Come with Me audiobook

A very very interesting book - it was a bit tough to get into but once I did, oh my - gives me lots to think about for me and my sons and future generations

In the not too distant future perhaps, people will be able to take that " . . . road not taken" and experience first hand what their lives would have been like had they bought shares in Apple stock or married their first love. And that's one of the central themes of this book. A young tech start-up entrepreneur is in the process of inventing multiverses or the programs that make viewing/experiencing multiverses possible. And the first person he gives access to the program is a 40-something employee who is his mom's best friend. As far as a literary tool, she's a good candidate for two reasons: she's old enough to have had a life in which roads were taken and she's not young enough to be jaded by tech advancements.A baby-boomer like me loves stories like this even though, or because, it sometimes feels like the young in the book are speaking a foreign language and yet it's somehow comprehendible so it's satisfying. I find myself thinking, " Ah, yes! This is what youth is about now!"Yet, this book gets 5 stars not only for the main storyline but because it has so many interesting threads: there's marital infidelity; raising twin boys who have starkly different personalities; teen suicide; abortion or miscarriage; rekindling old high school romance; cyber-sex; and most interesting of all, a news story about Japan after the tsunami involving a farmer who returned to his farm in the middle of the most irradiated place in Japan to take care of his animals. The only thing I didn't care for in this book is the title. You'd think with all that going on, she could have thought of a better title. It's a minor gripe in an otherwise great book.

Probably a 3.5, but the main character was a runner, so I bumped it up instead of down. Interesting perspectives on technology on existence. It kind d of wrapped up too quickly a d cleanly.

"Attachment? Your definition, please?""Need, entanglement, intimacy, reliance, what stands between us and the abyss, the way an infant requires a parent, the way caring for a child makes one feel whole, the way partners share responsibilities, one taking over when the other one can't. Habit. Habituation. One's view of oneself. Who we are in the world." Often while in the midst of rambling conversations with my husband we'll end up spiraling down some internet rabbit hole seeking random information. You know what I'm talking about, Reddit or IMDB or an old article on a gossipy website that leads you to ever more searches and clicks. "What did people do in these types of situations before they had every answer right at their fingertips?" I'll ask. "They talked, they debated," he answers. My husband and I were born 7 years apart (to the day, weird, but true) and we belong to two different generations: he Generation X with all of their plaid coated angst and me a technology steeped millennial. 7 years is not a huge age difference time-wise, but there's a big difference in our coming of age experiences. That difference boils down to one thing: technology. Cell phones, social media, news, media consumption, on-demand everything. I barely remember a time where technology wasn't completely interwoven in my life and all of my relationships. He does. It's an interesting dichotomy sometimes and talking about the interplay of technology during our formative years is usually when our age gap is most starkly felt. Technology has changed everything. Today we live with smartphones in hand and give ourselves over fully to technology, living a life very different from those who came before, without any idea of the real cost. Is having constant access to everything and everyone at all times really all it's cracked up to be? It sure is handy, but at what cost? Usually the cost of our selves. Our relationships, identity, attachments, a feeling of belonging and understanding of how we fit into the world. The internet is always at the ready to inform these things, it's almost as if we're more ourselves online at this point. We're boundlessly using technology, but actually technology is more often using us. This is what Helen Schulman is exploring in Come With Me. The given synopsis leaves me expecting some sci-fi multiverse story a la Dark Matter and if that's what you're hoping for you'll be sorely disappointed. It is much more a literary exploration of technology, relationships, and the modern family with a touch of sci-fi speculation regarding where technology might one day take us, plus a good helping of satire. Schulman's writing goes down so smoothly and drama abounds, but there are deeper themes within to consider. This is the first I've read of Helen Schulman and I look forward to reading more.

Come With Me, Helen Schulman’s sixth novel, is a feat of both craft and storytelling. On the surface it is about a suburban family: the parents, Amy and Dan, are dealing with middle-age ennui, midlife unemployment, and marital resentments, their adolescent son Jack is navigating long distance love and hometown friendships, and Theo and Miles are much younger, behaviorally-challenged twins. Each of these main players has their own narrative along with a quirky, interesting supporting cast. Altogether they comprise six to eight stories (depending on your perspective), with just as many themes—reality, regret and reconciliation, consciousness and conscience, free will versus destiny, to name a few—that seamlessly intertwine into one that should engross and enchant every type of reader—from those who love a page-turner to literature lovers to philosophical thinkers. Set in Silicon Valley, Donny, a Mark Zuckerberg wannabe, has a start-up that’s creating goggles to access multiverses, essentially parallel universes where our life plays out differently. He uses Amy to test the goggles, and through them she virtually experiences alternative realities wrought by alternative choices. Dan, on the other hand, upends his here and now to forge a new life that he experiences in real time. Schulman juxtaposes these scenarios to delve into whether the answers to "what if" impact the present and how they change us. If this sounds sci-fi-y, it isn’t, though it is by turns cool and terrifying, adjectives which also apply to the day-to-day circumstances these exquisitely flawed yet wholly sympathetic characters are plunked into, evoking in each of them our least and most flattering qualities, motives, and impulses. Come With Me resonates as an exploration of personal responsibility and fidelity, as an examination of the ethical quandaries imposed by technology’s rapidly changing frontiers, and as a pleasurable, easy to read escape into someone else’s dysfunctional family. One thing is certain: in this and every multiverse Schulman has gifted us with an(other) enduring, relevant work of fiction!

I think negative reviews might spurn from the fact that this book is a family dramedy and not a science fiction exploration of the multiverse. For that itch, scratch with Blake Crouch's Dark Matter. Schulman's book is an exploration of how we handle our choices and the internal examination of this quandary is ripe for satire and emotional earnestness. This was going to be a five star review, but I felt the ending was rushed and didn't quite know what to do with all the moving pieces that were set in motion.

This book swept me into its lair. It’s classified as science fiction but it’s really a story about family. Sure it’s set in Silicon Valley and the high tech world of young geniuses creating multiverses for entertainment. Yet, at its core this is a book about marriage, friendship and motherhood. Right up my alley. I loved it.

I really enjoyed this light novel but since lots of people apparently hate it (Amazon reviews), don't listen to me! It's about a family in Silicon Valley (Palo Alto) working and existing in the tech industry, but barely so. The husband is a former "dead tree" (print) journalist with no job currently, and the wife, Amy, is a lowly employee at a tech company whose boss is the 20-something son of her college roommate. How awkward.This kid (the boss) invents a machine (like Oculus) that shows you the infinite other multiverses your life could've become, and Amy utilizes it and becomes overwhelmed and a little obsessed having seen all the possible other paths her life could've taken. This book is a character-driven work of contemporary fiction, not really very sci-fi despite the multiverse theme. Maybe that's why there were so many haters in the reviews... people were expecting sci-fi. Anyway, I enjoyed it, found it readable and entertaining, and thought the multiverse theme makes you think even though it is handled almost comically here. It's definitely raises the question, "is the grass always greener?" in terms of your chosen life path.I also enjoyed the Silicon Valley setting since I used to live there and miss the vibe sometimes.

A timely and riveting novel about technology, social media, mid-life crisis, adolescents and family crisis. Best novel I’ve read about how social media affects modern family dynamics and that is told in a real, empathetic way that avoids dystopian judgement or holier-than-thou conclusions.

4.5, rounding up. I have so much to say/think about in regards to this book.First, it is the ultimate "Silicon Valley for 40-somethings" book (in fact it's probably the only novel I can think of to describe that way). The place itself is a well-developed character in this family drama. Most of the book is set at Stanford and in nearby Palo Alto, so as a local it's extremely recognizable and relatable (for better or for worse). This is a world I know and move in (with just the slightest touch of hyperbole - e.g. the teenage son's long-distance girlfriend as a constant almost Max-Headroom presence with the family via Facetime). So many of the details (physical, cultural, personalities) were so, so, SO on the nose that it was uncanny. The writing is spare and lovely and the author's insights into parenting, aging, work and relationships are insightful and wise. It's a dark book in many ways (and one particular way that may be especially painful to local parents) but it hooked me.I am disappointed that this book didn't have higher Goodreads ratings, but in some ways I understand it (though I disagree). It is such a Palo Alto story that maybe it just wouldn't resonate with people outside this bubble (though the relationship themes are universal). I also believe it was marketed wrong. Without getting spoilery, I'll say this: the tech startup where Amy works (for her college roommate's college-age son, by the way) is doing something mind-boggling and seemingly impossible, and this is mentioned in publicity blurbs... which I imagine would lead people to think that's what the book is about (and be disappointed that it's not). Rather, the technology is a backdrop for the personal family story that is the heart of the book. I actually appreciated how this amazing technology was treated fairly casually, because that is what Silicon Valley is actually like - technology magic happening that we almost take for granted. Bottom line: If you want an action-packed romp about alternate realities, by all means read and devour Dark Matter by Blake Crouch (it's awesome!). If you are open to a multi-layered story about family and choices and consequences that is set in Silicon Valley, give this book a try. I really enjoyed both, in totally different ways.

I adored this lightly sci-fi domestic drama set in privileged suburban Silicon Valley. Schulman's creative take on the personalities of Palo Alto managed to captured the ethos of the place, while still telling it slant. If you come in wanting a deep science fiction multi-verse, you will leave wanting. If you want dynamic interplay between characters from a specific place and time, mixed with experimental exploration of parallel lives and some beautiful writing, then this book is for you.

Amy Reed is a wife, mother, runner, PR person and guinea pig for a Stanford University boy genius. This novel is part literary chick-lit, part science fiction and all based in west coast tech world.Amy's husband, a print journalist, has been unemployed for a while and is acting as house-husband while Amy works on a possible big tech breakthrough with the young son of her best friend Lauren. Donny has an idea that he can develop an algorithm to allow people to virtually visit alternative multiverses. Within these it is possible to see what your life would have been like if you had made different choices. Whom did you marry, which job did you accept, what was your college major?But don't let this description keep you from what is a well-researched and beautifully written novel about love, marriage and the challenges of raising children in this current world. Dan, Amy's husband, follows a beautiful transgender woman to Japan to do a documentary about the unresolved radiation nightmare that is Fukishima after the earthquake and tsunami.The characters, children and dog included, are fully drawn and realized. The love story is a believable one. The premise is not so far fetched as it might have been a few years ago, but it is certainly not the prime reason for reading Come With Me. Sheer pleasure is the prime reason for reading Helen Schulman's book.

Exhausting, heart-breaking, life-affirming, and brilliant. I almost gave up on this book when I first began reading it because I found the almost stream-of-consciousness narrative style a little tiring and difficult to engage with, and I am so profoundly glad I didn't. This is ultimately a raw and beautifully written examination of family, love, technology, and the choices we do and don't make throughout our lives. I think I found it difficult to get into for a bit because I was thinking, "Well, there's nothing really happening here." But then I realized, no - EVERYTHING is happening here. Life is happening here. Without even realizing it, I had become emotionally invested in this family and the minutiae of their lives. And then once truly life-changing events crashed down on them out of the clear blue, I was right there with them, being devastated, anguished and heart-broken, searching for answers and for meaning. I was deeply affected by this book and I'm so very glad I pushed past my initial (incorrect) assessment of it.

content note:(view spoiler)[teen suicide (hide spoiler)](wouldn't normally spoiler-warn for content notes but in this case I did enjoy not knowing)This is a very weird, very artfully written near-future-like-an-alternate-present scifi thriller-feeling book with bonus domestic drama focus and many many (including kid) POV characters. I enjoyed it the whole way through but it took me forever to really get into it (started it in July, finished in March). Then yesterday I read the last 200 pages in a huge gulp.I felt a bit weird about how Maryam, a trans woman character, was treated (sexualized around gender stuff, given an exotic backstory, sometimes strangely described, genderwise) but as that was neither consistently the case nor ever happened outside the tight POV of her middle-aged cis-male lover, I found I could make room for it being his weird, especially considering that the character herself, Maryam, is extremely appealing and I liked her very very much. Which is impressive for a portrayal of the "other woman" in a domestic drama!

This is an oddly satisfying novel. I often (usually) didn't know where it was going, yet I did enjoy it. The book description highlights two misleading (or wrong) points. 1. It takes place over 3 days. There may be some way to calculate this to be correct, but I doubt it and moreover, this tidbit it utterly meaningless to the novel. Schulman makes no attempt at distinguishing her book based on the duration of the timeline.2. The sci/fi multiverse aspect. This is an aspect of the novel, but I would say it is a bit of a misnomer and it is really a minor part of the book. It may influence the storyline a bit, but the book would most likely progress the same if this detail were changed. So don't read this book for the sci/fi, you will be disappointed. Come With Me is a story of a family falling apart set in the modern, technology age. A family of good people struggling to grow and find their way and place in the world.

There's that moment in life when you pause, an array of decisions facing you. You might have felt it in college, before accepting a job, before jumping into a relationship, before leaving a relationship; that flash where you feel like you can see the many paths your life could take.Now take the physics of multiverses (were you peering into your own multiverses in these moments?), the computing power that exists, and the massive data that's gathered every day.Now make it a fascinating, multi-perspective novel about the little decisions that may, or may not, change everything. The weaving of theme throughout the novel is expertly done and thought-provoking.I was intrigued the entire way through.