Machines Like Me - Hardcover

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0735278199 ISBN 13: 9780735278196

Synopsis

The new novel from the master storyteller is his best in years. Brilliantly McEwan, richly entertaining, a moving love story and a mystery--yet for all its gripping plotline one of the most morally layered novels written for our times, as it carries us into a provocatively real alternative history and the profound challenges of Artificial Intelligence.

Set in 1980s London, the story revolves around Charlie: young and reckless, and in love with his upstairs neighbour, the enchanting Miranda whose hidden, murky past hangs between them. He has spent his inheritance on the acquisition of one of twenty-five highly developed new robotic humans--named Adam or Eve, each one beautiful, strong and clever--developed by Alan Turing after his success on the legendary WW2 Enigma codebreaking machine. As London is consumed by the huge protests over England and Argentina's Falklands War and Margaret Thatcher's jingoistic ambitions, Charlie courts Miranda, and his Adam finds himself, inevitably, central to their affair.
     Great novelist that he is, McEwan pulls us into the question of what it means to love, what makes us human in our fast-changing times, what might follow if a machine understands too well the human heart, and how precarious a construct is the world we live in and think we know. #1 INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER and NATIONAL BESTSELLER

“A sharply intelligent novel of ideas. . . . In whichever direction [McEwan] turns, he has worthwhile commentary to make. McEwan’s writing about the creation of a robot’s personality allows him to speculate on the nature of personality, and thus humanity, in general. . . . Beguiling.” —The New York Times

“A love triangle for the modern age . . . which lets McEwan pose urgent questions about what really makes us human.” —Chatelaine

“A retrofuturist drama that takes on the ethics of both artificial intelligence and all-too-human intimacy. . . . McEwan is a master of the domestic quarrel.” —The New Yorker

“McEwan recircuits history to create a quirky alternate 1980s universe. . . . Machines Like Me is timely in how it plays with political history just as Britain prepares to leave the EU.” —Toronto Star

“McEwan is on top form with this counterfactual tale of love between man, woman . . . and robot. . . . There’s not been a bad Ian McEwan novel since the Booker-winning Amsterdam, but this is right up there with his very best. Machines Like Me manages to combine the dark acidity of McEwan’s great early stories with the crowd-pleasing readability of his more recent work. A novel this smart oughtn’t to be such fun, but it is.” —The Observer

“Thought-provoking . . . consistently surprising . . . an intriguing novel about humans, machines, and what constitutes a self.” —Publishers Weekly
 
“What McEwan brings to the table is crossover appeal to readers who don’t usually gravitate toward sci-fi. Machines Like Me, like his other novels, is a thought-provoking, well-oiled literary machine. . . . It also manages to flesh out—literally and grippingly—questions about what constitutes a person, and the troubling future of humans if the smart machines we create can overtake us.” —NPR

“This book . . . reminds you of its author’s mastery of the underrated craft of storytelling. The narrative is propulsive. . . . The novel is morally complex and very disturbing, animated by a spirit of sinister and intelligent mischief that feels unique to its author.” —The Guardian

“A rich and thought-provoking read.” —Reader’s Digest (UK)

“McEwan brings humor and considerable ethical rumination to a cautionary tale about artificial intelligence.” —Kirkus Review
 
“You’ll find it hard not to admire the sheer scale of McEwan’s ambition. Many literary novels claim to be exploring ‘what it means to be human.’ Few carry out this exploration as thoroughly, or as literally, as this does.” —Daily Mail

“A risk-taking novel that’s a real tour de force . . . Machines Like Me displays that repertoire in all its impressive richness. Excited by ideas and perceptive about emotions, encompassing cutting-edge science, philosophical speculation and lively social observation, it is funny, thought-provoking and politically acute (its divided nation obliquely mirrors Brexit-bisected Britain.) In this bravura performance, literary flair and cerebral sizzle winningly combine.” —The Sunday Times

“A great new direction for Ian McEwan.” —The Philadelphia Inquirer

“The novel is as honed and well-constructed as one would expect from McEwan. There is much fine and elegant phrasemaking.” —Literary Review

Edition details

• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0735278199
• ISBN 13: 9780735278196
• Binding: Hardcover