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3.56 AVERAGE
3.56 AVERAGE
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
hopeful
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Louisa Hall's second novel brings together correspondence and diary entries of a girl making passage to the New World in the 1660s, Alan Turing from his school days to his suicide, a couple pioneering AI research between the 1960's and 1980's, and the 2040 memoir of the developer of the baby-bot. Each story is a meditation on the inherent struggle between our relationships with others with all their messiness and imperfection, and the immersive connections we form with our technology, work, and pets. Hall weaves these stories into a narrative with arresting images and though-provoking outcomes.
The only reason I rated it 4 and not 5 stars is that her handling of the baby-bot crisis that propels the overall narrative arc is ultimately too elliptical.
The only reason I rated it 4 and not 5 stars is that her handling of the baby-bot crisis that propels the overall narrative arc is ultimately too elliptical.
dark
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Speak is the sort of work that begs for a book club. I cannot rate this book higher because I am mostly a "plot-first" reader, and this book doesn't have a plot so much as, say, a scaffold (or five) across which the strands of several ideas are hung. The reader is left to do the weaving.
The novel is structured as five stories, only just tangential, that are told piecemeal and interspersed. The themes are revealed and explored through these five "voices"--the diary of a pilgrim girl on her sea voyage; correspondence from a fictionalized Alan Turing; letters between an estranged husband and wife; chat transcripts between an afflicted girl and an AI computer program; memoirs of the convict who programmed said AI.
The themes? What it means to be human, and the connections that humans make. A touch of speculative sci-fi here, as the author invites the reader to wonder if, in the future, people will care more for machines than for their flesh-and-blood brethren--and what the consequences of this might be. Overall, some good food for thought, if your mind is in an eating mood.
I would recommend this book be read along with one or more people, with plans to pause, digest, and discuss along the way. Take the chance that you have to not only contemplate, but to share the experience with someone, and you may give this book more than three stars.
The novel is structured as five stories, only just tangential, that are told piecemeal and interspersed. The themes are revealed and explored through these five "voices"--the diary of a pilgrim girl on her sea voyage; correspondence from a fictionalized Alan Turing; letters between an estranged husband and wife; chat transcripts between an afflicted girl and an AI computer program; memoirs of the convict who programmed said AI.
The themes? What it means to be human, and the connections that humans make. A touch of speculative sci-fi here, as the author invites the reader to wonder if, in the future, people will care more for machines than for their flesh-and-blood brethren--and what the consequences of this might be. Overall, some good food for thought, if your mind is in an eating mood.
I would recommend this book be read along with one or more people, with plans to pause, digest, and discuss along the way. Take the chance that you have to not only contemplate, but to share the experience with someone, and you may give this book more than three stars.
challenging
emotional
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes