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amandanomaly's review against another edition
4.0
Although it was a bit slow and chaotic feeling at first, it quickly picked up and sucked me right in. I couldn't put it down. A very entertaining read!
blurrypetals's review against another edition
2.0
I think my biggest issue with this book as a whole is that it's just way too long. At the end of the novel, there are two characters who are having a conversation that is interrupted no less than 15 different times by a variety of characters and it adds very little to the conversation the two characters are having.
I'll be honest, earlier in this book, I was really enjoying myself. I thought the story, at that point, as it was focused on the telepathy between Briddey and C.B., was really interesting and engaging. It thought the general plot was romantic and I liked the idea of C.B., despite his stupid punny name, teaching Briddey the ropes of telepathy. This was around the library scene.
Then, all of a sudden, Briddey's boyfriend-person Trent is telepathic, and now so is her niece, just kidding it's her whole family, and oh, this girl the doctor knows—
This book gets very exhausting very quickly. The scope goes from a fairly personal story of Briddey and C.B. navigating this phenomenon together to it being about EVERYONE navigating the phenomenon and it hurts the character of this book greatly.
C.B. goes from feeling like a fun if a little cagey guy to a mastermind with all these secrets and ulterior motives and it just feels like Willis is trying so hard for us to believe he's actually cool, no, really, wait until you hear his new plan! Instead, it backfires into making him feel impersonal lame. I also didn't care for Briddey. I understood her skepticism near the beginning of the novel, but there was an early point where her paranoia and undying loyalty to Trent really grated on me. Even when she was presented with clear evidence that C.B. was on her side, she constantly doubted him and believed he was plotting against her when she had no real reason to believe that of him. Ever heard of the benefit of the doubt, Briddey?
A much better book is buried deep within here somewhere. If this had been half as long with 1/3 of the telepaths, it would have been a much cleaner, more gripping story. However, as it stands, it was an overstuffed slog and a chore to finish.
I'll be honest, earlier in this book, I was really enjoying myself. I thought the story, at that point, as it was focused on the telepathy between Briddey and C.B., was really interesting and engaging. It thought the general plot was romantic and I liked the idea of C.B., despite his stupid punny name, teaching Briddey the ropes of telepathy. This was around the library scene.
Then, all of a sudden, Briddey's boyfriend-person Trent is telepathic, and now so is her niece, just kidding it's her whole family, and oh, this girl the doctor knows—
This book gets very exhausting very quickly. The scope goes from a fairly personal story of Briddey and C.B. navigating this phenomenon together to it being about EVERYONE navigating the phenomenon and it hurts the character of this book greatly.
C.B. goes from feeling like a fun if a little cagey guy to a mastermind with all these secrets and ulterior motives and it just feels like Willis is trying so hard for us to believe he's actually cool, no, really, wait until you hear his new plan! Instead, it backfires into making him feel impersonal lame. I also didn't care for Briddey. I understood her skepticism near the beginning of the novel, but there was an early point where her paranoia and undying loyalty to Trent really grated on me. Even when she was presented with clear evidence that C.B. was on her side, she constantly doubted him and believed he was plotting against her when she had no real reason to believe that of him. Ever heard of the benefit of the doubt, Briddey?
A much better book is buried deep within here somewhere. If this had been half as long with 1/3 of the telepaths, it would have been a much cleaner, more gripping story. However, as it stands, it was an overstuffed slog and a chore to finish.
josephine687's review against another edition
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
timinbc's review against another edition
3.0
Clinging to that third star, but by the time I finish writing this maybe not so much.
This is not the first Willis book that I almost flung across the room and gave up on after 50+ pages. Many seem to like her 1940s-style comic touch of having ten characters onstage who are complete airheads. Mary Clare may be the most annoying character ever written, and I include Jar Jar Binks and Foghorn Leghorn in that.
The "satire" continues at the office, where nearly everyone is an airhead gossip.
But just in time the plot got started. Y'see, our heroine is a supposedly smart tech exec. Not sure how she ever made ot to any kind of exec level, because she is a complete nebbish. Naturally, she's hooked up with Trent, the classic fratboy. To say he's sexist suggests that he only downgrades women; it may be that he is just completely selfish, see everyone - men, women and others - as pieces for him to push around the board.
So, Trent wants Briddey to do this special empathy-creating process, which - oops, gotta take this call. Where was I? -- turns out to have unexpected consequences, because - oh, hi, Fred, how's your back today? - telepathy.
C.B. is presented as your classic Comic Book Guy from the Simpsons, except that Willis quickly establishes that he is - Kathleen, I can't talk to you now, and stop blathering, you muppet! - basically decent, and very smart.
Things develop, and we see that C.B. is part genius, part nice guy, and part master manipulator who is playing a deep game of The Ends Justify The Means by not telling anyone anything. In the end, we have to decide for ourselves whether he was doing the right thing by doing that.
It turns out well that Briddey has the initiative of a drugged sloth, because the plot requires C.B. to lead her around like Doctor Who leads his companions.
As always, we realize that the plot is getting awfully top-heavy, and there's really only one way to resolve it. And that is - oh, darn, I should have turned my phone off; not NOW, you silly moo! - well, I can't tell you here, can I?
The plot is carefully worked out, and when Willis isn't deliberately annoying us the story rolls along most of the time.
But with the silly characters, and Trent and Briddey quite annoying too, and the constant interruptions, and the plot that in the end turned out be really quite silly, I'm only just letting that third star stay. And don't get me started on chasing Dr. Verrick all over the planet - more of Willis's attempts to build humour on frustration.
I'm left with the feeling that a couple of other experienced authors might try their hand at solving the problems of telepathy. Maybe we could start, if someone hasn't already done it, by doing for telepathy what Larry Niven did for teleportation in one of his short stories (the stepping discs one), or for Superman's sex life in "Man of Steel, Woman of Kleenex". Maybe several authors have tried, and concluded that you just can't make a story of it unless telepathy is rare and difficult (ref. Niven's kzin telepaths).
This is not the first Willis book that I almost flung across the room and gave up on after 50+ pages. Many seem to like her 1940s-style comic touch of having ten characters onstage who are complete airheads. Mary Clare may be the most annoying character ever written, and I include Jar Jar Binks and Foghorn Leghorn in that.
The "satire" continues at the office, where nearly everyone is an airhead gossip.
But just in time the plot got started. Y'see, our heroine is a supposedly smart tech exec. Not sure how she ever made ot to any kind of exec level, because she is a complete nebbish. Naturally, she's hooked up with Trent, the classic fratboy. To say he's sexist suggests that he only downgrades women; it may be that he is just completely selfish, see everyone - men, women and others - as pieces for him to push around the board.
So, Trent wants Briddey to do this special empathy-creating process, which - oops, gotta take this call. Where was I? -- turns out to have unexpected consequences, because - oh, hi, Fred, how's your back today? - telepathy.
C.B. is presented as your classic Comic Book Guy from the Simpsons, except that Willis quickly establishes that he is - Kathleen, I can't talk to you now, and stop blathering, you muppet! - basically decent, and very smart.
Things develop, and we see that C.B. is part genius, part nice guy, and part master manipulator who is playing a deep game of The Ends Justify The Means by not telling anyone anything. In the end, we have to decide for ourselves whether he was doing the right thing by doing that.
It turns out well that Briddey has the initiative of a drugged sloth, because the plot requires C.B. to lead her around like Doctor Who leads his companions.
As always, we realize that the plot is getting awfully top-heavy, and there's really only one way to resolve it. And that is - oh, darn, I should have turned my phone off; not NOW, you silly moo! - well, I can't tell you here, can I?
The plot is carefully worked out, and when Willis isn't deliberately annoying us the story rolls along most of the time.
But with the silly characters, and Trent and Briddey quite annoying too, and the constant interruptions, and the plot that in the end turned out be really quite silly, I'm only just letting that third star stay. And don't get me started on chasing Dr. Verrick all over the planet - more of Willis's attempts to build humour on frustration.
I'm left with the feeling that a couple of other experienced authors might try their hand at solving the problems of telepathy. Maybe we could start, if someone hasn't already done it, by doing for telepathy what Larry Niven did for teleportation in one of his short stories (the stepping discs one), or for Superman's sex life in "Man of Steel, Woman of Kleenex". Maybe several authors have tried, and concluded that you just can't make a story of it unless telepathy is rare and difficult (ref. Niven's kzin telepaths).
cmhamper's review
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
mushumom124's review
emotional
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.5
I thought the concept was good and was interested to see how it played out but I did not like the main character. She overreacted to everything and she and her family acted really entitled to others people private business. There were some obvious clues that were missed also. I think the author was trying to be funny but it didn’t land for me. I almost didn’t finish. I think had the book been represented different I might have gone into it with different expectations which might have helped.
bookph1le's review against another edition
4.0
I found this book thoroughly delightful. I mean, yeah, there is a lot of extraneous stuff that doesn't strictly need to be in it, but that's also part of the book's charm. It's SO chatty and irreverent and fun, and I never felt like it took itself too seriously. Plus, the romance is sweet and adorable, and I loved the rather madcap feel of the whole thing. I didn't want to put this down because it delighted me so much.
robinhood2000's review against another edition
3.0
I surprisingly kind of liked this one. The technology of the operation and the mind reading was scientifically based and nicely done. Of course the main thing was the romance between Briddey and C.B. Towards the end I thought it got weird with the cooperation with the baddies. Overall enjoyed it but these types of books which are mostly about a person's everyday life I usually don't. The characters just really made up for it.
jennrocca's review against another edition
4.0
Connie Willis is amazing. This book was different from the others I’ve read by her in that it’s set in the heat and now, and it’s a romantic comedy.
If Sophia Kinsella wrote a book that included telepathy, it would be a lot like this.
If Sophia Kinsella wrote a book that included telepathy, it would be a lot like this.
sparklepony503's review against another edition
4.0
Connie Willis blends the truth of the everyday life we're currently living in with the speculative nature of science fiction for Crosstalk, a book that is both enjoyable and at times eye-roll inducing. Overall I really liked the premise of the book. What if there was a way for technology to be more connected to our significant other? What kind of repercussions would there be if something went wrong in the process to become "more connected"?
I flew through this book pretty quickly and I found that it was not difficult to read, even given some of the more abstract concepts that are tackled in the book. It definitely felt more like a romantic comedy when it came to the writing and at times, I couldn't help but feel a little annoyed with the way that the main protagonist Briddey reacted to situations with her boyfriend or C.B. As far as female protagonist go, she wasn't the most empowered, often needing saving and getting herself into situations she could have easily prevented.
I think that this book is worth a read if you do enjoy both romance and science fiction as I do, as long as you're willing to overlook some of the foibles of Briddey.
I flew through this book pretty quickly and I found that it was not difficult to read, even given some of the more abstract concepts that are tackled in the book. It definitely felt more like a romantic comedy when it came to the writing and at times, I couldn't help but feel a little annoyed with the way that the main protagonist Briddey reacted to situations with her boyfriend or C.B. As far as female protagonist go, she wasn't the most empowered, often needing saving and getting herself into situations she could have easily prevented.
I think that this book is worth a read if you do enjoy both romance and science fiction as I do, as long as you're willing to overlook some of the foibles of Briddey.