I saw this novel at Barnes and Nobel a couple months ago and was intrigued by its cover, then my friend allowed me to borrow it. At first I liked it; the main character was kind of a loser, sure, but he had some qualities that made him interesting, such as working at a twenty-four hour bookstore. Now, I thought this would be about the people who came to this bookstore, but I was very wrong.
Who would have thought a novel about books would actually be a guise for the Google franchise? Or, even worse, a meaningless relationship with an obsessive Googler?! I mean, I was stunned and disappointed at the path this novel turned down! It could have been a good book.
Yet, there were other qualities that made it such an unpleasant read. The first person narrative was wholly unappetizing as the main character had a boring voice that made him sound unappealing, fat, lazy, and stupid. I imagined him as a whiney middle schooler, but thirty years old. The other characters were just as unappealing--more so, even: a hunky, rich guy; an Old guy who wants nothing more then for everyone to be happy; and a bad guy that is just doing his job!
I was further disappointed in the meld between books and technology: done the right way it could have been a good story, however the use of name brand items detracted from its fluency. The timeline was off, the characters were off putting, and the writing was almost there. Overall, this novel did not make my top 50 list, even though I did read it until the end. I would rate it Two out of Five stars.
Other Reviews:
"Sloan effortlessly marries new ideas with old without realizing that all too often, the cleverness overwhelms the story."--NY Times, Roxane Gay
"A winning literary adventure...Sloan grounds his jigsaw-like puzzle plot with Big Ideas about the quest for permanence in the digital age."--Entertainment Weekly