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A review by amyrhoda
Machines Like Me by Ian McEwan
emotional
funny
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
This is a fine book. It's about a guy in his early 30s who is kind of aimless. When he gets a big inheritance, he decides to spend it on one of the first twenty-five models of a lifelike robot. He decides to involve his cute upstairs neighbour in the setup process for the robot, as a way to get closer to her. Things get weirder from there as the three of them negotiate their lives together.
The book is set in an alternate version of the 80s. Alan Turing is still alive and technology is more advanced than it is in this timeline's present, but politics are still a shitshow. I will be honest, I don't know enough about 80s UK politics to know what in this book is a digression from reality — people who know more will probably understand the implications of the differences a lot better than I did.
The author does yeoman's work explaining machine learning, the P versus NP problem, and other computer science concepts. They were a good refresher for me, but I don't know what this book would be like if you didn't already have some understanding of them. Probably fine, I guess; you can skim over the technical stuff and still understand the implications.
I think this would be a good book for a discussion group — I think there are lots of ideas in the book that would be interesting to chew over together. And not just ideas about technology, but literary stuff: metaphors and allusions and whatnot. (I read the book when I was recovering from some infection so my brain only registered that there might be something interesting there, it didn't go any further.)
I powered through this book in a couple of days and it kept drawing me back in, but it didn't particularly move me or make me think. It would likely have been a more thought-provoking read if I hadn't been so out of it.
The book is set in an alternate version of the 80s. Alan Turing is still alive and technology is more advanced than it is in this timeline's present, but politics are still a shitshow. I will be honest, I don't know enough about 80s UK politics to know what in this book is a digression from reality — people who know more will probably understand the implications of the differences a lot better than I did.
The author does yeoman's work explaining machine learning, the P versus NP problem, and other computer science concepts. They were a good refresher for me, but I don't know what this book would be like if you didn't already have some understanding of them. Probably fine, I guess; you can skim over the technical stuff and still understand the implications.
I think this would be a good book for a discussion group — I think there are lots of ideas in the book that would be interesting to chew over together. And not just ideas about technology, but literary stuff: metaphors and allusions and whatnot. (I read the book when I was recovering from some infection so my brain only registered that there might be something interesting there, it didn't go any further.)
I powered through this book in a couple of days and it kept drawing me back in, but it didn't particularly move me or make me think. It would likely have been a more thought-provoking read if I hadn't been so out of it.