Tell the Machine Goodnight: A Novel

Author: Williams, Katie

Edition: First Edition, First Printing

Number Of Pages: 304

Details:

FINALIST FOR 2018 KIRKUS PRIZENAMED ONE OF THE "BEST LITERARY FICTION OF 2018' BY KIRKUS REVIEWS"Sci-fi in its most perfect expression…Reading it is like having a lucid dream of six years from next week, filled with people you don't know, but will." —NPR"[Williams’s] wit is sharp, but her touch is light, and her novel is a winner." – San Francisco Chronicle"Between seasons of Black Mirror, look to Katie Williams' debut novel." —Refinery29 Smart and inventive, a page-turner that considers the elusive definition of happiness. Pearl's job is to make people happy. As a technician for the Apricity Corporation, with its patented happiness machine, she provides customers with personalized recommendations for greater contentment. She's good at her job, her office manager tells her, successful. But how does one measure an emotion? Meanwhile, there's Pearl's teenage son, Rhett. A sensitive kid who has forged an unconventional path through adolescence, Rhett seems to find greater satisfaction in being unhappy. The very rejection of joy is his own kind of "pursuit of happiness." As his mother, Pearl wants nothing more than to help Rhett--but is it for his sake or for hers? Certainly it would make Pearl happier. Regardless, her son is one person whose emotional life does not fall under the parameters of her job--not as happiness technician, and not as mother, either. Told from an alternating cast of endearing characters from within Pearl and Rhett's world, Tell the Machine Goodnight delivers a smartly moving and entertaining story about the advance of technology and the ways that it can most surprise and define us. Along the way, Katie Williams playfully illuminates our national obsession with positive psychology, our reliance on quick fixes. What happens when these obsessions begin to overlap? With warmth, humor, and a clever touch, Williams taps into our collective unease about the modern world and allows us see it a little more clearly.

Reviews:

"[Williams’s] wit is sharp, but her touch is light, and her novel is a winner." – San Francisco Chronicle

"The book feels like an extended episode of ‘Black Mirror,’ and certainly has that show’s taste for dark humor and high-concept philosophizing around our tech addition, though what raises it above another clever-clever slab of science fiction is that its characters are complex and contradictory and real...Williams offers a master class in not losing sight of the human element… the kind of story that – in the subtlest of ways – can instruct us, and nourish us, and make us want to live and love a little better."—Matt Haig,  New York Times Book Review

"Allow me to introduce you to your new favorite writer. Katie Williams plunges into our obsession with technology and its effect on our lives and dreams, and emerges with miraculous gifts for us—she unwraps the present and the future."  —James Hannaham, award-winning author of  Delicious Foods: A Novel

"[A] vivid, clever debut." 

— O, the Oprah Magazine

"With its large heart, compelling cast of characters and frighteningly-not-far-from-reality technology,  Tell the Machine Goodnight is a story that will compel you to keep reading, while also allowing you the space to meditate on the understanding that happiness looks different for everyone." 

— PopMatters"Sci-fi in its most perfect expression…Reading it is like having a lucid dream of six years from next week, filled with people you don't know, but will." —NPR

"Inventive debut." 

— Real Simple  

"Between seasons of  Black Mirror, look to Katie Williams' debut novel." 

— Refinery29 

"Delightfully weird and humorous...a fascinating exploration of our increasing reliance on technology and our obsession with finding a quick fix for everything." 

— Shondaland"So fundamentally human that it transcends time—our insatiable need to feel better, to decipher whatever happiness means." 

—BookPage

"Williams's debut, a savvy take on technology's potential and its moral f...

EAN: 9780525533122

Release Date: 19-06-2018

Languages: English

Item Note: Great shape- pages are unmarked and sharp.Has a remainder mark. Hardcover Used - Like New Ships fast! 2018First Edition, First Printing

Item Condition: UsedLikeNew

Binding: Hardcover