Touch
Written by Courtney Maum
Narrated by Kristen Sieh
3.5/5
()
Currently unavailable
Currently unavailable
About this audiobook
Sloane Jacobsen is one of the world's most powerful trend forecasters (she was the foreseer of "the swipe"), and global fashion, lifestyle, and tech companies pay to hear her opinions about the future. Her recent forecasts on the family are unwavering: the world is over-populated, and with unemployment, college costs, and food prices all on the rise, having children is an extravagant indulgence.
So it's no surprise when the tech giant Mammoth hires Sloane to lead their groundbreaking annual conference, celebrating the voluntarily childless. But not far into her contract, Sloane begins to sense the undeniable signs of a movement against electronics that will see people embracing compassion, empathy, and "in-personism" again. She's struggling with the fact that her predictions are hopelessly out of sync with her employer's mission and that her closest personal relationship is with her self-driving car when her partner, the French "neo-sensualist" Roman Bellard, reveals that he is about to publish an op-ed on the death of penetrative sex-a post-sexual treatise that instantly goes viral. Despite the risks to her professional reputation, Sloane is nevertheless convinced that her instincts are the right ones, and goes on a quest to defend real life human interaction, while finally allowing in the love and connectedness she's long been denying herself.
A poignant and amusing call to arms that showcases her signature biting wit and keen eye, celebrated novelist Courtney Maum's new book is a moving investigation into what it means to be an individual in a globalized world.
Courtney Maum
Courtney Maum is the author of Touch (a New York Time editor's choice and NPR's Best of 2017), as well as the acclaimed I Am Having So Much Fun Here Without You. Her book reviews, essays and articles about the writing life have been widely published in outlets such as The New York Times, O the Oprah Magazine, BuzzFeed, Interview Magazine and Electric Literature.
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Reviews for Touch
19 ratings2 reviews
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5When I first heard about this book (through the Belletrist social media book club), I wasn't so sure I would like it. However, I found the story of Sloane, a trend forecaster who predicts the rise of touch and togetherness as opposed to a further reliance and interest in technology, to be really touching while at the same time retaining a biting satirical wit. Courtney Maum writes about trends, objects, feelings, etc. in a very compelling and lyrical way. And it got me thinking about how I use technology and social media and why. A very intriguing read!
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Not terrific. Too much telling, not enough showing; it’s meant to be a novel of ideas, but it doesn’t effectively use the story or characters to make the philosophical points about modern life that seem to be desired. Wouldn’t recommend.