I tried hard to tie the lead-in to the chapter with the chapter content, and most of the time, I really didn't "see" it. This novel had so much potential, which is why its bizarre unraveling felt like a sort of betrayal, like I had been cheated.

But many of the philosophical thought experiments are around consciousness and the nature of reality, and the novel, while retaining this very human element, heads into very different stylistic territory by the end, rather Matrix like, although the author has also acknowledged the inspiration of The End of Mr. Other stories are magical or science fictional, and a couple are very philosophical- focused primarily on conveying a single experimental idea. And you could certainly find it more emotionally engaging than I did too- I really do hope you’ll enjoy the read when you get to it! The characters journey across the different chapters to tell us their stories, both the possible ones and the fantasies that unexpectedly merge with reality. To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average.

Ward holds degrees in philosophy and literature and is currently studying for her PhD on the use of narrative in philosophy of mind- and in her book, she puts these qualifications to work. On one level, it’s a family story about a married couple Rachel and Eliza and their son Arthur conceived IUI with help from their gay friend Hals whose partner Greg is an American space engineer. It is an act of such breath-taking imagination, daring and detail that the journey we are on is believable and the debate in the mind non-stop.

I suppose once the AI character comes into play an argument could be made for ‘zero emotion’ to make sense with the story, but even so it’s not an effective tactic to keep the reader engaged! From there each chapter continues to be based around the thought experiment which opens it – albeit (like the opening chapter) in a not always linear way. For instance, the ant, new to human feelings, describes what he feels when Rachel discloses her cancer diagnosis to her mother, saying the “burden of this disguise has worn us both down, wrapped, it seems, in hope and desire, bitter memories and the almond tang of sugar and death. Each chapter fits through a philosophical thought experiment which adds a whole new dimension and diversity.If I had to like it to another author in would say David Mitchell, but the resemblance to his work is fleeting. Instead, I settled for doing a few jumping jacks and pacing around the kitchen for a bit until I exhausted myself.