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just_one_more_paige's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Another Aspen Words Literary Prize 2022 Longlist read finished! This is my seventh of the sixteen and, as is a pattern with these Aspen Words books, I ended up being much more interested and invested in the story than I would have thought, based on the blurb. Which, honestly, is why I'm continuing with this reading journey/challenge for another year, and even after the shortlist announcement has been made.
Asha Ray is a super intelligent coder, in a grad school program looking to revolutionize AI by adding empathy to their programming. But her entire life trajectory changes when she attends a funeral for a high school teacher and runs into Cyrus Jones, her high school crush. The chemistry between Asha and Cyrus is strong and, in a whirlwind, they are married. Cyrus' role as a sort of spiritual guide for those around him inspire Asha to start on a new coding project that leads to them joining forces with a third person (their now mutual friend Jules), Asha dropping out of school, and them joining a new age co-working space called Utopia that incubates creative solutions for end-of-the-world/apocalypse situations. After the typical initial "start-up" stress/drama, their ritual-creation platform hits the bigtime, Cyrus is being hailed as a Messiah, Asha's pivotal role in the platform's creation is downplayed, and their marriage is facing some challenges that it may not be able to survive.
This has really nothing to do with the rest of the review, but I really am not feeling this cover. I walked by this book on the "new" shelf at the library a number of times before finally talking myself into picking it up, because I just wasn't connecting with the look. That being said, what I got on the inside ended up being so much better - so here I sit, a great reminder to not judge a book by its cover. Anyways, let me start by saying that the writing was stunning; it was alive, electric! It was an amazing mix of classic literary and contemporary snark/intelligence. I couldn’t get enough of it. Pacing-wise, the beginning and end were super engaging and surprisingly edge-of-your-seat (well, at the beginning it was a surprise to me, but by the end, the tension build throughout was coming to a head and the anxiety in the plot/relationships was expected…and well delivered). The middle did slow a bit for me, not quite to a drag, but it did have less of the apprehension and tightness to it, so it felt a bit uneven.
The thematic content was incredibly timely and salient for the world we live in. I am a women neither in tech nor in a startup, but I am a woman…and the way Anam portrays that experience through both Asha’s self-diminishment and external minimization (despite have what felt like the best possible masculine co-founders at her side, which is really saying even more than if everyone was equally dismissive of her/unwilling to recognize her contributions) felt familiar despite my lack of direct connection to her specific experiences. There was a great conundrum of agency put forward, built to perfection as the plot unfolded: how much does one have the power to allow something to happen to themself versus how much power one actually has to stop it in a world/environment set up in opposition to it. Wow. Watching those close relationships in Asha’s life, especially with her husband Cyrus, grapple with the high-pressure situations/environments where home life cannot be separated from other parts of life, interpersonal conflicts spill over into workplace decision-making and vice versa, was fascinating.
I was also totally drawn in by the questions of technological ambition and limits of power and the realm of what goes past what *should* be attempted, against any historical interest in those types of philosophical conversations. Anam made them really accessible and relatable (kind of on par with the vibe and accessibility of similar questions related to tech and romance in Pek’s The Verifiers). And the “big” questions, like: What matters in life? What is the point, in the end, when everything you know is gone/changes? What will you do with the terror and opportunity of starting over? They were intense, but explored in a way that never felt overwhelming or pedantic – very “real life” applications of these questions.
This was a conceptually intriguing novel on so many levels, from the AI/tech aspects to the new age religious social media angle to the totally unique romance to the snarky social commentary on technology/the future/startup culture, all with an important connecting theme of questions of feminism in those environments and some phenomenally tense writing! The possibilities and limits explored in these pages are enthralling.
“We want to address the thirty-seven percent who say they don't believe in God because their politics or their sexuality excludes them from organized religion. We believe that even the nonreligious among us deserve our own communities, our own belief systems, whatever they may be based in. Ritual, community, that's what religion offers that no other human construct has been able to replace. Until now. We are here to give meaning back to people, to restore and amplify faith - not in a higher power but in humanity.”
"Teachers are our most intimate acquaintances for a period of our lives, but the relationship is tilted toward us; they mute themselves in order to act as a conduit for our growth.”
“…because all the great love stories are about two people bringing the story of their yesterdays and the story of their todays into one epic sewn-together poem, and that is what they mean when they say lightning strikes. It's not when it strikes the first time, it's when it strikes twice, which hardly ever happens, except, I think, when you fall in love.”
“...how have I managed to put myself on the margins of this story?”
“They are the curious, the wondering and wandering, hungering for connection, searching for meaning. They are the best of us. And we give them a place to be those people.”
“We of the small appetites have no choice but to step aside.”
“You’re telling me all greatness happens on the backs of other people.”
“He is that very worst thing, an intimate who is also a stranger.”
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gaslighting
Moderate: Sexism and Grief
Minor: Sexual assault, Fire/Fire injury, and Suicide
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