Who knew an “aliebn confuesed abot humamn lamgauge” could so fully capture the human experience?
That’s exactly what Jonny Sun, @jonnysun on Twitter, did with Everyone’s a Aliebn When Ur a Aliebn Too. In his part book/part graphic novel, Sun writes about the experience of an alien sent to Earth to study humans. On Earth, the lonely alien befriends many Earth creatures on his journey to learn about the “humabns.” He bonds with a tree over their shared solitude, learns from a dog who can’t communicate and meets Nothing. Throughout the novel, readers will be charmed by Sun’s whimsical characters and fall in love with his distinct style of revealing human truths in a way that’ll resonate with all of us.
On Twitter, Jomny Sun has gained many followers for his positive, and occasionally profound, tweets.
look. life is bad. evryones sad. we're all gona die. but i alredy bought this inflatable boumcy castle so r u gona take ur shoes off or wat
— jonny sun (@jonnysun) November 8, 2013
"i just want to go home" said the astronaut.
"so come home" said ground control.
‘‘ｓｏ ｃｏｍｅ ｈｏｍｅ’’ said the voice from the stars.— jonny sun (@jonnysun) October 1, 2014
im like a onion. peel back the layers and u'll see that deep down inside im just a smaller more afraid onion
— jonny sun (@jonnysun) January 10, 2015
early humans discover crying: "we must be carryimg the ocean inside of us" one whispres. "then we must be gentle with it" whispers another
— jonny sun (@jonnysun) October 16, 2014
His book reflects the personality that he’s become known for online: an innocent alien filled with wonder and curiosity. In a recent New York Times interview, Sun shares how the format of his book was influenced by Twitter itself, “It’s supposed to read like the experience of joining Twitter and following a bunch of people and seeing all their tweets on your timeline.” Sun also reveals how his upbringing as a child of immigrants has made him feel like an outsider, something many can relate to. Despite not fitting in growing up, Sun as an adult is now an accomplished architect, engineer, playwright, designer, artist, comedy writer and PhD student at MIT. He was also recently chosen as one of Time’s 25 Most Influential People on the Internet. Sun’s words have touched many, both on and off Twitter, and his new book now adds to his growing influence. Joss Whedon explains best how Sun’s book has impacted readers.
Jomny Sun gets more out of a panel than most do out of a page, revealing obvious yet hidden truths as only someone one step out of step could.
I recommend this book to anyone who feels like an outsider in their own life. I recommend this book to anyone struggling over their future. I recommend this book to anyone who’s ever felt like they’re not good enough. With this book, Jonny Sun manages to use his decidedly non-human characters to express human emotions while his intentional misspellings showcase his artistic use of written language. Everyone’s a Aliebn When Ur a Aliebn Too is a beautiful mess of contradictions that’ll comfort readers by reminding them that we’re never alone.
