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A review by laurenkd89
Universal Love: Stories by Alexander Weinstein
5.0
Universal Love is a collection of short stories that hits all the marks of what a short story collection can - and should - be. So often, collections like this are off on something, something hard to put a finger on, like flow, length, tone, or message. But this book is inventive, moving, human, and captivating all at once. Not only does Weinstein construct haunting near-future worlds of dystopian technology, but he connects each of them to a lesson about true human connection. What we gain in efficiency due to technological upgrades, we may lose in empathy and interpersonal interactions - the things that make us human.
Weinstein creates brilliant worlds of future tech. I can visualize all of these technologies existing in some form - an app that reconstructs deceased people in hologram form programmed with their personalities so you never truly lose them; a world in which “patching” memories to selectively forget things is the new club drug; a video game that allows teenagers and middle-aged men to kill in real life via weaponized droids controlled by game players; a service called “comfort porn” that allows you to insert your name and receive videos of friends welcoming you and making you feel part of a group. However, he doesn’t go overboard with these conceits. They are always a backdrop to the stories, providing mere context for the real stories of their effects on the people living in these worlds. Each story has a new and inventive concept, but Weinstein doesn’t let it carry the plot or overburden the reader with newfangled tech names and histories. Quite the opposite actually - I’m impressed at the restraint he exercises in choosing what lesson he wants the reader to walk away with, what relationships he’s commenting on, and the perfect moment to end the story.
I loved the length of the book and the length of each story within. Some short story collections make each chapter so short that you don’t even connect to the plot while reading it; some make each story so long that they could be novellas. Weinstein draws the story out just enough for you to understand the technological conceit and get to know the characters, getting the pace just right. You anticipate the moment of ending as a natural conclusion of the plot, but he still snaps the story closed with some moving, reflective moment. I needed a few minutes to really digest each story after it ended, particularly since you don’t see the same tech or same characters in any two chapters.
Side note: I often hear books like this touted as the new Black Mirror, which used to grab my attention as someone hungry for more of that addictive show. But I was let down too many times, and now that reference is so overused it means next to nothing to me. However, Universal Love is the first book with this tagline that actually lived up to the show. Not just because I can see the tech in these stories existing in the show, but because the best episodes of Black Mirror do the same thing that Weinstein does here: they comment on technology’s effect on humanity, what it does to our minds and souls and relationships. The technology almost becomes a side character, just another factor in the main characters’ lives.
I can’t recommend these stories enough - this is a quick read, but packs a punch. Thank you to Henry Holt & Co. and Netgalley for the Arc.
Weinstein creates brilliant worlds of future tech. I can visualize all of these technologies existing in some form - an app that reconstructs deceased people in hologram form programmed with their personalities so you never truly lose them; a world in which “patching” memories to selectively forget things is the new club drug; a video game that allows teenagers and middle-aged men to kill in real life via weaponized droids controlled by game players; a service called “comfort porn” that allows you to insert your name and receive videos of friends welcoming you and making you feel part of a group. However, he doesn’t go overboard with these conceits. They are always a backdrop to the stories, providing mere context for the real stories of their effects on the people living in these worlds. Each story has a new and inventive concept, but Weinstein doesn’t let it carry the plot or overburden the reader with newfangled tech names and histories. Quite the opposite actually - I’m impressed at the restraint he exercises in choosing what lesson he wants the reader to walk away with, what relationships he’s commenting on, and the perfect moment to end the story.
I loved the length of the book and the length of each story within. Some short story collections make each chapter so short that you don’t even connect to the plot while reading it; some make each story so long that they could be novellas. Weinstein draws the story out just enough for you to understand the technological conceit and get to know the characters, getting the pace just right. You anticipate the moment of ending as a natural conclusion of the plot, but he still snaps the story closed with some moving, reflective moment. I needed a few minutes to really digest each story after it ended, particularly since you don’t see the same tech or same characters in any two chapters.
Side note: I often hear books like this touted as the new Black Mirror, which used to grab my attention as someone hungry for more of that addictive show. But I was let down too many times, and now that reference is so overused it means next to nothing to me. However, Universal Love is the first book with this tagline that actually lived up to the show. Not just because I can see the tech in these stories existing in the show, but because the best episodes of Black Mirror do the same thing that Weinstein does here: they comment on technology’s effect on humanity, what it does to our minds and souls and relationships. The technology almost becomes a side character, just another factor in the main characters’ lives.
I can’t recommend these stories enough - this is a quick read, but packs a punch. Thank you to Henry Holt & Co. and Netgalley for the Arc.