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At the Edge of the Universe
At the Edge of the Universe
At the Edge of the Universe
Audiobook9 hours

At the Edge of the Universe

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

4/5

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About this audiobook

From the author of We Are the Ants comes “another winner” (Booklist, starred review) about a boy who believes the universe is slowly shrinking as the things he remembers are being erased from others’ memories.

Tommy and Ozzie have been best friends since the second grade, and boyfriends since eighth. They spent countless days dreaming of escaping their small town—and then Tommy vanished.

More accurately, he ceased to exist, erased from the minds and memories of everyone who knew him. Everyone except Ozzie.

Ozzie doesn’t know how to navigate life without Tommy, and soon he suspects that something else is going on: that the universe is shrinking.

When Ozzie is paired up with the reclusive and secretive Calvin for a physics project, it’s hard for him to deny the feelings developing between them, even if he still loves Tommy.

But Ozzie knows there isn’t much time left to find Tommy—that once the door closes, it can’t be opened again. And he’s determined to keep it open as long as possible.
LanguageEnglish
Release dateFeb 7, 2017
ISBN9781508234135
Author

Shaun David Hutchinson

Shaun David Hutchinson is the award-winning author of several books for young adults and the editor of multiple young adult anthologies. A native Floridian, Shaun currently resides in Seattle, where he spends his free time running, baking, and designing virtual worlds. He can be found online at shaundavidhutchinson.com or on Twitter @shauniedarko.

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Reviews for At the Edge of the Universe

Rating: 4.095041332231405 out of 5 stars
4/5

121 ratings11 reviews

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  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Story is interesting but kind of drags in spots. It was a good read but not one of my top 10.

    1 person found this helpful

  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I loved this book ? I pictured everything and it was just.... wonderful.

    1 person found this helpful

  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    It was a little less of a thrilling and complex story as Hutchinsons others, but I still enjoyed most of it. It did make my heart drop a few times, I could hear the panic in the main characters voice which was good.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    3-3.5 stars

    Personally I think the low rating is the anticlimactic reveal
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I love Hutchinsons books. Almost all of them seem to be about a nerdy gay boy and astronomy. And that should get repetitive, but his writing style makes it awesome. Its so refreshing, quick and smart. The ending was super good and all the characters grew on me. Except for Tommy. The main character kept gushing over him but he didn't seem that great to me. Maybe that was the point of the book? Anyway, listen to it, its cool.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    A breath of fresh air in terms of literature, especially with the primary character being gay. It is more of a psychological exploration of coping with life. Recommended!
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Way too sad dear god rip my heart out why don’t ya
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I absolutely fell in love with Ozzy and Lua (I have no idea if that’s how they’re spelled, considering I listened to the audiobook). I had stopped listening for a bit and when I started again, I was genuinely so happy. This story is a unconventional one, even with the conventional and cheesy themes of love and finding yourself. It takes the coming of age journey and makes it a queer sci fi. Wish I could just have a long talk with the author about all the little details and oddities.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    The premise of this YA novel is that narrator Ozzie's long-time best friend and current boyfriend, Tommy, has disappeared from the world. There's no trace of him and no one else remembers that he existed. In between juggling school work and a succession of therapists, Ozzie tries to find Tommy. Oh, and the universe is shrinking. As Ozzie puzzles and agonizes over Tommy's disappearance and how the universe could possibly be getting smaller without anyone but him noticing (or remembering the things that are disappearing as it shrinks), we get some good exploration of issues among teenagers, including love and what it means, sex and what it means, gender and what it means, plans for the future and what figuring out who you are means. Some nice representation of gay teens and gender fluid teens here, as well. I don't remember quite at what point I started thinking that the whole smaller universe thing was only a metaphor (fairly early, but I was kind of hoping for an actual plotty mcplotplot, so I held out a little longer than I might have otherwise), but certainly by the halfway point I was sort of scowling at the book and muttering to myself about how Hutchinson was going to pull off the fact that much of the premise of the book isn't actually happening. I was prepared to be seriously annoyed (the words "if he's even dreaming, I swear...") may have been uttered a few times). By the end I was much happier than I expected to be (the whole shrinking of the universe/Tommy disappeared thing is really about the depression and withdrawal Ozzie felt after Tommy broke up with him, and the way Hutchinson brings that forth is pretty satisfying), but I don't think the metaphor works within the story as a whole. We never get an answer as to what was actually going on with Ozzie. He suggests he was in a parallel universe created by his grief (and, I mean, I get it, it's a startlingly good description of what grief, especially grief laced with depression (or vice versa) can feel like), but there's still this pesky question of there having been a story on the page, with events in it, events which pretty much cannot have happened given that the universe wasn't actually shrinking and that Tommy wasn't actually disappeared and that none of Ozzie's friends and family thought he was. I think it's just too long (nearly 500 pages) and too involved a book to accept that the guiding premise was a metaphor without some explanation for what was really up. I dunno. Maybe I'm being obtuse. Maybe teens will react differently to it, maybe they will be enough struck by the revelation about the way feelings are so. very. real. while you're feeling them that the "hang on, what?" bit won't bother them. *shrug* A decent book with a lot going for it, but didn't hang together for me in the end.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    An intriguing premise that ultimately falls flat between metaphor and physics, this novel of self-discovery, growing up, and learning to deal was readable. I particularly liked Lua, the gender shifting rockstar BFF. Ozzie's reluctance to make decisions was maddening, and while the conceit of the book could have been interestingly executed, I felt that Tommy's disappearance and the shrinking universe kept Ozzie from having to deal with the aftermath of their breakup and choosing what to do with his future in a true way. That said, the way the story gave him two interesting, damaged boyfriends without having him end up with either was really well done. The characters in this book were good, but the structure ultimately undercut the reading experience.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Nobody remembers Ozzie's boyfriend Tommy who has disappeared - and the universe seems to be shrinking. Only Ozzie remembers Tommy. Only Ozzie remembers the other things that slowly go missing from life. High school and family life continues in his small town, but it is all different - and smaller and darker.