If my husband died, would I want someone to create a program for me so I could talk to him via video chat or email, even in death? I'm not sure about the answer to that question, but that is how Sam's service works. Now mind you, you are not REALLY talking to your loved one, but an algorithm that puts together all of the past video chats and emails the person had online and compiles them into an avatar. So while it really LOOKS like your husband, it's just a computer program. But still. That would be a pretty cool thing to have.But here's the thing. If my husband died, and I talked to him every day, how would I get over the loss of him? How would I move on with my life? Would I ever? Or would I spend all my time indoors, in front of the computer, talking to him? I might lose my friends, my job, MY LIFE. It's kind of an ethical dilemma. Is this company doing a good thing or a bad thing? Should the dead stay dead? I don't know. And that's what this book does. It makes you think.I am more of an emotional person than most, I think. Please don't be offended by this statement. I'm not trying to compliment myself at all. I actual wish I wasn't. Living would be a lot easier if I cared less about the goings on in my life. So I'm just thinking, something like this program, I think it would really mess me up. Scar me for life. Ruin my sanity. As hard as it is, I think I would want to move on. I would really worry that if I had a program like this, it wouldn't help me at all. It would KEEP me from moving on. Ya know what I mean?Now let's talk about the actual book. I did sort of have an issue with the characters. Because I didn't really love the idea of this program, I never really liked the characters. I didn't think the protagonists were doing a good thing. The author never said that they were either. She sort of left it up to the reader to decide, and I completely appreciate that and applaud that good writing decision. But still, it made me not get as close to the characters as I could have. I am totally okay with unlikable characters in books as long as I liked the story, and in this case I did.That brings me to my next topic. The story. It was amazing. I mean seriously. So original and unique. The dialogue is fantastic and the book is extremely well-written. While I normally don't read books like this, I was really interested in the blurb. And I won a copy, so I went for it. And honestly? It was a fantastic idea, and it was executed brilliantly. I don't know what else to say without spoiling things, but if the blurb interests you AND you enjoy adult fiction, I think this is a book that you should read. The other thing you should know is that the book is pretty depressing, but there are some moments of humor and scenes in the book that might inspire you. So it's not all sad, but it IS a book about death and dying. So sometimes I had to put it down for a little bit and read something else.There is a twist to this book. And I can see people getting pissed off by said twist. The thing is though, it was entirely necessary. When you get to that part, if you just take a step back to stop and think about it, you will understand why it had to happen. But you will be shocked and that's all I am saying. I could have gotten mad, and normally something like that would make me throw things, but I understand where the author was coming from and to me, there was only one way this book could wrap up. The author did the right thing.All in all, I think this book is going to be a huge hit. I know I rambled for paragraphs about absolutely nothing, but whatever. The movie rights for this book have already been sold and normally there is a good reason for that. Not always, cough *Beautiful Disaster and 50 Shades* cough, but this should be a good one. It's a beautiful book that will make you think, even if I didn't agree with the message all the time.
