Synopses & Reviews
In 1995, David Gerrold finalized an adoption process that would end up changing his life forever. As he would discover, however, there were many times ahead when the joy of single fatherhood would be tempered by a single profound thought: What the hell was I thinking? The Martian Child is a novelized portrait of Gerrold's sometimes exhilarating and sometimes exasperating experiences with his new son.
Dennis was an emotionally troubled child suffering from a variety of personality disorders stemming from his turbulent childhood. Born of addicted parents Dennis was shuffled from one foster home to the next with dizzying frequency. Impermanence became his lot. Not surprisngly, he turned inward and began to inhabit a private fantasy world in which he believed he was a Martian. Then David Gerrold -- a single gay man with a dream of becoming a father -- entered his life. Nothing for them would ever be the same.
Synopsis
Gerrold, a science fiction writer from California, adopts a son who has been classified as "unadoptable" due to his violent emotional outbursts resulting from abuse. Another side-effect of his turbulent early years is that he believes himself to be a Martian. Gerrold begins the long, involving work of trying to earn the acceptance of Dennis, a hyperactive eight-year-old who desperately wants a father's love, but is so insecure he feels he must be an alien. Gerrold's recounting of the first two years with Dennis ends with the climax of Dennis running away and waiting in a city park at night for the flying saucers to come and reclaim him. Funny, endearing, and at times, heartbreaking, this is a beautifully written testament to fatherhood. This book is semiautobiographical. Gerrold did adopt a son, but he heard about a boy who thought he was a Martian from another adoptive father.