Anchor Books
Several People Are Typing: A GMA Book Club Pick
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Gerald, a mid-level employee of a New York-based public relations firm has been uploaded into the company's internal Slack channels--at least his consciousness has. His colleagues assume it's an elaborate gag to exploit the new work-from home policy, but now that Gerald's productivity is through the roof, his bosses are only too happy to let him work from ... wherever he says he is. Faced with the looming abyss of a disembodied life online, Gerald enlists his co-worker Pradeep to help him escape, and to find out what happened to his body. But the longer Gerald stays in the void, the more alluring and absurd his reality becomes. Meanwhile, Gerald's colleagues have PR catastrophes of their own to handle in the real world. Their biggest client, a high-end dog food company, is in the midst of recalling a bad batch of food that's allegedly poisoning Pomeranians nationwide. And their CEO suspects someone is sabotaging his office furniture. And if Gerald gets to work from home all the time, why can't everyone? Is true love possible between two people, when one is just a line of text in an app? And what in the hell does the: dusty-stick: emoji mean? In a time when office paranoia and politics have followed us home, Calvin Kasulke is here to capture the surprising, absurd, and fully-relatable factors attacking our collective sanity ... and give us hope that we can still find a human connection.
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Book Details
ISBN:
9780593313534
EAN:
9780593313534
Binding:
Paperback
Pages:
256
Authors:
Calvin Kasulke
Publisher:
Anchor Books
Published Date: 2022-27-09
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Excellent and unique novel. While odd, the premise is intriguing and kept me interested enough to finish it in one sitting. It's a great read for anyone who works in an office, or with a mixture of remote and in-office colleagues. It's science fiction-y but is hilariously relatable. I think it would be best enjoyed by individuals who are tech savvy and familiar with instant messenger/chat rooms. I could definitely see how someone unfamiliar with Slack, Teams, etc., could get lost. There were points where I had to just keep going even if I felt confused because the confusion is part of the plot. I bought this as a recommendation from a funny books list. I didn't find it super laugh out loud funny, but definitely humorous. I actually purchased this for a white elephant, blink book date, and couldn't part with it. I recommended it to all of my millennial friends.
Interesting style using netspeak blurbs to deliver the plot/subplots. Man-caught-in-the-machine is a bit of a sci-fi trope. Interesting to read but not a keeper.
Funny book and a fast read however I did not like the end of the story as it seemed the editors insisted that there be some sort of sexual storyline that really wasn’t needed as the story could have stood on it’s own without that added in at the end like an afterthought. Still it is a good read but be aware as probably not appropriate for younger audiences. Use your own judgement.
Calvin Kasulke hooked me with an excellent premise, this being the author's first book. Unfortunately, the story disintegrated into bawdy predictability. Based on the lackluster conclusion to this story, I'm not sure if I will approach Kasulke's works in the future.Although the story was truly entertaining, with sarcastic barbs approaching the nihilism of a great existential thought experiment, it crumbled at the end. I really wanted to overlook the lazy closure of the story or rationalize the author's choices, but it's a crash-and-burn conclusion to an otherwise entertaining read about the absurdities of corporate jargon masquerading as real human connection.
idk how to feel about what i just read tbh like what was that?? it had some interesting points and themes but overall wtf
