By this point, I am more or less convinced that all YA fiction reads like fanfiction and hey, I’m not complaining.

The focus of this story from the get-go highlights that this one is going to be somewhat different from the rest and I quite enjoy the initial space talk and the family tension as Cal Jr adjusts to his new life as an AstroKid. It did bring back my obsession with stars and perfectly contrasted it with the Brooklyn life of Cal which I can relate to. Soon the character of Cal started to feel too superficial as his stream of consciousness narrative gave him all the attention and introduced all the characters through his perspective which, again, reeked of a misplaced sense of superiority. Your dad is an astronaut, you are a social media star journalist, neither of you need the comparison.

I have to admit that I’m not a big fan of the foreshadowing of events, and actually like to be surprised, but they were subtle enough to deliberately overlook if the reader pleased. I picked it up for a light read and it promised just that. While it is actually refreshing to read outside of the conventional heterosexual romance genre, I am disappointed by the character sketches. There were so many scopes in the novel to explore the minds of the characters better and scope for better portrayal of them but here we are stuck in a social-media-star-falls-in-love-with-the-brooding-guy-at-his-new-neighborhood plot. It is apparent that even though it is part of the queer YA fiction, it subscribes strongly to the hetero-normative plots that are usual for the overarching YA fiction genre.

The sense of superiority that Cal Jr started to lord around over his parents seemed obnoxious for a kid who understands so much of the world. His quick to love nature did not give time to Leon Tucker to make an impression as he kept falling for him even before he actually saw him. His fickle nature embodied the profound confusion of the plot as within the space of 10 chapters he went from I never want to leave Brooklyn to I love it here in Texas. The latter was an inevitable resolution, sure, but the pace of the transformation made the character appear superficial and inconsistent, and somewhat real and endearing in the process as well. The pace is checked y the character’s own acknowledgement of the same as he deals with the whirlwind of the new society and new love in the public eye.

I felt particularly interest in the sections where Cal Jr talked about him being a journalist already as he had put in real efforts for his videos. It is a strong affirmation of the digital cultural reality that we inhabit and the parents’ dismissal of the work he does sums up society’s reaction to it. Those sections became odes to the independent digital journalism that required the validation. The insider access to NASA helped the growth in this aspect. Another resonating factor has to be the public and private personalities that he talked about and himself inhabited while noticing the same for the other astronaut families as well.

Why are women in the novel erratic or anxious whereas American heroes are mostly men and even then they are calm and collected most of the time?

By the middle of the book, the effects of StarWatch becomes more and more disgusting as the readers are brought face to face with the reality of reality tv and how the shows are manufactured to provide for the cheap entertainment of the viewers. The sheer exploitation of human feelings for the sake of ratings and the scripted aspect of it all is unsurprising but enraging at the same time. The impulsive nature of the protagonist shines through the situation after the jet crash again.

The parents from the perspective of the child of the house was an interesting addition to the plot. I adored the portions where Cal looked up to his parents and worried about them, felt proud of their achievement and acknowledged their struggles in his own way. This was taken too far at times as he kept tries to put things in order all the time and being a kid that was made complicated. Sometimes accepting that life is not a prim and proper rose garden helps, absence of that ease factor kind of muddled the narrative for me. Trying to take up Leon as a pet project, as something to fix, would not have sat well with me as well and I am glad that the character sketch of Leon was foiling the overbearing character of Cal. I liked the quiet but bubbly presence of Kat as well. She seemed more sorted and more grounded in reality than the other two. Deb is still a personal favourite with me and consequently, I really do not appreciate how Cal started to forget her as he immersed himself into this new life of space and astronauts.

The depiction of depression with Leon is as close as it gets. Becca’s anxiety is also accurately represented. I like the vulnerability presented through the characters and the fact that the vulnerability is seeped into the adults of the book as well, they are portrayed more humanely than ever.

My two points of disagreement remain with the protagonist’s attitude and NASA’s involvement. A coming of age novel, sure, is supposed to be about the protagonist a little too much but you go in to save NASA’s communication affairs is a little too much to take. I should really not read YA fiction anymore, it seems like I have grown out of it. If this one becomes my last of the genre, I am not too inclined to be harsh at it. It was a pleasant read, with potential for the characters and the plot. 2.5 out of 5.