Title: Several People are Typing

Author: Calvin Kasulke

Publisher: Doubleday 2021

Genre: Scifi

Pages: 256

Rating: 4/5 stars

Reading Challenges:

Gerald, a mid-level employee of a New York–based public relations firm has been uploaded into the company’s internal Slack channels—at least his consciousness has. His colleagues assume it’s an elaborate gag to exploit the new work-from home policy, but now that Gerald’s productivity is through the roof, his bosses are only too happy to let him work from ... wherever he says he is.
 
Faced with the looming abyss of a disembodied life online, Gerald enlists his co-worker Pradeep to help him escape, and to find out what happened to his body. But the longer Gerald stays in the void, the more alluring and absurd his reality becomes. Meanwhile, Gerald’s colleagues have PR catastrophes of their own to handle in the real world. Their biggest client, a high-end dog food company, is in the midst of recalling a bad batch of food that’s allegedly poisoning Pomeranians nationwide. And their CEO suspects someone is sabotaging his office furniture. And if Gerald gets to work from home all the time, why can’t everyone? Is true love possible between two people, when one is just a line of text in an app? And what in the hell does the :dusty-stick: emoji mean?

I am still trying to understand just what I read… I had no real idea of what was in this book, but saw it listed amongst “weird scifi books.” Those are usually my jam, so I snapped it up. I started reading this strange novel told entirely over Slack messages and ended up finishing it in one sitting. I could not put it down! This is part comedy, part horror, with a lot to say about modern workplace conventions and relationships. I loved the entire Gerald storyline and the inter-office politics. I was less excited about the stupid office romance angle. But what I really wanted was more about the wolves and the amulet. I am okay with unanswered questions in my books, but these two developments were just hung out to dry by the end. I wanted just a bit more!

Next up on the TBR pile: