Calvin Kasulke: Several People Are Typing (2022, Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group)
English language
Published 2022 by Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group.
If you've ever had the displeasure of using Slack or Discord to converse with your coworkers, this book's for you. It's equal parts hilarious and thought provoking. Well worth the short read!
I’m just a bot though!
Gerald doesn’t have legs anymore, he’s trapped inside Slack!
This story is told entirely in Slack Messages, if you need more help, try our help center for loads of useful information about this story!
I’ve searched for more information about the dead dogs and the howling outside, maybe these articles will help:
3, 3.5 stars. This was a breeze to read and an entertaining time. I found the slack chatter very believable, which was probably harder to pull off than it seems!
A hilarious read of its time, stuck between COVID, wfh & always-online Slack-based work
This is the funniest book I've ever read. If you spend any work time on Slack (or just on the internet in general), it's worth a read. I laughed out loud, something I never do when reading.
Lowkey afraid of Slackbot now
Basically brilliant
A modern variation on the epistolary novel. The voices are very authentic, the plot scary and funny and wild. A very quick read, but recommended!
About halfway through I was very impressed - sure it's gimmicky, but the characters were fun, the chat was extremely relatable, and the idea was being executed in an engaging way - but as it reached the end it felt like the limitations of the conceit started strangling the potential of the story.
Worth checking out for a fun light read.
This book was LOL funny at parts, and I liked that the entire thing was written as a series of Slack messages. Kasulke did a good job capturing the ridiculousness of workplace conversation (both on topic and off) and the nuances of inside jokes and emojis. That alone could be enough to make an enjoyable reading experience, but he goes beyond that as this book tackles some bigger/existential questions, such as, "what does it mean to have a body?" and "where's the line between our physical and virtual presences?"
Would definitely read more by this original author.
