Eltern in einem kleinen Haus in Philadelphia, die Mutter ist schwer Herzkrank, der Vater ein zynischer Mensch, der mit seinem Leben hadert. Danny und sein bester Freund Jeff interessieren sich sehr für UFOs und die verschiedenen Theorien darüber, und möchten sogar ein Buch darüber schreiben. Sie treffen sich mit Rosa, einer sehr guten Freundin der beiden, in der Bibliothek - und ab hier verschwimmen die Grenzen zwischen Realität und Fiktion.
Danny lernt Julian kennen, der in einer Spezialabteilung der Bibliothek an der Büchertheke sitzt und Mitglied der SSS ist, einer semi-geheimen Organisation, die sich der wissenschaftlichen Aufarbeitung von interstellaren Vorkommnissen widmet. Zumindest habe ich das so verstanden. Er bringt Danny mit Tom und Rochelle zusammen, ebenfalls Mitglieder dieser Vereinigung, und Danny verliebt sich in Rochelle. Als er sie eines Tages vom Flughafen abholen soll, gerät er in die Fänge der "drei schwarzen Männer", die immer dann auftauchen, wenn irgend etwas, das im Zusammenhang mit UFO-Vorfällen stattfand, vertuscht werden soll. Eine Jagd beginnt, die immer mehr science-fictioneske Formen annimmt, und in der Danny sein reales Leben mit hineinstrickt. Er verliert den Halt zu allem, was für ihn Stabilität und Sicherheit verkörpert hat, sieht sich von fremdartigen Wesen bedroht, wird Vater eines ausserirdischen Babies, das er letztendlich nicht retten kann. Und damit Bezug nimmt auf seine Mutter, die er, seiner Ansicht nach, im Stich gelassen hat, als er die Möglichkeit wahrnahm, nach Israel zu fahren.
"Der Tag, an dem das UFO vom Himmel fiel" ist ein wunderschönes Debut, die Geschichte eines Teenagers, der, als ewiger Aussenseiter, als Fremder im eigenen Haus, in seinen Tagträumereien und Phantasiegebilden ein Ventil für seine Gefühle findet, und trotzdem letzendlich in der realen Welt ankommt und dieses Leben anpackt. Für mich als ebensolchen leidenschaftlichen Tagträumer waren seine Gefühle und sein Verhalten sehr gut nachvollziehbar, dafür gebührt dem Autor ein großes Kompliment. Auch für die sehr komplexe Geschichte, die immer wieder zum Ausgangspunkt zurückkehrt und absolut logisch und nachvollziehbar aufgelöst wird, empfinde ich große Bewunderung. Auch wenn das Verweben von Illusion und Realität das Lesen ein bisschen schwierig, weil ungewohnt macht, so entschädigt die eigentliche Geschichte und der Erzählstil für vieles - wenn nicht, so wie bei mir - für alles.
Absolute Leseempfehlung von mir!
February 15, 2011
Danny Shapiro is an awkward teenager boy with a sick mother, a disapproving father and few friends. But Danny’s troubles are set aside as he recounts his adventures as a UFO investigator, beginning with his first encounter with a UFO, in 1962. Realty and fiction blur in Danny’s vivid tale of a secret society, a stolen journal, an alien seductress and the three sinister “Men in Black” who are on Danny’s trail.
Journal of a UFO Investigator is a quirky but compelling coming-of-age story about a boy who creates for himself a new reality as a way of escaping from his own difficult circumstances. Danny’s adventures of UFOs, aliens, and sinister villains is occasionally interrupted by his real-life troubles, as his mother’s health deteriorates, his friends drift away and his father continues to express scorn for the son that he doesn’t understand.
He says: “What was all that stuff you were hollering to yourself in here? ‘Who are you, what are you?’- something like that?”
So he was awake. We all were. In a death house, sleep comes hard.
I feel myself turn red. “I don’t remember.”
“You ought to know better than to go yelling like that in the middle of the night. With Mom so sick.”
"I’m sorry.”
He glares as me; in my mind I shrink to nothing. To keep myself from vanishing, I look at my essay, let my fingers graze the edges of its pages. This isn’t like the UFO journal, doesn’t come from a special place of truth as the journal does. It’s in school assignment style, though in school they’ll never care about what the passage of time feels like when you’re in pain. But like the journal, it might pass for grown-up writing. I suppose that’s why I’m in the finals. I run my fingers over the thin, crinkly sheets, hoping that’ll give me strength to endure what’s coming.
Through Danny’s imagination we get taken on a wild journey through time and space, never knowing what the story will throw at us next. I certainly wasn’t expecting a visit to Israel in 1960, via UFO, which was one of my favorite parts. But there seems to be a little of everything in this book so I shouldn’t have been surprised.
At the points where Danny is forced back to reality we get caught up on the events taking place in his life which gives us some understanding of what fuels the events in his story. Through his story Danny pours out the dreams, desires and frustrations that he is unable to share with anyone else in his life. And along the way Danny does make new discoveries about himself and even manages to find some of those answer that he has been looking for.
Journal of a UFO Investigator is a wonderful book for anyone interested in a unique coming-of-age story, and especially for those who grew up with their own dreams of investigating UFOs and the mysteries of outer space.
Journal of a UFO Investigator is a quirky but compelling coming-of-age story about a boy who creates for himself a new reality as a way of escaping from his own difficult circumstances. Danny’s adventures of UFOs, aliens, and sinister villains is occasionally interrupted by his real-life troubles, as his mother’s health deteriorates, his friends drift away and his father continues to express scorn for the son that he doesn’t understand.
He says: “What was all that stuff you were hollering to yourself in here? ‘Who are you, what are you?’- something like that?”
So he was awake. We all were. In a death house, sleep comes hard.
I feel myself turn red. “I don’t remember.”
“You ought to know better than to go yelling like that in the middle of the night. With Mom so sick.”
"I’m sorry.”
He glares as me; in my mind I shrink to nothing. To keep myself from vanishing, I look at my essay, let my fingers graze the edges of its pages. This isn’t like the UFO journal, doesn’t come from a special place of truth as the journal does. It’s in school assignment style, though in school they’ll never care about what the passage of time feels like when you’re in pain. But like the journal, it might pass for grown-up writing. I suppose that’s why I’m in the finals. I run my fingers over the thin, crinkly sheets, hoping that’ll give me strength to endure what’s coming.
Through Danny’s imagination we get taken on a wild journey through time and space, never knowing what the story will throw at us next. I certainly wasn’t expecting a visit to Israel in 1960, via UFO, which was one of my favorite parts. But there seems to be a little of everything in this book so I shouldn’t have been surprised.
At the points where Danny is forced back to reality we get caught up on the events taking place in his life which gives us some understanding of what fuels the events in his story. Through his story Danny pours out the dreams, desires and frustrations that he is unable to share with anyone else in his life. And along the way Danny does make new discoveries about himself and even manages to find some of those answer that he has been looking for.
Journal of a UFO Investigator is a wonderful book for anyone interested in a unique coming-of-age story, and especially for those who grew up with their own dreams of investigating UFOs and the mysteries of outer space.
June 23, 2024
No, No, No. Bitte kein Verkehr mit Aliens!
March 9, 2017
Many of the reviewers here on Goodreads have expressed frustration that the sci-fi element of Journal of a UFO Investigator is a construct, present only in the made up journal that young Danny Shapiro writes as an escape from real life. Though there are some issues with the execution, I think those reviewers largely missed the point. Stay tuned for a more in-depth review via my new Youtube review series coming soon.
July 20, 2012
If this were baseball, Halperin would be swinging for the fence, but coming up short.
David Halperin's Journal of a UFO Investigator is a semi-autobiographical novel. It ties together UFOs, death, growing up, family dynamics and religion in general (and Judaism in particular) in the story of Daniel Shapiro, a schoolboy growing up in the 60s in far suburban Philadelphia. Halperin is a former professor of religious studies at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill with a special focus on Judaism and what he calls "religious traditions of heavenly ascent." Already an established author of non-fictional academic works, this is Halperin's first novel.
Danny Shapiro's world is crashing down around him. His mother is slowly dying from heart disease. His father does not understand him. He is Jewish in the heavily Christian suburbs and, as he gets older, this is becoming much more of an issue. He cannot date the girl he wants to date because she is not Jewish and it would crush his already weak mother. His family is Jewish but does not attend services so Danny does not feel the comfort of ancient traditions. Danny is alienated, to say the least. His one and only outlet is his journal of his experiences with UFOs and UFO research.
Danny's journal is not necessarily written in chronological order and the reader will suffer quite a bit of early confusion in trying to figure out what stories are journal entries and what stories are taking place outside of the journal. We also find out that Danny's journal is not necessarily factual -- Danny is using it as an escape from the pain and confusion of his real life. He blends his fantasies and his reality together so well that they are hard for the reader to distinguish...
Read more at: http://dwdsreviews.blogspot.com/2011/...
David Halperin's Journal of a UFO Investigator is a semi-autobiographical novel. It ties together UFOs, death, growing up, family dynamics and religion in general (and Judaism in particular) in the story of Daniel Shapiro, a schoolboy growing up in the 60s in far suburban Philadelphia. Halperin is a former professor of religious studies at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill with a special focus on Judaism and what he calls "religious traditions of heavenly ascent." Already an established author of non-fictional academic works, this is Halperin's first novel.
Danny Shapiro's world is crashing down around him. His mother is slowly dying from heart disease. His father does not understand him. He is Jewish in the heavily Christian suburbs and, as he gets older, this is becoming much more of an issue. He cannot date the girl he wants to date because she is not Jewish and it would crush his already weak mother. His family is Jewish but does not attend services so Danny does not feel the comfort of ancient traditions. Danny is alienated, to say the least. His one and only outlet is his journal of his experiences with UFOs and UFO research.
Danny's journal is not necessarily written in chronological order and the reader will suffer quite a bit of early confusion in trying to figure out what stories are journal entries and what stories are taking place outside of the journal. We also find out that Danny's journal is not necessarily factual -- Danny is using it as an escape from the pain and confusion of his real life. He blends his fantasies and his reality together so well that they are hard for the reader to distinguish...
Read more at: http://dwdsreviews.blogspot.com/2011/...
June 2, 2013
First, I would like to say how much I like this cover. It really compliments the novel; I could imagine Danny doodling it one evening.
Journal of a UFO Investigator is Mr. Halperin's debut novel and it is an extraordinary story. Danny Shapiro is a teenager who has a terminally ill mother and a hostile father. Understandable because a) mom's terminally ill, and b) his son spends his time in his fantasy world of being a UFO investigator.
Danny and his bff just had a falling out because they liked the same girl, he's in that awkward stage of life, he can't sleep because his mom's labored breathing at night funnels through the thin walls, and his dad isn't exactly approachable.
Danny uses his imagination and journals about being an elite UFO Investigator with a hot babe, a great friend by his side, and is chosen by an alien race. A coping mechanism? Sure, but Halperin spins such a wonderful story, you will be impressed with Danny's cleverness, and heartbroken for him with the relations or lack of with his parents. He's just trying to grow up and live through a tough situation the only way he knows how. Part coming of age story and part fantasy, Journal of a UFO Investigator is an engaging read with a likable hero and a realistic situation, although, his imagination is out of this world.
Journal of a UFO Investigator is Mr. Halperin's debut novel and it is an extraordinary story. Danny Shapiro is a teenager who has a terminally ill mother and a hostile father. Understandable because a) mom's terminally ill, and b) his son spends his time in his fantasy world of being a UFO investigator.
Danny and his bff just had a falling out because they liked the same girl, he's in that awkward stage of life, he can't sleep because his mom's labored breathing at night funnels through the thin walls, and his dad isn't exactly approachable.
Danny uses his imagination and journals about being an elite UFO Investigator with a hot babe, a great friend by his side, and is chosen by an alien race. A coping mechanism? Sure, but Halperin spins such a wonderful story, you will be impressed with Danny's cleverness, and heartbroken for him with the relations or lack of with his parents. He's just trying to grow up and live through a tough situation the only way he knows how. Part coming of age story and part fantasy, Journal of a UFO Investigator is an engaging read with a likable hero and a realistic situation, although, his imagination is out of this world.
March 12, 2012
This was a really trippy book. I like the premise: a coming of age story told through the lens of a fictitious-yet-not story. the line between what was real in the story and what was written was very blurred. This defined the book, and that is one of the parts I did not really like about this novel. First off, I am not a really fan of the sappy coming of age novel: self exploration as a theme in a more complicated book: sure, but this novel was too exploration-heavy for my taste. The plot was also incredibly hard to follow. I enjoy a complicated, twisting story, but when you start to lose track of what's real or not: that's a little bit too much. It's kind of like the movie Inception: sometimes you couldn't tell whether it was a dream or reality. In this book, you had a hard time determining whether the story was being told by the narrator or formulated by the narrator in a piece of fictitious writing. The problem is that I couldn't discern between the two. This made the book hard to follow and frustrating. I like the concepts of science and religion explained in the book, but as a novel I did not enjoy it. The premise of this novel would have been better suited in a Gladwell-type book than a semi-fiction piece aimed at teens.
June 2, 2011
This book is weird, which I normally love, but I found it quite frustrating.
The narrative is not very straight forward, and all the UFO "stuff" is just written in the main characters journal. That conceit is set up early on, but I spent half the book wondering "is this really happening?" I also felt that the Biblical aspect was underdeveloped and seemed to belong to another book. I think expanding on that idea and having it marry the UFO "stuff" (sorry, it was bizarre! that's the only way I can describe it!) would have made it make more sense.
If you are looking for a straight-forward UFO and aliens fun read, this is not the book for you. If you like your fiction to be a little more challenging then you may enjoy it. I was interested enough to finish the book, but is was very unsatisfying and quite depressing. Not my cup of tea at all.
The narrative is not very straight forward, and all the UFO "stuff" is just written in the main characters journal. That conceit is set up early on, but I spent half the book wondering "is this really happening?" I also felt that the Biblical aspect was underdeveloped and seemed to belong to another book. I think expanding on that idea and having it marry the UFO "stuff" (sorry, it was bizarre! that's the only way I can describe it!) would have made it make more sense.
If you are looking for a straight-forward UFO and aliens fun read, this is not the book for you. If you like your fiction to be a little more challenging then you may enjoy it. I was interested enough to finish the book, but is was very unsatisfying and quite depressing. Not my cup of tea at all.
May 28, 2021
This is a good example of why the system of rating a book by number of stars is flawed at best. I agree with the reviewers here who say that this novel is not successful, at least if one is expecting an escapist summer read, complete with extensive character development and riveting plot. Part of the issue, in my view, is that Halperin sets out to tell a story that is effectively magical realist, but doesn't actually use magical realism as a stylistic device. The tale is told in a pat, straightforward way that to me seems to deflect its otherworldliness. I think of Anna Kavan’s Ice or Kafka’s Amerika as examples of more successful books that were equally as mind bending and as disjointed from consensus reality, whose success was very much achieved by a certain magical realist tone. That said, I also feel that many reviewers by expecting the book to be something that it is not, ended up missing what is worthwhile about it.
To put it another way, if I were teaching a class on the UFO as a modern mythology, this book would be on the shortlist of those I would consider assigning. (The other big contender would be Patrick Harpur’s The Good People.) There are vey few novels out there that deal with the UFO mythology in a way that reflects the more nuanced approach of the less materialist and less literalist modern thinkers. Halperin’s tale deals with the UFO myth as a container for issues of identity, guilt, the pain of adolescence (especially its sexual awakening aspect), and also handily manages to integrate the Shaver Mystery with merkavah mysticism, the early esoteric tradition that delved deeply into the meaning of Ezekiel’s vision of the “chariot” or the “wheel”. The Cold War, the Holocaust, and Israel’s place in American Jewish culture also resonate throughout the story.
Were I teaching this book, I would familiarize the class with Jeffrey Kripal’s concept of the “Super Story” and the seven mythemes that tell us that we are operating within such a tale. I would then ask them to analyze the book within the context of Kripal’s theory. The interesting thing is that when looking at it in this light the work easily fires on all seven cylinders. What I mean by this is that each mytheme is so clearly present in Halperin’s novel that it is pretty much a textbook example of Kripal’s idea of the Super Story. (See Kripal's downright epic Mutants and Mystics for more on this.)
In his recent non-fiction book, Intimate Alien, Halperin has made it clear that in his view the important things about UFO sightings are how we interpret them, how we understand them, how they function within us. In that book he TELLS us how this might work; in Journal of a UFO Investigator he SHOWS us.
To put it another way, if I were teaching a class on the UFO as a modern mythology, this book would be on the shortlist of those I would consider assigning. (The other big contender would be Patrick Harpur’s The Good People.) There are vey few novels out there that deal with the UFO mythology in a way that reflects the more nuanced approach of the less materialist and less literalist modern thinkers. Halperin’s tale deals with the UFO myth as a container for issues of identity, guilt, the pain of adolescence (especially its sexual awakening aspect), and also handily manages to integrate the Shaver Mystery with merkavah mysticism, the early esoteric tradition that delved deeply into the meaning of Ezekiel’s vision of the “chariot” or the “wheel”. The Cold War, the Holocaust, and Israel’s place in American Jewish culture also resonate throughout the story.
Were I teaching this book, I would familiarize the class with Jeffrey Kripal’s concept of the “Super Story” and the seven mythemes that tell us that we are operating within such a tale. I would then ask them to analyze the book within the context of Kripal’s theory. The interesting thing is that when looking at it in this light the work easily fires on all seven cylinders. What I mean by this is that each mytheme is so clearly present in Halperin’s novel that it is pretty much a textbook example of Kripal’s idea of the Super Story. (See Kripal's downright epic Mutants and Mystics for more on this.)
In his recent non-fiction book, Intimate Alien, Halperin has made it clear that in his view the important things about UFO sightings are how we interpret them, how we understand them, how they function within us. In that book he TELLS us how this might work; in Journal of a UFO Investigator he SHOWS us.
April 9, 2018
David Halperin, before retiring, was a Professor of Religious Studies at the University of North Carolina. In this novel, he ties themes of spirituality and community into classic coming-of-age struggles, set in the 1960s. His character, Danny Shapiro, is one of those teenage kids who doesn't really fit in, but then who does?
Danny's got his small circle of friends, the UFO Investigators, who find community in their exclusive, offbeat interest, and a source of meaning in their lives via the aliens and the happenings associated with them. Danny's experiences with aliens and UFOs supply some critical ingredients to his teenage survival -- a confirmation that his differences are important and make him special, an escape from the trials of his mother's illness, and even the possibility of his first girlfriend. At the same time, his obsession with UFOs and his imaginative ability to make more of his life through them carries him farther from any hope of really fitting in. And the poignant events of his ordinary life burst through the boundary with his UFO Investigator life repeatedly and even sadly.
Halperin's writing is sometimes challenging. The story isn't linear, either in time or in the reality it conjures. The story shifts without warning between present and past , and in out of imaginary and real worlds. But I think it's true to the experience of his character. I'm tempted to compare Danny Shapiro to Walter Mitty, one the teenage coming of age story and the other the middle-age coming to terms with ordinariness story. But there are differences -- with Danny, you don't always know what's real and what's imaginary. In fact, one of the charms of the story is our not knowing what of Danny's "journal" is real and what is embellishment.
This book gave me more than I expected. I'm sure I'm going to think back to it, mainly because it leaves ends untied, making us think more than giving us a message.
Danny's got his small circle of friends, the UFO Investigators, who find community in their exclusive, offbeat interest, and a source of meaning in their lives via the aliens and the happenings associated with them. Danny's experiences with aliens and UFOs supply some critical ingredients to his teenage survival -- a confirmation that his differences are important and make him special, an escape from the trials of his mother's illness, and even the possibility of his first girlfriend. At the same time, his obsession with UFOs and his imaginative ability to make more of his life through them carries him farther from any hope of really fitting in. And the poignant events of his ordinary life burst through the boundary with his UFO Investigator life repeatedly and even sadly.
Halperin's writing is sometimes challenging. The story isn't linear, either in time or in the reality it conjures. The story shifts without warning between present and past , and in out of imaginary and real worlds. But I think it's true to the experience of his character. I'm tempted to compare Danny Shapiro to Walter Mitty, one the teenage coming of age story and the other the middle-age coming to terms with ordinariness story. But there are differences -- with Danny, you don't always know what's real and what's imaginary. In fact, one of the charms of the story is our not knowing what of Danny's "journal" is real and what is embellishment.
This book gave me more than I expected. I'm sure I'm going to think back to it, mainly because it leaves ends untied, making us think more than giving us a message.
May 18, 2019
I picked this up at the library because I was intrigued by the first few chapters. There was a blur between actual reality and what Danny thinks is reality. Unfortunately, it seems that Danny knows perfectly well what's real and what isn't, and the book is just a blending between his "journal" (really more of a story he's writing) and a few scenes of reality. Another reviewer pointed out that for most of the book, Danny is just an unreliable narrator.
It's not necessarily unclear what's real and what isn't, especially because Danny straight-up tells you in the last few chapters, it's just that there aren't enough real scenes to balance out the fantasy. The story he's writing is interesting but makes no sense, so it's hard to be engaged because what happens next could be entirely random. According to the acknowledgements, it seems like there was more happening in the real-life section that he cut for length/interest. I wish he had instead made the reality more interesting to balance the UFO story. Or made the UFO story more realistic to the point that even Danny questions what's real and what isn't.
It's not necessarily unclear what's real and what isn't, especially because Danny straight-up tells you in the last few chapters, it's just that there aren't enough real scenes to balance out the fantasy. The story he's writing is interesting but makes no sense, so it's hard to be engaged because what happens next could be entirely random. According to the acknowledgements, it seems like there was more happening in the real-life section that he cut for length/interest. I wish he had instead made the reality more interesting to balance the UFO story. Or made the UFO story more realistic to the point that even Danny questions what's real and what isn't.
June 9, 2025
A very weird, sometimes dissatisfying, book, that’s nonetheless quite fascinating — it’s definitely about UFOs, for sure, but also about the Cold War, Judaism, teenaged alienation from their parents, and ultimately a coming of age tale. Without giving any details away, it’s in the height of 60s nuclear war threats, and involves a bar mitzvah-aged Philly teen and his mysterious friends convinced that aliens are among them — and what happens when they are proven dangerously accurate. But then it skips around to Roswell and Jerusalem and a location that might be the moon, or another star system entirely, or maybe deep under the surface of the Earth, and those dreamy and periodically very icky moments are the bits likely to annoy the readers.
March 31, 2019
Uff. Was war denn das...
Während des Lesens hatte ich so viele Fragen! Auch wenn das Ende vieles aufklärt & das Ganze wenigstens ein bisschen abrundet, die Ausführung ist nur mäßig gelungen. Die Ideen, die dem Buch zugrunde liegen, sind gut, aber vieles ist einfach nur so unnötig (warum zur Hölle das ganze Israel-Thema?? Und das fadenscheinig politisch brisante immer im Hintergrund?) Und die Struktur, die angedacht ist, wird einem auch erst klar, als man sich schon durch ein paar Dutzend Seiten scheinbar Unzusammenhängendes gelesen hat.
Während des Lesens hatte ich so viele Fragen! Auch wenn das Ende vieles aufklärt & das Ganze wenigstens ein bisschen abrundet, die Ausführung ist nur mäßig gelungen. Die Ideen, die dem Buch zugrunde liegen, sind gut, aber vieles ist einfach nur so unnötig (warum zur Hölle das ganze Israel-Thema?? Und das fadenscheinig politisch brisante immer im Hintergrund?) Und die Struktur, die angedacht ist, wird einem auch erst klar, als man sich schon durch ein paar Dutzend Seiten scheinbar Unzusammenhängendes gelesen hat.
May 22, 2024
Oh this was just not the book for me.
It was hard to follow. Hard to determine what was reality and what was his mind making things up. It wasn't vague by any means, but a lot happened that really clearly didn't actually happen... in reality.
I didn't like much of what was happening either. Not sure if I'll ever find it in my to forgive that father.
I might have liked the book a bit more if I was interested in the non-reality parts, but I wasn't. Everything was terrifying and scary and awful, which I guess mirrored his actual life, but still. This was just not the book for me.
It was hard to follow. Hard to determine what was reality and what was his mind making things up. It wasn't vague by any means, but a lot happened that really clearly didn't actually happen... in reality.
I didn't like much of what was happening either. Not sure if I'll ever find it in my to forgive that father.
I might have liked the book a bit more if I was interested in the non-reality parts, but I wasn't. Everything was terrifying and scary and awful, which I guess mirrored his actual life, but still. This was just not the book for me.
June 30, 2017
This book was hard to follow. It kept jumping around from past to future, from one timeline to another, without warning. Parts of it were boring and parts were good enough that I did't want to put it down. The story was kind of strange - I'm not really sure what it was actually about. But I finished it, mostly out of duty to the $$ I paid for the book.
May 20, 2018
Do you believe? Enjoyed this intriguing novel about a young man and his other-worldly experiences with UFOs and their beings - is it a dream or is he bouncing back and forth between dimensions or was he abducted by aliens? I believe I see a twinkle in the eyes of the author as he spins this tale. Fun read!
May 10, 2019
Starts off very amazingly, the journey it self is interesting but maybe just a bit disappointing. I like the ideas of mysticism mixing with mythology and religion, death , etc and how those ideas mixes int eh teenage mind. It is very truthful to that period of life. Still, I wish the world was just abit more imaginative.
April 28, 2020
Very strange. Very disjointed. It was a chore and a half just to get through it. I didn't find any of the characters likeable or relatable or even believable. Once in a while there'd be a couple chapters that would hook me just to see where the hell it was going, and that's the only thing that saved it from a 1-star rating. I finished it and I'm still not sure what happened.
September 4, 2023
JOURNAL of a UFO INVESTIGATOR, is a little quirky read. As a young teen searches for the UFO phenomenal
, he finds himself taken into a disk. Time passes quickly on the outside of the disk. Danny then finds himself reunited with another investigator, who had longed for as an adult.
, he finds himself taken into a disk. Time passes quickly on the outside of the disk. Danny then finds himself reunited with another investigator, who had longed for as an adult.
January 2, 2018
This book is weird and very dark and it's definitely not for everybody. But it is also brilliant and I loved it.
March 2, 2020
A book with so much potential. I loved the attempt at surreal and nonlinear procs by Halperin but the execution fell a bit flat.
Read
August 5, 2022I don't remember starting this
September 22, 2023
DNF -gave it 3 chapters but it was painful
July 21, 2011
I won this book in a Goodreads giveaway at the beginning of February and received it within a surprisingly short amount of time. This was another book that I approached without a full understanding of what I was getting myself into. You could say I didn't read the summary closely. Both the title and cover seem to imply some sort of quirky adventure about a kid who likes the idea of UFOs a little too much. However, as soon as I started reading, it quickly became clear that this novel was much more than that.
Yes, it's an adventure but it's a deeply personal one that is much more about how a lonely teenager handles a dysfunctional family, loss and regret through one extended metaphor, which is the surreal UFO adventure he invents for himself. Halperin seemlessly weaves reality and fantasy together in an engaging narrative. This is especially effective in the novel's first pages where the switch happens very easily, the only cues coming from italicized words. I tend to read very fast, which would explain why there were some moments where I was just like, what is going on.
I got used to Halperin's writing style fairly quickly though. It's simple but descriptive. Does that make sense? I don't know, I liked it. The story flowed, although I know that this is one story that's definitely not for everyone. For one, it deals with some dark issues, such as physical abuse and antisemitism, and there's also quite a bit of Awkward Teenage Moments. The subject matter itself might not appeal to everyone, as there exists a blend of religion with UFO mythology.
I had to keep reminding myself that the majority of the story told throughout the novel is made-up by Danny himself. I read a couple of reviews where the reviewer noted this as detrimental to the story because there wasn't much overlap with Danny's real life. However, I didn't mind. The story Danny was telling was interesting albeit extremely bizarre and impossible, especially at certain points, but when the overlap with his life did happen? It worked. Towards the end, the overlap was especially significant. Although the Danny that speaks and acts for the majority of the novel is the real Danny's creation, I feel like this is insight enough into his character. It's clearly his way of dealing with awful things that have happened to him. But he's not a very dynamic character. He remains quiet and lonely. Yet, the novel ends on a slightly uplifting tone. At least that's how I read it. Danny grows up and it's bittersweet.
So, it's like I said, Halperin makes things fit, but I wouldn't exactly encourage my fellow YA readers to pick this up. It's not exactly a light read, and it's far from the typical YA novel even though the protagonist is a teenager. This is for a more mature audience that can look beyond the surface to see what all the out-of-this-world scenarios really mean to Danny.
(Review can also be found at my blog.)
Yes, it's an adventure but it's a deeply personal one that is much more about how a lonely teenager handles a dysfunctional family, loss and regret through one extended metaphor, which is the surreal UFO adventure he invents for himself. Halperin seemlessly weaves reality and fantasy together in an engaging narrative. This is especially effective in the novel's first pages where the switch happens very easily, the only cues coming from italicized words. I tend to read very fast, which would explain why there were some moments where I was just like, what is going on.
I got used to Halperin's writing style fairly quickly though. It's simple but descriptive. Does that make sense? I don't know, I liked it. The story flowed, although I know that this is one story that's definitely not for everyone. For one, it deals with some dark issues, such as physical abuse and antisemitism, and there's also quite a bit of Awkward Teenage Moments. The subject matter itself might not appeal to everyone, as there exists a blend of religion with UFO mythology.
I had to keep reminding myself that the majority of the story told throughout the novel is made-up by Danny himself. I read a couple of reviews where the reviewer noted this as detrimental to the story because there wasn't much overlap with Danny's real life. However, I didn't mind. The story Danny was telling was interesting albeit extremely bizarre and impossible, especially at certain points, but when the overlap with his life did happen? It worked. Towards the end, the overlap was especially significant. Although the Danny that speaks and acts for the majority of the novel is the real Danny's creation, I feel like this is insight enough into his character. It's clearly his way of dealing with awful things that have happened to him. But he's not a very dynamic character. He remains quiet and lonely. Yet, the novel ends on a slightly uplifting tone. At least that's how I read it. Danny grows up and it's bittersweet.
So, it's like I said, Halperin makes things fit, but I wouldn't exactly encourage my fellow YA readers to pick this up. It's not exactly a light read, and it's far from the typical YA novel even though the protagonist is a teenager. This is for a more mature audience that can look beyond the surface to see what all the out-of-this-world scenarios really mean to Danny.
(Review can also be found at my blog.)
July 8, 2011
David Halperin's "Journal of a UFO Investigator" is a fun journey into the fantasies of teenager Danny Shapiro. As the book progresses, there are two stories to follow. One story occurs in real life, where his Mom is dying and the Dad is distant. The other story occurs inside of Danny's journal, which merges his fantasies with what's really happening. We learn that the journal is one way for Danny to cope with his difficult teenager years.
The fantasies center around UFOs. Here, the author shows off his vast knowledge. Either he did his research, or he really lived it when he, himself, was a teenager. I remember being fascinated by UFOs when I was young, but I never got this much into it. The books that Danny reads were really written. The things he experiences in his journal are consistent with UFO theories prominent in the early 60s: the "dero," the "three men in black," caves in the earth, etc. I enjoyed having the history lesson sneaked into the story.
The journal itself reminds me of Maurice Sendak: Very impossible, dreamlike, out of this world, and yet with several real life elements. All together, it's a surreal world beautifully described and experienced.
Part of the fun is trying to figure out which parts really happened, and which parts were pure fantasy. Some gems are left unrevealed, which is perfect for this type of book. I'm also left wondering which parts actually happened to the author when he was a teenager.
I found only one slow part where the book took a different turn, giving more insight into the real life story, but much less UFO-age. In the end everything gets pulled back together.
Despite the attractive cover, this book is not for kids. Just think of the fantasies you had when you were a teenager - and yes - that's in this book. There are also a handful of f-bombs (all unnecessary but PG-13). Kids may also not appreciate some of the strong emotions that make this book a success.
My recommendation: read this book. Lose yourself and relive the fantasies you had when you were young.
The fantasies center around UFOs. Here, the author shows off his vast knowledge. Either he did his research, or he really lived it when he, himself, was a teenager. I remember being fascinated by UFOs when I was young, but I never got this much into it. The books that Danny reads were really written. The things he experiences in his journal are consistent with UFO theories prominent in the early 60s: the "dero," the "three men in black," caves in the earth, etc. I enjoyed having the history lesson sneaked into the story.
The journal itself reminds me of Maurice Sendak: Very impossible, dreamlike, out of this world, and yet with several real life elements. All together, it's a surreal world beautifully described and experienced.
Part of the fun is trying to figure out which parts really happened, and which parts were pure fantasy. Some gems are left unrevealed, which is perfect for this type of book. I'm also left wondering which parts actually happened to the author when he was a teenager.
I found only one slow part where the book took a different turn, giving more insight into the real life story, but much less UFO-age. In the end everything gets pulled back together.
Despite the attractive cover, this book is not for kids. Just think of the fantasies you had when you were a teenager - and yes - that's in this book. There are also a handful of f-bombs (all unnecessary but PG-13). Kids may also not appreciate some of the strong emotions that make this book a success.
My recommendation: read this book. Lose yourself and relive the fantasies you had when you were young.
June 8, 2016
Danny, a Jewish teenager growing up during the sixties, is set apart from other kids at high school due to his nerdy fascination of UFOs. Things at home aren’t much better. His chronically ill mother is needy and close to expiring, and his father is bitter and quickly moved to anger over small disappointments. Using his imagination as a shelter from the oppression of his parent’s household, Danny decides to keep a journal chronicling his “adventures” among the aliens, which sometimes border on the downright weird: after his fictional self is inducted into a secret society that studies UFOs, he is targeted by a sadistic trio of otherworldly villains who threaten him with torture. His attempts at escape land him in the hands of bug-eyed monstrosities who use him as a guinea pig for their experiments. Danny’s cathartic act of keeping this journal divides the novel into two parallel storylines, causing Danny’s fictional world to act as a dark mirror that replicates the anguish of the real one. While the author’s exploration of Danny’s psychological state puts this novel a step above others in the “extraterrestrial” genre, Halperin’s extensive concentration on the “alien” plotline leaves the characters underdeveloped and distant, and detracts from any emotional investment the reader might have for them. This novel has some adult content, but may be appropriate for Ages 16-18. Recommended for lovers of psychological fiction.
May 14, 2011
I enjoyed this book, but it's hard to put my finger on exactly why. The story jumps around to different times and places so often that it creates a disorienting effect on the reader - but that's really the point. Halperin wants us to know that Danny, the lead character, is also having trouble separating reality from fiction in his own life. It's hard to tell what Danny is actually experiencing and what he is just fabricating for his UFO journal. Unfortunately, that continued until the very end of the book, and I didn't get any sense of finality of what happened to Danny - he was involved in some amazing things, or was he? Did he really experience all of those things or was it all just a coping mechanism to get him through the tougher parts of high school and dealing with his family? I lean towards the latter, but the friendships and the romances that he creates, while seemingly having one foot in the fantasy world, also feel real.
Interesting twist on the "coming of age" genre interspersed with a healthy dose of sci-fi. I can't really say I would recommend this book to anyone in particular, but it's enjoyable.
Interesting twist on the "coming of age" genre interspersed with a healthy dose of sci-fi. I can't really say I would recommend this book to anyone in particular, but it's enjoyable.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
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