FEBRUARY 2019 - AudioFile
Narrator Sarah Naughton pulls the disparate viewpoints of this audiobook together. Told mostly from the perspective of Amy and Dan, adrift parents of three boys in Palo Alto, the novel looks at the ways technology connects and disrupts us. Naughton uses slight changes in tone to give us tense, underappreciated Amy; arrogant, unemployed Dan, and even heartbreaking flat-voiced youth in the few chapters told from the perspectives of their elementary-aged and high school-aged kids. Amy's examination of her life is helped along by the cutting-edge virtual-reality technology that her 19-year-old boss wants to make the next hot commodity: It lets people see alternate lives. Dan finds himself enchanted by a Web news photographer named Maryam, who is audibly stunning in a bright British accent. All the characters in this novel hunger for lives better than their own. S.T.C. © AudioFile 2019, Portland, Maine
Publishers Weekly
09/03/2018
Schulman (This Beautiful Life) thrillingly probes the ways technology and its sometimes alarming possibilities shape a Palo Alto, Calif., family. In a town teeming with genius Stanford coders and “Silicon Valley royalty,” Amy Reed is at loose ends: she works at a tech startup founded by her college roommate’s son Donny; contends with her children’s misbehavior at school; and suspects that her unemployed husband, Dan, is having an affair. Running is the only way she relieves stress, during which she imagines different, less encumbered lives for herself. But after Donny launches Furrier.com— a VR service that allows users to shuffle through a catalogue of alternate realities (“What would have happened if I’d taken that job? Who would I have met?”)—Amy becomes a test subject, drawing the stuff of her daydreams frighteningly close to the surface. Meanwhile, Dan flies to Japan with his lover to document the nuclear wasteland of Fukushima, regretting having forgone a more daring journalistic career. As the Furrier technology advances—and a tragedy at the local high school shakes the family to its core—the family must assess what their lives are and what, refracted through the promise of technology and alternate paths, they might have been. Adroit and perceptive, Schulman weaves a deeply felt meditation on the anxiety and complexity of modern relationships. (Nov.)
From the Publisher
Smart, timely, and highly entertaining.” — Sarah Lyall, New York Times
“A rich, closely observed story…. Schulman has a gift for vividly tracing the fallout of the domestic realm …. Poignantly captures the wonder, as well as the cluelessness, of how we live now.” — Maureen Corrigan, NPR’s Fresh Air
“The best-selling novelist continues to test the limits of “family” fiction in Come With Me, a high-wire domestic dramedy.…In tart, emotionally intelligent prose, Come delivers social satire with that rarest attribute: a heart. A-” — Entertainment Weekly
“Ingenious... It’s jarring, and a measure of Schulman’s inventiveness and skill, to be reminded that what we’re reading isn’t satire; it’s our everyday.” — O, the Oprah Magazine
“Gripping.” — Esquire
“Strikingly original, compelling and beautifully written…. Has the humor and wit, the careful eye for social detail and astute character development, that made her previous novel a bestseller.” — New York Times Book Review
“Helen Schulman has a knack for social-realist novels that put their finger on the anxieties of the moment.... Schulman’s novel may be precisely located in the moment ... but this is also a book about larger issues like technology and attachment.” — Vogue
“Cutting-edge... tackles fate, love, and the ever-growing influence of technology on our lives.” — Time
“A little science fiction with a lot of domestic drama, tempered by humor and a deeply resonant story about love, desire, and the family ties that bind.” — Marie Claire
“Wise… Playful.” — Minneapolis Star Tribune
“Plays creatively with the universal question, ‘What if?’” — New Yorker
“Think: ‘Sliding Doors’ meets ‘Silicon Valley.’” — The Skimm
“An intriguing look at the road not taken as seen through the eyes of a middle-aged married couple whose paths have diverged.” — InStyle
“Intoxicating and dangerous.” — Refinery29
“A sharp yet compassionate glimpse of the ironic excesses and unanticipated tragedies of the Internet age.” — BBC
“Come with Me is an inventive and incisive novel about the way we live now and the way we might have lived. Helen Schulman is a gifted and generous writer.” — Jess Walter, author of Beautiful Ruins
“With wit and compassion, Helen Schulman explores what happened, what might have happened, and what could still happen in the lives of one family. Clever and sparkling, fascinating and tender, eerily resonant, Come With Me is a novel for everyone who has ever wondered: What if.” — Chloe Benjamin, author of The Immortalists
“Helen Schulman has produced a darkly comic and oddly romantic story about multiverse theory, alternative lives, and the craziness of the tech industry. By turns amusing and provocative, this is one compelling novel.” — Walter Isaacson
“With her hallmark wit, authority, and precisely observed details, Schulman shows us the complexity of mid-life trials amid constant and immersive technology: the regret, the longing, and the undeniable wonder. A compassionate, astute, and irresistibly compelling novel.” — Dana Spiotta, author of Innocents and Others
“Helen Schulman once again displays her gift for mining the human story from the overwhelming complexities of modern times. While deftly exploring multiple realities—from digital relationships and technological disruption, to nuclear power and quantum mechanics— Come with Me transports us to a singular, moving and powerful end.” — Nathan Englander, author of Dinner at the Center of the Earth
“An astute comedy of manners with elements of speculative fiction…. Schulman’s intriguing premise gives depth to this domestic drama. Adding to that, every sentence sparkles, even minor characters have full and surprising lives, and she pulls it all together in an elegant ending.” — Booklist starred review
“Schulman has brought to life a large cast of supporting players with intelligence and humor…. Richly imagined, profound, and of the moment.” — Kirkus, starred review
“Adroit and perceptive, Schulman weaves a deeply felt meditation on the anxiety and complexity of modern relationships…thrillingly probes the ways technology and its sometimes alarming possibilities shape a Palo Alto, Calif., family.” — Publishers Weekly
“A sharply observed, entertaining and occasionally heartrending novel that may help readers appreciate their own singular, similarly flawed realities.” — Shelf Awareness
“Helen Schulman is one of the most gifted writers of our generation.” — Jennifer Egan, author of Manhattan Beach
“An extraordinarily smart, funny morality tale about an ordinary family … doing ordinary things in an ordinary place and time, but with shocking results…. The finest novels, including This Beautiful Life, shove their readers a few degrees off-center, forcing us out of our certainties and into new vantage points from which to view the world we live in and the parts we play in it.” — Boston Globe on This Beautiful Life
“Begins as a titillating, ripped-from-the-headlines beach read, but it ends as an emotionally wrenching social critique…. It works, because it lets the narrative sneak up on you in a way that is both thrilling and satisfying. To our surprise, this isn’t a story we know after all.” — Slate on This Beautiful Life
Minneapolis Star Tribune
Wise… Playful.
New York Times Book Review
Strikingly original, compelling and beautifully written…. Has the humor and wit, the careful eye for social detail and astute character development, that made her previous novel a bestseller.”
Marie Claire
A little science fiction with a lot of domestic drama, tempered by humor and a deeply resonant story about love, desire, and the family ties that bind.
Entertainment Weekly
The best-selling novelist continues to test the limits of “family” fiction in Come With Me, a high-wire domestic dramedy.…In tart, emotionally intelligent prose, Come delivers social satire with that rarest attribute: a heart. A-
Esquire
Gripping.
Time
Cutting-edge... tackles fate, love, and the ever-growing influence of technology on our lives.
Maureen Corrigan
A rich, closely observed story…. Schulman has a gift for vividly tracing the fallout of the domestic realm …. Poignantly captures the wonder, as well as the cluelessness, of how we live now.
the Oprah Magazine O
Ingenious... It’s jarring, and a measure of Schulman’s inventiveness and skill, to be reminded that what we’re reading isn’t satire; it’s our everyday.
Vogue
Helen Schulman has a knack for social-realist novels that put their finger on the anxieties of the moment.... Schulman’s novel may be precisely located in the moment ... but this is also a book about larger issues like technology and attachment.
Sarah Lyall
Smart, timely, and highly entertaining.
New Yorker
Plays creatively with the universal question, ‘What if?’
The Skimm
Think: ‘Sliding Doors’ meets ‘Silicon Valley.’
Jess Walter
Come with Me is an inventive and incisive novel about the way we live now and the way we might have lived. Helen Schulman is a gifted and generous writer.
Shelf Awareness
A sharply observed, entertaining and occasionally heartrending novel that may help readers appreciate their own singular, similarly flawed realities.
Chloe Benjamin
With wit and compassion, Helen Schulman explores what happened, what might have happened, and what could still happen in the lives of one family. Clever and sparkling, fascinating and tender, eerily resonant, Come With Me is a novel for everyone who has ever wondered: What if.
Boston Globe on This Beautiful Life
An extraordinarily smart, funny morality tale about an ordinary family … doing ordinary things in an ordinary place and time, but with shocking results…. The finest novels, including This Beautiful Life, shove their readers a few degrees off-center, forcing us out of our certainties and into new vantage points from which to view the world we live in and the parts we play in it.
Jennifer Egan
Helen Schulman is one of the most gifted writers of our generation.
BBC
A sharp yet compassionate glimpse of the ironic excesses and unanticipated tragedies of the Internet age.
Nathan Englander
Helen Schulman once again displays her gift for mining the human story from the overwhelming complexities of modern times. While deftly exploring multiple realities—from digital relationships and technological disruption, to nuclear power and quantum mechanics— Come with Me transports us to a singular, moving and powerful end.
Booklist starred review
An astute comedy of manners with elements of speculative fiction…. Schulman’s intriguing premise gives depth to this domestic drama. Adding to that, every sentence sparkles, even minor characters have full and surprising lives, and she pulls it all together in an elegant ending.
Refinery29
Intoxicating and dangerous.
Dana Spiotta
With her hallmark wit, authority, and precisely observed details, Schulman shows us the complexity of mid-life trials amid constant and immersive technology: the regret, the longing, and the undeniable wonder. A compassionate, astute, and irresistibly compelling novel.
Slate on This Beautiful Life
Begins as a titillating, ripped-from-the-headlines beach read, but it ends as an emotionally wrenching social critique…. It works, because it lets the narrative sneak up on you in a way that is both thrilling and satisfying. To our surprise, this isn’t a story we know after all.
Walter Isaacson
Helen Schulman has produced a darkly comic and oddly romantic story about multiverse theory, alternative lives, and the craziness of the tech industry. By turns amusing and provocative, this is one compelling novel.
InStyle
An intriguing look at the road not taken as seen through the eyes of a middle-aged married couple whose paths have diverged.
Time
Cutting-edge... tackles fate, love, and the ever-growing influence of technology on our lives.
New Yorker
Plays creatively with the universal question, ‘What if?’
O: the Oprah Magazine
Ingenious... It’s jarring, and a measure of Schulman’s inventiveness and skill, to be reminded that what we’re reading isn’t satire; it’s our everyday.
Booklist (starred review)
An astute comedy of manners with elements of speculative fiction…. Schulman’s intriguing premise gives depth to this domestic drama. Adding to that, every sentence sparkles, even minor characters have full and surprising lives, and she pulls it all together in an elegant ending.
the Oprah Magazine on This Beautiful Life O
A rich, engrossing, and surprisingly nuanced novel exploring timeless questions of guilt and responsibility.
New York Times Book Review on This Beautiful Life (cover review)
Riveting…. As much as this book fiercely inhabits our shared online reality, it operates most powerfully on a deeper level, posing an enduring question about American values.
Jennifer Egan on A Day at the Beach
Helen Schulman is one of the most gifted writers of our generation.
FEBRUARY 2019 - AudioFile
Narrator Sarah Naughton pulls the disparate viewpoints of this audiobook together. Told mostly from the perspective of Amy and Dan, adrift parents of three boys in Palo Alto, the novel looks at the ways technology connects and disrupts us. Naughton uses slight changes in tone to give us tense, underappreciated Amy; arrogant, unemployed Dan, and even heartbreaking flat-voiced youth in the few chapters told from the perspectives of their elementary-aged and high school-aged kids. Amy's examination of her life is helped along by the cutting-edge virtual-reality technology that her 19-year-old boss wants to make the next hot commodity: It lets people see alternate lives. Dan finds himself enchanted by a Web news photographer named Maryam, who is audibly stunning in a bright British accent. All the characters in this novel hunger for lives better than their own. S.T.C. © AudioFile 2019, Portland, Maine
