Science fiction icon Connie Willis brilliantly mixes a speculative plot, the wit of Nora Ephron, and the comedic flair of P. G. Wodehouse in Crosstalk—a genre-bending novel that pushes social media, smartphone technology, and twenty-four-hour availability to hilarious and chilling extremes as one young woman abruptly finds herself with way more connectivity than she ever desired.NAMED ONE OF THE … desired.
NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY NPR
In the not-too-distant future, a simple outpatient procedure to increase empathy between romantic partners has become all the rage. And Briddey Flannigan is delighted when her boyfriend, Trent, suggests undergoing the operation prior to a marriage proposal—to enjoy better emotional connection and a perfect relationship with complete communication and understanding. But things don’t quite work out as planned, and Briddey finds herself connected to someone else entirely—in a way far beyond what she signed up for.
It is almost more than she can handle—especially when the stress of managing her all-too-eager-to-communicate-at-all-times family is already burdening her brain. But that’s only the beginning. As things go from bad to worse, she begins to see the dark side of too much information, and to realize that love—and communication—are far more complicated than she ever imagined.
Praise for Crosstalk
“A rollicking send-up of obsessive cell phone usage in too-near-future America . . . [Connie] Willis’s canny incorporation of scientific lore, and a riotous cast . . . make for an engaging girl-finally-finds-right-boy story that’s unveiled with tact and humor. Willis juxtaposes glimpses of claimed historical telepaths with important reflections about the ubiquity of cell phones and the menace that unscrupulous developers of technology pose to privacy, morality, and emotional stability.”—Publishers Weekly
“An exhilarating and laugh-inducing read . . . one of those rare books that will keep you up all night long because you can’t bear to put it down.”—Portland Book Review
“A fun technological fairy tale.”—BookPage
“One of the funniest SF novels in years.”—Locus
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Connie Willis is such a fun author to read!
Connie Willis never disappoints. She makes a fine point that telepathy ain’t what it’s cracked up to be, and you’ll have a great time following her reasoning. This one’s quite a lot lighter than, say, her London blitz stuff, but I am still hoping to hear more from these characters in the future. I highly recommend.
The iconic speculative fiction writer Connie Willis has done it again with this terrific book about the constant noise and over communicating of our time, and how frightening it can be. An engrossing love story is wrapped up in it, as well as a bit of a mystery. Highly recommended!
This had good potential. Some parts were really good. Moved right along, other parts bogged down and became so tedious that I had to use the speed reading/skimming techniques to finish it. Unique, but then……
Would make a very good vacation read.
It’s Connie Willis, she’s a wonderful writer. As usual she “black boxes” the science so it really isn’t distracting from the main story.
Annoying. I couldn’t finish it.
Unpredictable, clever, funny, beautifully written. This book is up there with Connie Willis’ two or three best novels.
Liked the orinality of the story and the back and forth across the characters. Would have given this five stars but the ending while interesting was a bit unbelievable.
Great fun!
anything Connie Willis writes is worth a read. Excellent author.
Really enjoyed this one.
Connie Willis is one of my favorite writers. This is not one of her time-travel books. It’s more like Bellwether or Passages. She delves into the psychology of her characters and also shows that she’s done considerable research into telepathy. I didn’t give five stars because as others have mentioned, I thought it was a little long, but I’m not sure what I would cut out.
Nice for a change.
This is one of Connie Willis’ best with plenty of twists and turns.