My Little Alien Friend - A Novel Review

[தமிழில் படிக்க விரும்பும் அன்பர்கள் இங்கே சொடுக்கவும்]

“My Little Alien Friend”, is a recent novel from the famous American lady writer “Chindli Foster”. Four years back, through her sensational novel “Sleeping with an Alien”, Chindli Foster created a great revolution in the English Novel history. When the announcement for this new novel came out, readers from all over the world were looking forward with high expectations.

Yesterday, the Novel was released by four in the evening. Thanks to the modern technology, I was lucky enough to get a copy around 4.30 PM as I had already registered through internet. Sitting in the park nearby, I started reading the 400 page Novel. After reading few pages, I thought it would be good idea to go home and read the novel to avoid any disruption in the flow. I positioned myself in my reading room and continued from 11th page. My mind was full of “Keno” and “Julie” when I finished reading that book at 7 this morning.

Seven years old Julie, loses her mother in a car accident. Julie’s father Williams, lives with her daughter in a farm house. Right from childhood, Julie is very brave and fears for nothing. She manages to be alone in the big house whenever her father goes out to the town market which is very far from their house to get the groceries, vegetables and other household items. There is no other neighborhood near that farm house. Mild sound from the horses and cows will be the only companionship for Julie when she is alone.

One fine day, Williams brings a small Labrador puppy to play with Julie. He gives a soft friendly look to Julie. With his broad head, drop ears, thick tapered tail and very dense coat in yellow, he attracts Julie. She calls him as “Milo”. With Milo, Julie lives in her own world. Within months, Milo becomes a grown Dog and now understands Julie’s commands. Julie treats Milo as her younger brother.

One day, Julie wakes up in the middle of the night to drink water and finds Milo missing in her bedroom. Both Williams and Julie searches for Milo but they couldn’t find Milo anywhere. Julie spends that night crying for Milo and slowly she goes to sleep. Early in the morning, she wakes up hearing mild cry from Milo. She sees the lawn through her bedroom window and gets excited to see Milo there. But Milo is bleeding profusely from the head and he is unconscious. Julie runs towards Milo and tries to lift him up to her bedroom to give first aid. She finds it very difficult to lift Grown up Milo.

To Julie’s surprise, she sees two additional helping hands to lift Milo. One small boy lifts Milo and takes him to Julie’s bedroom. He utters no word for any of Julie’s question and patiently waits for Julie to complete the first aid for Milo. He then falls asleep in Julie’s bed. Julie is in mixed emotions thinking about Milo’s return and this new boy who helped her. Julie runs to her father’s room and shares the good news on Milo’s return and tells him about this small boy sleeping in her bed.

Williams rushes to Julie’s room but he sees no one except Milo there. But Julie still sees the boy’s smiling face. She slowly realizes that he is visible only to her eyes. Williams thinks it would be a dream from her disturbed sleep last night. He kisses her daughter and asks her to take rest. He leaves for the market with heavy heart thinking about 2 days of solitude for Julie while he is away.

Julie offers her bread and Milk to the new friend. He finishes that in a fraction of second and demands for more. Julie calls him as “Keno”. Keno and Julie spends time together. Milo keeps on barking whenever he sees Keno. The two memorable days when Keno and Julie get to know each other while Williams is out of station has been well showcased by Chindli. When you read those 40 pages, it takes us to our own childhood days. Chindli writes that Julie’s mother smiles at Keno from the picture when Julie introduces her to Keno. For a moment, readers forget that Julie’s mom is dead. It feels as if she is alive and interacts with these Kids

In the Second chapter of the Novel, Julie is 18 years old high school girl. Young girl with blonde hair and bright blue eyes, Julie is the dream girl for every guy in that High school. Kevin, Julie’s classmate, falls in love with Julie and they both spend time together in almost all the activities they do.

For the summer vacation, Julie decides to visit her farm house. She kisses bye to Kevin and boards the flight. Farm house grabs full attention from Julie that she totally forgets to call her boyfriend. After waiting for two weeks, Kevin plans to come to the farm house and give surprise to Julie.

Kevin wide opens the gate with lot of excitement without any clue on the shock that is waiting to hit him. Julie is talking alone in that big house. Kevin hides himself trying to figure out the person on the other end. There is no one except Julie. But Julie is laughing aloud and playing like a small girl. He thinks for a while and captures Julie’s photo with his high-end digital camera. In the captured photo, he sees a small boy standing near Julie, playing with her.

Kevin rushes towards a tree outside that farm house. He realizes that he saw an Alien. His mind recollects the message he read in the newspaper regarding the cash award for the person who hands over the Alien to the Government. Suddenly, he hears a loud cry for help from Julie. He runs towards the House. Chindli breaks the suspense in the last 20 pages of the Novel.

Chindli Foster attracts the readers with her writings, creativity and the way she has captured the emotions of each and every character in this Novel. Julie’s mom would have died in the car accident and through out the novel, Julie will be closing the ears whenever she sees high speed car passing by.


Why Keno came to the earth? What happened to Julie? Who hit Milo on his head? What happened to Williams? – You will get answers for all these questions in the last 20 pages of the Novel. Chindli takes us to the different world altogether. One cannot close the book without reading the full Novel. Once you start reading the Novel, you will start laughing with keno and crying with Julie. The Novel ends with the following note

“Julie's eyes were filled with tears. Her lips were whispering something which he can only understand”

Price: 11.99$

Publications: Harper Kollins publications.

I felt so happy after writing this review. I cried out in joy that I will get the honor for being the first person to write a review for the Novel which might get published after 50 years and for which the writer itself is yet to born in this world. The time machine next to me started the count down to bring me back to the present world.

[Translated by SubhaShree]