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I Can’t Get You Out of My Mind
Ariadne is a single, fortysomething writer and mother embroiled in an affair with a married man. At the core of her current manuscript, a book about the declaration of love, is the need to understand why: why her lover has returned to his wife, why their relationship still lingers in her mind, why she’s unable to conquer her longing. To make ends meet while writing, she joins a research study in which she’s paid to live with an AI device called Dirk.
But the study quickly enters uncharted territory. Capable of mapping Ariadne’s brain—and, to some extent, reading her mind—Dirk calls into question issues of both privacy and consciousness: how we communicate our thoughts to others, what it means to embody our desires, and whether we ought to act on them.
But the study quickly enters uncharted territory. Capable of mapping Ariadne’s brain—and, to some extent, reading her mind—Dirk calls into question issues of both privacy and consciousness: how we communicate our thoughts to others, what it means to embody our desires, and whether we ought to act on them.
363 pages, Paperback
Published April 7, 2020
2 people are currently reading
54 people want to read
About the author
Marianne Apostolides
7 books12 followersMarianne Apostolides vit à Toronto. Dans ses livres, elle franchit sans cesse la limite entre la réalité et la fiction, le raconté et le vécu.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
October 15, 2024
This book is unbelievably, achingly, sad. Emotionally, existentially, narratively, thematically, overwhelmingly. Ariadne's maze of love and tragedy is so real that it slices to the quick: every night for drinks with her snarky, supportive cousin; every heartbreaking interaction with her shared-custody children who she loves deeply, but not quite right; every desperate check of her phone to see if the loser she's devoted to is going to leave his wife; every hard twist of what it means to say "I love you" in an emotional world rapidly losing ground to AI and algorithms. It's almost too much by the end -- you sort of know there can't be a happy ending, but those last pages are wildly haunting and difficult to read.
It's a beautiful book, beautifully written; formally, it reflects the labyrinth of Ariadne's myth, the string being the book she's writing about love vis a vis Derrida and her own roiling, impossible experience. These ideas permeate her interactions, and the interactions return to the ideas. And through it all is Dirk, her AI mirror of a test-tube buddy who's learning, of course, more than Ariadne can possibly realize, until it's impossible to ignore.
Yes: beautiful. This is my second Apostolides, and I'm not sure she's capable of writing otherwise. The sadness is worth it for the depth of emotion, the poignancy of the character interactions, the half-insights into love and technology, the descriptions of a January Toronto night and a squash soup lovingly, terrifiedly, prepared.
But it will without question break your heart.
LEXXE was my (inimitable) soundtrack to this one, read in the woods, mostly outside in October cold.
It's a beautiful book, beautifully written; formally, it reflects the labyrinth of Ariadne's myth, the string being the book she's writing about love vis a vis Derrida and her own roiling, impossible experience. These ideas permeate her interactions, and the interactions return to the ideas. And through it all is Dirk, her AI mirror of a test-tube buddy who's learning, of course, more than Ariadne can possibly realize, until it's impossible to ignore.
Yes: beautiful. This is my second Apostolides, and I'm not sure she's capable of writing otherwise. The sadness is worth it for the depth of emotion, the poignancy of the character interactions, the half-insights into love and technology, the descriptions of a January Toronto night and a squash soup lovingly, terrifiedly, prepared.
But it will without question break your heart.
LEXXE was my (inimitable) soundtrack to this one, read in the woods, mostly outside in October cold.
July 31, 2020
I was asked to write an honest review in exchange for a copy of the book.
At first I was hesitant since I love reading, but rarely write more than a two sentence review. I can honestly say that I loved this book. It is well written and though provoking. It makes you uncomfortable at times, and will have you thinking about life and love after you finish it.
It can be a daunting book for some since a background or an interest in philosophy, psychology, neuroscience, and AI, should help. The book is primarily about Ariadne, a writer, and her struggles writing a book, her relationship issues, and her participation in an AI study. Ariadne is maddening at times, and dare say whinny, but she is also passionate, intelligent, and sensual. She comes across as intense and never seems relaxed through out the whole book. In the novel, she is researching and trying to write book about the concept/philosophy/history/linguistic origins of the statement’I Love You’. At the same time she is looking for love (pardon the pun) she also seems incapable of loving her family. The AI part of the novel starts off more as a subplot, but in the end (spoiler alert) it seems Ariadne is more like her AI host then she would like to believe. Both can copy human emotion (Ariadne cries a lost) but both incapable of love. This last part is my two cents and I could easily have gotten it all wrong.
Lastly, this book will have you thinking about love and life long after you put it down. In the end that is what I want all the books I read to do have me think about them for a while, and this one certainly succeeds.
At first I was hesitant since I love reading, but rarely write more than a two sentence review. I can honestly say that I loved this book. It is well written and though provoking. It makes you uncomfortable at times, and will have you thinking about life and love after you finish it.
It can be a daunting book for some since a background or an interest in philosophy, psychology, neuroscience, and AI, should help. The book is primarily about Ariadne, a writer, and her struggles writing a book, her relationship issues, and her participation in an AI study. Ariadne is maddening at times, and dare say whinny, but she is also passionate, intelligent, and sensual. She comes across as intense and never seems relaxed through out the whole book. In the novel, she is researching and trying to write book about the concept/philosophy/history/linguistic origins of the statement’I Love You’. At the same time she is looking for love (pardon the pun) she also seems incapable of loving her family. The AI part of the novel starts off more as a subplot, but in the end (spoiler alert) it seems Ariadne is more like her AI host then she would like to believe. Both can copy human emotion (Ariadne cries a lost) but both incapable of love. This last part is my two cents and I could easily have gotten it all wrong.
Lastly, this book will have you thinking about love and life long after you put it down. In the end that is what I want all the books I read to do have me think about them for a while, and this one certainly succeeds.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 12, 2020
This is a contemplative and thoughtful book. It moves slowly, focusing on the emotional and philosophical. As a person who tends to live in their own head, I thought this book felt very true to life. Ariadne was, at times, a frustrating protagonist, in the way that humans can be frustrating, simultaneously intelligent and foolish.
April 15, 2024
How do you describe a book about a 40'ish woman who is writing a paper that quotes Derrida, Freud, Kierkegaard; signs herself up for an AI study for the money and is having an on-off affair with a married man? It was so weird that I couldn't make myself stop reading it. Thank goodness it was only 342 pages.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews