SOURCE: Charles, Ron. “First Contact—Coming to a Planet Near You.” Christian Science Monitor (6 January 2000): 21.

In the following review, Charles offers a positive assessment of Mr. Spaceman, noting the elements of “sweet absurdity, social criticism, and theological speculation” in the novel.

Robert Olen Butler does not seem like a wacky man. He is a college professor. He writes about Vietnam. He won a Pulitzer Prize. He probably pays his taxes and mows the lawn dutifully.

Perhaps only alien intervention can explain this tender novel about an extraterrestrial named Desi who comes to Earth with important news for humanity. Imagine the NBC comedy Third Rock From the Sun with a philosophical linguist as the lead.

Mr. Spaceman is a mixture of sweet absurdity, social criticism, and theological speculation. The novel opens in the final hours of Desi's study of Earth. He's been given instructions to reveal himself at midnight...