…strikingly original, compelling and beautifully written…Schulman's central preoccupations continue to be the endless complexities of marriage, midlife and family and the ever-pressing need for people, even in Silicon Valley, to connect. Her writing in this new novel has the humor and wit, the careful eye for social detail and astute character development, that made her previous novel…This Beautiful Life, a best seller…Schulman delivers an ending that's ambiguous but hopeful about human connections, tender without being sentimental about fated love. That's about as much as these characters can expect in their out-of-balance world and probably as much as we readers can expect in ours. One of the many triumphs of Come With Me is that Helen Schulman makes it enough.
The New York Times Book Review - Stephen McCauley
[The] characters in this smart, timely and highly entertaining novel all have…troubles with, for lack of a more specific term, technology. This is the shadow under which we operate. What is all this convenience and quick-fix distraction doing to people, to families, to society? Is it bringing people together or driving us apart? Are we using it, or is it using us? These are not new questions. None of us is immune to the siren call of our gadgets, or to the nebulous sense of voluntarily hurtling toward some unforeseen future that is very bad. But Schulman…has wrapped her distress in such an attractive package that the book slides down almost without your noticing its seriousness of purpose…Schulman deftly moves around, telling her story from various points of view…As the book gathers itself toward its conclusion, the crises that strike the family are all too non-virtual. Their machines cannot help them. We can play out multiple scenarios, dream multiple fantasies, write multiple stories in our heads, but in the end we have only onecomplicated, imperfect, hard-to-facereality.
The New York Times - Sarah Lyall
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
Smart, timely, and highly entertaining.
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.
Gripping.
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.
Wise… Playful.
Cutting-edge... tackles fate, love, and the ever-growing influence of technology on our lives.
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.
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-
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.
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
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.
Intoxicating and dangerous.
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
Think: ‘Sliding Doors’ meets ‘Silicon Valley.’
An intriguing look at the road not taken as seen through the eyes of a middle-aged married couple whose paths have diverged.
Helen Schulman is one of the most gifted writers of our generation.
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
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.
A sharp yet compassionate glimpse of the ironic excesses and unanticipated tragedies of the Internet age.
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 .
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.
Plays creatively with the universal question, ‘What if?’
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.
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.
A sharply observed, entertaining and occasionally heartrending novel that may help readers appreciate their own singular, similarly flawed realities.
Cutting-edge... tackles fate, love, and the ever-growing influence of technology on our lives.
Plays creatively with the universal question, ‘What if?’
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.
Delves into the interplay of technology and relationships with edgy, upsetting and tragic results. And yet, the story is also warm, wise and witty.... Come With Me respects the human right to feel more than one thing at one time: Sadness and amusement, love and hate, edginess and safety. It’s the kind of all-encompassing acceptance that makes the book feel both contemporary and classic.
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.
Mind-blowingly brilliant…. Provocative, profound and yes, a little unsettling, Come With Me is about how technology breaks apart and then reconfigures a family, and though it has hints of sci-fi, it’s so beautifully grounded in reality that it seems to breathe. Although it takes place over just three days, what’s so fascinating is that so many lives, and many possibilities, are lived through it. Truly, it’s a novel like its own multiverse.
A rich, engrossing, and surprisingly nuanced novel exploring timeless questions of guilt and responsibility.
the Oprah Magazine on This Beautiful Life O
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.
New York Times Book Review on This Beautiful Life (cover review)
Helen Schulman is one of the most gifted writers of our generation.
Jennifer Egan on A Day at the Beach
★ 2018-11-13
A Palo Alto-set domestic drama with a touch of sci-fi: What if the results of one's life choices could be explored not only in daydreams, but with a virtual reality-type app that generates personal "multiverses"?
Dan and Amy are raising a high school senior named Jack and much younger twins, Miles and Theo. Dan is a journalist who's been unemployed too long; his whole sense of self is crumbling, and he's about to have a midlife crisis involving an attractive reporter and a trip to Japan. Amy works for the 19-year-old son of her best friend back on the East Coast. The boy has started a tech company out of his dorm at Stanford, working on a system for exploring multiverses called Furrier.com (his grandma often told his grandpa she should have married the furrier) and using Amy as a guinea pig. Jack has a serious girlfriend who lives in Texas; they spend all their waking hours together via Skype and FaceTime, and she even has dinner with his family. The twins, known as Thing One and Thing Two, are both having issues at elementary school. Around these main characters, Schulman (This Beautiful Life , 2011, etc.) has brought to life a large cast of supporting players with intelligence and humor, even as the story veers pretty suddenly into tragedy in the final third. Even if the workings of the gizmo that allows the user to experience multiverses are never really clear or believable, the questions it raises are profound and engaging and they're woven into the "regular" part of the plot as well, with characters ruminating over the consequences of decisions past and present, great and small. There are a formidable number of elements crammed into this novel, mostly successfully—nuclear disaster in Japan feels a little off-track, while teen suicide clusters in San Jose are on the money—but Schulman is just such a good writer, and the things she's thinking about are so interesting, you'll stay with her right until the end.
Richly imagined, profound, and of the moment.