Crosstalk

The premise of the book is that technology has created too much communication. You might expect a thoughtful Black-Mirror-like reflection on our tech addictions and anxieties. Instead, you get a story written by someone who apparently does not know how Facebook works. Or Twitter.

At one point, one of the characters says, "I'm guessing you don't want to be seen coming home on a Sunday morning dressed like that... Especially since one of your neighbors is bound to be on Facebook." How does Connie Willis think Facebook works??? It's truly astounding.

In another section, a character has invented a way to delete tweets. That's right. Delete tweets. Which you can do right now. The characters also seem to think that you send a tweet like a text message, to an individual person. In which case, having trouble deleting them actually makes some sort of sense? I don't know, but I tell you, it is fascinating.

Also, the main character, Briddey, turns off her phone when she doesn't want to talk to someone, and then is unable to use her phone for other things like directions. This is actually part of the plot.

There are other flaws: Briddey has no concept of boundaries. She has given most of the other characters in the book the KEYS TO HER HOME. Part of the plot hinges on her not being able to go home because someone whom she is avoiding might be there. (MAYBE DON'T GIVE THEM YOUR KEYS.) What's more, soon after this, she says that it would be been easier for her to communicate with someone if she had given them a key to her apartment and then put a note on her bed. REALLY.

More: The love interest continuously lies to her for her own good and this is deemed acceptable.

Even more: Briddey seems incapable of sorting out "look what you made me do"-type arguments and believes she's the cause of other people's bad actions. She acts like an abuse victim, but the book doesn't seem to notice.

I love Connie Willis, she's one of the authors on my "will buy anything they write" list. So I was delighted to discover I'd somehow missed the publication of Crosstalk in 2016, and immediately bought the e-book!

This is unlike her previous books in many ways; it's essentially a romantic comedy, where her earlier books are much more oriented around science/speculative fiction in the plot. I still enjoyed it, but that does mean that if you're looking for another Doomsday Book or Bellwether, you may not necessarily enjoy this one too.

Briddey (Bridget) is our heroine, she's a telecommunications executive working for a company trying to compete with Apple in the smartphone market. She's currently dating co-worker Trent, and supposedly they are head over heels in love with each other even though every time we see him he can barely seem to pay attention to her over taking and making business phone calls. But, as the story opens, he has proposed the next big step in their relationship - an EED implant. That's Emotional Enhancement Device; this small electronic implant is supposed to allow emotionally linked couples to sense each others' emotions, enhancing feelings of love and security etc. Obviously, things go unexpectedly wrong, throwing Briddey into a chaotic plot line for the rest of the book as she tries to figure out what's gone wrong, who's been lying to whom, and how to sort everything out and protect everyone she cares about.

I found the first part of the book a bit hard to get into, to be honest, mainly because Briddey is portrayed as pretty much incompetent and an idiot. She's supposed to be a high powered telecomms executive with her own secretary, yet she can't manage to not answer the phone when someone annoying is calling, and can't seem to stand up for herself in any respect? I realize Willis is making a point about the already overwhelming level of connectedness we now have, with decreasing privacy and constant family interruptions all the time, but it was exaggerated to a point I really didn't have a lot of patience for Briddey. If she couldn't solve those problems herself, she definitely shouldn't have been in the job she was apparently in.

However, once the EED experiment starts to go awry and the real plot begins, things began to get more interesting as Briddey gets out of the office environment and starts coping with the ongoing chaos. I mean, she's still pretty useless, but at least she has an actual excuse now. New characters are also introduced who turn out to be more interesting than Briddey is, notably CB (the basement-dwelling tech genius at work who'd cautioned her not to get the EED) and Maeve (her preternaturally computer-hacking-talented niece).

Although the plot ostensibly hinges on the technology of the EED and the telecommunications industry, and gets into some theoretical details about the possibility of genetic links to latent telepathic ability, it's really not science fiction but pure fantasy. All the "science" about telepathy and how it might be working is really just handwaving for "magic happens here", and even all the pseudoscience technobabble introduced while they're trying to work out solutions is just ignored in the end anyway with a deus-ex-machina ending that basically boils down to "and then, all the problems were fixed" with not even an attempt at an explanation of how. Definitely not Willis's strongest ending.

So why is it still 4 stars? Well, because I really enjoy Willis' writing; she writes well, and even when she's writing romantic fantasy I still find it very readable (and there's nothing wrong with romantic fantasy anyway). There are still some interesting ideas raised that are worth thinking about, such as what actual telepathy would really be like, and what would actual telepaths have to deal with. There are also some creepier overtones that I need to think about a bit more possibly on a second reread, because although there's a happy romantic ending, just how fair is it if a telepathic person falls for someone whose every thought they can read? Even with the best of intentions, how could they not use that insider information to influence them to their advantage? I feel as if there's kind of a creepy undertone that could be read here if I went back and reread the book with the full knowledge I now have. I'm not sure I want to, because I enjoy a happy romance as much as anyone, but I suspect there are parts that could definitely seem less romantic and more creepy if I thought about it. And I wonder also if that's intentional on Willis's part, because her characters and plots are not usually so straightforward and without shadow.

Anyway, don't read this if you want science fiction, but enjoy it if you like a nice romantic fantasy with heavy telepathy and light sexual tension.

My original note said "Connie Willis wrote a new novel! It's about telepathy and our overcommunicated world! " It’s also about helicopter mothers, social media, Joan of Arc, sugared cereals, Bridey Murphy, online dating, zombie movies, Victorian novels, and those annoying songs you get stuck in your head and can’t get rid of!" I want it RIGHT NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" So, let's be clear: I think it was literally impossible for any book to match how high my expectations got.

And it is a good book: Connie Willis at her Connie Willis-est: using some soft sci-fi, comedy of manners and a heavy dose of rom-com to develop a pointed parable on Issues of Our Time (in this case, cellphones and over-connectivity.) And it's fun, but perhaps because I've read basically everything she's ever written, it felt like re-reading a Willis novel, rather than its own brand new thing. I knew the beats, I could predict what would happen at each turn. And it was warm and cozy and fun, but not new.

Also, the genetics were crap. That's not what recessive means and the telepathic pedigrees definitely weren't compatible with an AR gene. Next time, go for autosomal dominant with incomplete penetrance -- great for most hand-wavy situations. Even better, Connie, next time you want to write a novel on the genetics of telepathy? Call me! I still love you!

[b:Bellwether|24985|Bellwether|Connie Willis|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1431535122s/24985.jpg|1194887] floored me when I first read it twenty years ago; it’s still one of my favorite works, one I reread and enjoy periodically. Deliciously absurd, smart, tender, and eminently believable. We recognize the characters and their situations.

I’m crushed to report that Crosstalk isn’t so much absurd as ridiculous. Uncomfortably so: imagine a three-hour-long Fawlty Towers movie, the manic pace, the constant deceptions and miscommunications; make the characters flatter, driven more by plot requirements than anything internal; toss in periodic doses of improbable magic; that’ll give you a sense of whether you want to read this or not. I found it painful. You know the show, don’t tell rule? Willis tells too much without enough showing; the reader is simply dragged along for a too-long ride.

But, enough. We all have our duds, I won’t spend too long griping; I write this simply as a heads-up to any friends considering reading Crosstalk. Try one of her other books instead.