Crosstalk in Around the Year in 52 Books

Jul 19, 2020 John Warner rated it really liked it

Shelves: humor, science-fiction, romantic-comedy

Many are bombarded by too much information from our continual connectivity to media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, etc. You would think that this would be sufficient for this romantic comedy’s protagonist Briddey Flanagan, who works at a small communications technology firm, but evidently not. She is already plagued by an intrusive Irish family, including a matchmaking aunt and two sisters, one who is seeking her advice in finding a boyfriend and the other who is an overbearing mo Many are bombarded by too much information from our continual connectivity to media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, etc. You would think that this would be sufficient for this romantic comedy’s protagonist Briddey Flanagan, who works at a small communications technology firm, but evidently not. She is already plagued by an intrusive Irish family, including a matchmaking aunt and two sisters, one who is seeking her advice in finding a boyfriend and the other who is an overbearing mother to a precocious nine-year-old daughter. If these daily interruptions are not enough, Briddey and her (soon to be fiancé) boyfriend, Trent, decide to undergo EED surgery. EED surgery is a minor neurological procedure to enhance empathetic receptivity with your partner. Many are recommending that she not undergo this surgery, especially her family, the Daughters of Ireland, and, C.B. Schwartz, the geeky research acquaintance who works for the same company in an office in the basement that he rarely leaves. The latter believes that there might be unforeseen consequences.

When Trent and Briddey undergoes the surgery, each in separate rooms of the hospital, are cautioned that the procedure might not yield the desired results for several hours. However, before this connection is made, Briddey discovers that she is telepathic connected to C.B. Since telepathy should not be occurring, I guess this is the unforeseen circumstances. And events go downhill from there.

Although Connie Willis is a prolific science fiction writer, she has always wanted to a write a romantic comedy. Her skill in character development is easily displayed in this genre as in her usual writings. The comedic moments are presented fast and furiously which I found enjoyable. I found myself quickly flipping through pages to discover the next humorous dilemmas share by Briddey and C.B., Trent, and Briddey’s family. If you would like a light, enjoyable read without too much science fiction this would be a good choice. ...more

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Sep 09, 2017 Yasmin Khayal rated it it was ok

I liked the story's premise which asks what if the constant barge of information got increasingly overwhelming and threatened privacy that you would be afraid of even thinking your thought. However the novel suffered from a few problems that I couldn't get over. First, it had too much unnecessary dialogue and writing and needed a tighter edit. It could've easily been edited to 30% less than it was and the story wouldn't have suffered for it. I found myself skipping pages of what seemed like endl ...more

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