In last week’s blog I talked about the power of the novel to carry us into other lives and change our perspective on our own. I also talked about my own preference for characters confronting the crises of contemporary life. Laurie Frankel’s novel, Goodbye For Now, is an excellent example of both. You will be uplifted and carried along by her quick sharp humor through an insightful exploration of love, loss, and the power of the virtual world.
Laurie Frankel’s Seattle software engineer, Sam, works for an on-line dating company. A self-derisive geek who fears he will never find true love, Sam has little faith in the forms clients fill out, for people lie about themselves—lie to themselves, in fact. When ordered to find an algorithm for love, Sam, wiser than he thinks he is, develops a way to measure what people say against what they do, believing this will reveal what people really are. To his amazement, the algorithm takes him to Meredith—his long sought soul mate.
Enchanted by his own brilliance and deeply in love, Sam’s life is transformed, and when Meredith’s much-loved grandmother, Livie, dies, he is lured into far deeper waters. He develops an algorithm that creates a virtual Livie, thus relieving Meredith’s grief. To everyone’s amazement, it works.
Together, Meredith and Sam launch, with great success, an on-line medium service that allows clients to talk with their dearly departed. The twists, turns, and unintended consequences of this venture carry us (and their clients) further and further into the world of the virtual and its inevitable clashes with reality. But when tragedy strikes Sam, himself, the distinction between virtual and real (Sam and Not Sam) become blurred and frightening—for Sam and the reader alike. We almost despair before Sam is jolted back into reality, and he returns changed.
Laurie Frankel begins this story as comedy and sustains the humor throughout, though this story of a technological adventure involves real world tragedies, serious questions about loss, the portrayal of a culture that believes in avoiding pain at all cost, and the heartfelt exploration of human engagement and love. It is a magical mix as well as a very credible study in the power of the virtual.
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