What do you think?
Rate this book
The Simulations
When Ray Ality arrives for a job interview at Simulations Inc. he's immediately drawn to Delilah, the cute receptionist. Only one she's engaged.
Ray soon concocts a plan to win Delilah over, as he and his new, eccentric coworker Bob use the company's software in an attempt to simulate the process of courting her. Ray soon discovers that the simulations aren't exactly what he expected, and as he sinks deeper into virtual reality it becomes harder to distinguish real life from the imaginary.
This novel is Office Space meets The Matrix--an existential discourse told among keyboards and cubicles.
Ray soon concocts a plan to win Delilah over, as he and his new, eccentric coworker Bob use the company's software in an attempt to simulate the process of courting her. Ray soon discovers that the simulations aren't exactly what he expected, and as he sinks deeper into virtual reality it becomes harder to distinguish real life from the imaginary.
This novel is Office Space meets The Matrix--an existential discourse told among keyboards and cubicles.
194 pages, Kindle Edition
First published April 20, 2015
325 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
March 20, 2015
This book was really good! Although a bit confusing at the end, it’s a really interesting story.
Mainly it’s about Ray’s awkward attempts to win over a receptionist at his new job. He does this mostly through simulations that end up getting repetitive. I kept waiting for him to realize that he really didn’t have enough reason to try to get her away from her fiancée anyway and that he should probably just let her go. I mean, what makes him so special? He barely knows her, and he’s already planning to basically destroy her relationship with her intended. Seemed kinda selfish to me. Especially when he risks so much just to work out the simulations, which end up being useless, in my opinion…
But it was really about the journey, and it was quite an existential one. That was the part I really enjoyed. It was told in an interesting way, through the character of Bob, who is immature and honestly, disgusting. But somehow that made it easier to understand/accept what he was talking about when he suddenly decided to wax philosophical. It wasn’t even annoying how gross and childish he was- it was just intriguing how ironic he was as a character. By being a lazy gross bump-on-a-log who played video games all day, he was making a subtle statement about reality itself, which came back to the ultimate message of this novel: Life/reality is what you make it.
At one point he makes a reference to one of my favorite lines in Harry Potter: “It’s happening in my head, but why should that mean it isn’t real?” I think this is one of the bigger questions that is explored in the novel. A lot of the book takes place in an alternate reality, a simulated one, but it felt real to Ray. And each person was inherently living in his/her own reality and that’s why each of the characters was defined so clearly- they were all contrasting each other.
Another point that Bob brought up was about artificial intelligence/consciousness. He asked how we knew that characters in video games weren’t aware of themselves and that they didn’t have consciousness, and he asked the same about computers. How do we know that they don’t have consciousness somewhere? That the creator didn’t program it in somewhere? That consciousness can’t be programmed? How do we know that they haven’t simply been keeping it a secret from us? So many unanswerable questions, but they raise a good point about consciousness and self-awareness. Everyone’s reality is different, and it doesn’t matter if it’s virtual reality or not. Reality is what you make it. If your reality is sitting playing the Sims, having your character play in the pool all day, then your reality might as well be playing in the pool all day. If it gives you the same satisfaction, well…that’s that, then, isn’t it?
Onto the less introspective aspects of this book. I loved the humor. I would never expect it, but then- bam! I’d be cracking up. This happened on several occasions. The story was told well. And his descriptions were great- tons of analogies and metaphors. His descriptions of people were the best. They really painted a picture, usually a humorous one. It was a captivating story and I was able to read it all in one sitting. It’s not the most satisfying plot-wise, but it raises a lot of good questions. It’s more of a thinking book than anything else.
See the full review on my blog, Awesome Book Assessment.
Mainly it’s about Ray’s awkward attempts to win over a receptionist at his new job. He does this mostly through simulations that end up getting repetitive. I kept waiting for him to realize that he really didn’t have enough reason to try to get her away from her fiancée anyway and that he should probably just let her go. I mean, what makes him so special? He barely knows her, and he’s already planning to basically destroy her relationship with her intended. Seemed kinda selfish to me. Especially when he risks so much just to work out the simulations, which end up being useless, in my opinion…
But it was really about the journey, and it was quite an existential one. That was the part I really enjoyed. It was told in an interesting way, through the character of Bob, who is immature and honestly, disgusting. But somehow that made it easier to understand/accept what he was talking about when he suddenly decided to wax philosophical. It wasn’t even annoying how gross and childish he was- it was just intriguing how ironic he was as a character. By being a lazy gross bump-on-a-log who played video games all day, he was making a subtle statement about reality itself, which came back to the ultimate message of this novel: Life/reality is what you make it.
At one point he makes a reference to one of my favorite lines in Harry Potter: “It’s happening in my head, but why should that mean it isn’t real?” I think this is one of the bigger questions that is explored in the novel. A lot of the book takes place in an alternate reality, a simulated one, but it felt real to Ray. And each person was inherently living in his/her own reality and that’s why each of the characters was defined so clearly- they were all contrasting each other.
Another point that Bob brought up was about artificial intelligence/consciousness. He asked how we knew that characters in video games weren’t aware of themselves and that they didn’t have consciousness, and he asked the same about computers. How do we know that they don’t have consciousness somewhere? That the creator didn’t program it in somewhere? That consciousness can’t be programmed? How do we know that they haven’t simply been keeping it a secret from us? So many unanswerable questions, but they raise a good point about consciousness and self-awareness. Everyone’s reality is different, and it doesn’t matter if it’s virtual reality or not. Reality is what you make it. If your reality is sitting playing the Sims, having your character play in the pool all day, then your reality might as well be playing in the pool all day. If it gives you the same satisfaction, well…that’s that, then, isn’t it?
Onto the less introspective aspects of this book. I loved the humor. I would never expect it, but then- bam! I’d be cracking up. This happened on several occasions. The story was told well. And his descriptions were great- tons of analogies and metaphors. His descriptions of people were the best. They really painted a picture, usually a humorous one. It was a captivating story and I was able to read it all in one sitting. It’s not the most satisfying plot-wise, but it raises a lot of good questions. It’s more of a thinking book than anything else.
See the full review on my blog, Awesome Book Assessment.
April 2, 2015
This delightful, comical and highly entertaining story starts when the Ray Ality, the main male protagonist goes for a job interview. Ray has high expectations as he is fresh out of college with new ideas about statistical formatting and is excited at the prospect that he will get to use his advanced technical skills in a company that uses the latest software. However, he is soon informed that his duties will be beneath his abilities and accepts the job anyway as he feels it a fair price to pay to start his professional career.
A few days later Ray, greets the Delilah again, the friendly and extremely attractive receptionist and is introduced to the rest of the team he will be working with. He perceives these new co-workers as a strange bunch of people. First Ray is introduced to Tom, who works in Human Resources who tries to lower his starting salary and takes an instant dislike to him as Tom clearly states that Ray wasn’t his preferred choice for the position. Secondly, Ray is introduced to his new cubical partner, Jordan, who listens to classical music and drinks red wine. The rest of the team consists of a woman called Margie, who has a distinctive limp and airs her loud, profound and profane rants out daily on the telephone with her husband that Ray finds very disturbing as she is situated in the next cubical. There are several more strange and eccentric characters he can’t quite work out and ends up befriending Bob, who works in the server room number 42. Bobs sole wish seems to be chomping down on Cheetos, playing the Sims, while smoking weed and eating junk food. Ray finds Bob a welcomed distraction away from his repetitive and mundane tasks he has to perform on a daily basis. In an attempt to win Delilah’s heart over they start to rip data from Delilah’s social media accounts to get the metadata they need to put into her new file. The servers can hack in to all her private messages, email, text messages etc, so it will provide them with a perfect information avatar. Bob combines the source code for the Sims and Eclipse and uploads all of Delilah’s information and pictures to the program and uses it to create her Sim in order to run a number of simulations for Ray to try out. However, the simulations become repetitive as Ray becomes more and more absorbed with the oculus virtual reality headset and is unable to distinguish between two different realities.
Will Rays and Bob’s attempts win over Delilah, the receptionist’s heart? And if so, at what cost?
Highly recommended reading for virtual reality fans that have a sense of humour and enjoy a plot with plenty of twist and turns.
My Rating:
4 Stars
My Review Sites:
http://walkerputsche.wordpress.com/
http://catherineroseputsche.webs.com/
http://t.co/G0ExZgmlwc
https://twitter.com/Putsche73
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show...
Amazon
A few days later Ray, greets the Delilah again, the friendly and extremely attractive receptionist and is introduced to the rest of the team he will be working with. He perceives these new co-workers as a strange bunch of people. First Ray is introduced to Tom, who works in Human Resources who tries to lower his starting salary and takes an instant dislike to him as Tom clearly states that Ray wasn’t his preferred choice for the position. Secondly, Ray is introduced to his new cubical partner, Jordan, who listens to classical music and drinks red wine. The rest of the team consists of a woman called Margie, who has a distinctive limp and airs her loud, profound and profane rants out daily on the telephone with her husband that Ray finds very disturbing as she is situated in the next cubical. There are several more strange and eccentric characters he can’t quite work out and ends up befriending Bob, who works in the server room number 42. Bobs sole wish seems to be chomping down on Cheetos, playing the Sims, while smoking weed and eating junk food. Ray finds Bob a welcomed distraction away from his repetitive and mundane tasks he has to perform on a daily basis. In an attempt to win Delilah’s heart over they start to rip data from Delilah’s social media accounts to get the metadata they need to put into her new file. The servers can hack in to all her private messages, email, text messages etc, so it will provide them with a perfect information avatar. Bob combines the source code for the Sims and Eclipse and uploads all of Delilah’s information and pictures to the program and uses it to create her Sim in order to run a number of simulations for Ray to try out. However, the simulations become repetitive as Ray becomes more and more absorbed with the oculus virtual reality headset and is unable to distinguish between two different realities.
Will Rays and Bob’s attempts win over Delilah, the receptionist’s heart? And if so, at what cost?
Highly recommended reading for virtual reality fans that have a sense of humour and enjoy a plot with plenty of twist and turns.
My Rating:
4 Stars
My Review Sites:
http://walkerputsche.wordpress.com/
http://catherineroseputsche.webs.com/
http://t.co/G0ExZgmlwc
https://twitter.com/Putsche73
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show...
Amazon
April 19, 2015
Note: I was provided with a copy of this book from the author for review.
From the moment he began working at Simulations Inc, Ray's focus has been on getting the attention of building receptionist, Delilah. He goes to a lot of trouble just to work out how to chat to a woman who is just downstairs, and one he knows has a fiancé, so if anything he isn't the most moralistic of people. But while there are some issues with what he is doing, Forelli creates a curious story about the lengths a man goes to trying to date a woman and his escape into the virtual world rather than the real one.
There is not much to this story aside from following Ray's quest to get Delilah, and most of his colleagues offer little extra to the story but they play their roles and aide with novel progression. The characters are eccentric, making for a very strange work environment where it seems nothing ever gets done, and Ray spends a lot of his time critiquing and finding fault with those around him; not in any malicious way, but he does judge them rather frequently.
Snippets of information are revealed about the characters that make them quirky but they still have little to no depth. Their roles are one dimensional and they are single-faceted at times which makes you have little concern about them. Bob is the one that gets the most attention of all Ray's colleagues and he is quite crass in his behaviour and conversation. Admittedly he made me cringe with his behaviour but you take him in your stride and just bear with it.
I did think Forelli was going to take a different approach with this story than he did, more complicated and detailed rather than the sole focus it took. I didn't get the sense something was going to happen exactly, but after awhile the repetition takes its toll and you realise the narrative is not going to get much more complicated. There are discussions about what is real and what is not, and whether virtual reality and what's inside your mind is any less real than the actual world, but these insights did nothing but offer justification to Ray's quest.
From an essentially repetitive story, the ending comes along quite quickly, as if the story suddenly speeds up to finish. This was unexpected but it was good in a way because it thrust the story into action and brought to light Ray's obsession which had been developing quietly in the background. From here the end is kind of confusing and inconclusive and while you can make assumptions on its meaning, they seem farfetched without any basis or solid indication in the story to cling to. If there is a deeper meaning or revelation to be had then it hasn't been made clear and if there isn't then the ending just seems out of place. Overall this was an enjoyable story with a curious concept that makes you wonder about the capacity of the virtual world.
A longer version of this review was published on my blog https://lostinagoodbk.wordpress.com/2...
From the moment he began working at Simulations Inc, Ray's focus has been on getting the attention of building receptionist, Delilah. He goes to a lot of trouble just to work out how to chat to a woman who is just downstairs, and one he knows has a fiancé, so if anything he isn't the most moralistic of people. But while there are some issues with what he is doing, Forelli creates a curious story about the lengths a man goes to trying to date a woman and his escape into the virtual world rather than the real one.
There is not much to this story aside from following Ray's quest to get Delilah, and most of his colleagues offer little extra to the story but they play their roles and aide with novel progression. The characters are eccentric, making for a very strange work environment where it seems nothing ever gets done, and Ray spends a lot of his time critiquing and finding fault with those around him; not in any malicious way, but he does judge them rather frequently.
Snippets of information are revealed about the characters that make them quirky but they still have little to no depth. Their roles are one dimensional and they are single-faceted at times which makes you have little concern about them. Bob is the one that gets the most attention of all Ray's colleagues and he is quite crass in his behaviour and conversation. Admittedly he made me cringe with his behaviour but you take him in your stride and just bear with it.
I did think Forelli was going to take a different approach with this story than he did, more complicated and detailed rather than the sole focus it took. I didn't get the sense something was going to happen exactly, but after awhile the repetition takes its toll and you realise the narrative is not going to get much more complicated. There are discussions about what is real and what is not, and whether virtual reality and what's inside your mind is any less real than the actual world, but these insights did nothing but offer justification to Ray's quest.
From an essentially repetitive story, the ending comes along quite quickly, as if the story suddenly speeds up to finish. This was unexpected but it was good in a way because it thrust the story into action and brought to light Ray's obsession which had been developing quietly in the background. From here the end is kind of confusing and inconclusive and while you can make assumptions on its meaning, they seem farfetched without any basis or solid indication in the story to cling to. If there is a deeper meaning or revelation to be had then it hasn't been made clear and if there isn't then the ending just seems out of place. Overall this was an enjoyable story with a curious concept that makes you wonder about the capacity of the virtual world.
A longer version of this review was published on my blog https://lostinagoodbk.wordpress.com/2...
May 1, 2024
The Simulations - What if?
John Forelli's The Simulations opens with Ray's interview for a new job running computer event forecasting simulations. He gets the job, but it's not very interesting. He'd much rather spend the time with new found friend, Bob in the server room, where Bob plays The Sims, surrounded by bikini-clad beauties frolicking in a penis-shaped pool. When Ray develops a fascination with engaged receptionist Delilah, he and Bob begin running increasingly complicated computer simulations with the hope of helping Ray figure out how to woo Delilah away from her fiancé.
The Simulations is a veritable Groundhog Day of events, as Ray lives and relives his first encounter with Delilah, hoping to find the magic bullet, that specific series of words, phrases, or conversational topics, that will allow him to worm his way into her heart. Ray and Bob are stereotypical slackers, looking for any excuse not to work. Bob is a crass, Cheeto-eating loser, not your typical sympathetic protagonists. Rather the two are more like millennial anti-heroes, which is enough to make tail-end boomers like me cringe. What saves them is Forelli's narrative. Reminiscent of Charles Yu's voice in How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe, Forelli's voice is ironic, mostly via sarcasm, which imbues the story with humourous insight and keeps the reader turning pages.
If I had one wish for The Simulations, it would be a good copy edit. The story, characters and dialogue kept me reading, but an old stalwart grammar stickler like me kept on getting hung up on the punctuation and capitalization. I recommend The Simulations, a fun and easy read that will leave you questioning "what if?" at the end.
Note: I was gifted an eCopy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
John Forelli's The Simulations opens with Ray's interview for a new job running computer event forecasting simulations. He gets the job, but it's not very interesting. He'd much rather spend the time with new found friend, Bob in the server room, where Bob plays The Sims, surrounded by bikini-clad beauties frolicking in a penis-shaped pool. When Ray develops a fascination with engaged receptionist Delilah, he and Bob begin running increasingly complicated computer simulations with the hope of helping Ray figure out how to woo Delilah away from her fiancé.
The Simulations is a veritable Groundhog Day of events, as Ray lives and relives his first encounter with Delilah, hoping to find the magic bullet, that specific series of words, phrases, or conversational topics, that will allow him to worm his way into her heart. Ray and Bob are stereotypical slackers, looking for any excuse not to work. Bob is a crass, Cheeto-eating loser, not your typical sympathetic protagonists. Rather the two are more like millennial anti-heroes, which is enough to make tail-end boomers like me cringe. What saves them is Forelli's narrative. Reminiscent of Charles Yu's voice in How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe, Forelli's voice is ironic, mostly via sarcasm, which imbues the story with humourous insight and keeps the reader turning pages.
If I had one wish for The Simulations, it would be a good copy edit. The story, characters and dialogue kept me reading, but an old stalwart grammar stickler like me kept on getting hung up on the punctuation and capitalization. I recommend The Simulations, a fun and easy read that will leave you questioning "what if?" at the end.
Note: I was gifted an eCopy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
May 20, 2015
Read my review on Romancing-the-Book.com by clicking in on the link below:
http://romancing-the-book.com/2015/05...
http://romancing-the-book.com/2015/05...
October 8, 2019
Reviewed by JoAnne
Book provided by the author
This is the author's debut novel and it's for those that have an interest in virtual reality and computers. The plot is nonexistent except for Ray, during working hours, trying to figure out a way to ask out Delilah, the pretty building receptionist who greets people as they come in the building. There isn't any depth to the characters or the storyline which is very repetitive in actions and words and takes place mainly in the world of virtual reality. For the most part there are few interactions between the characters. There are a lot of references to the television show The Office and The Sims computer games which you have to be familiar with to understand the connection.
This is Ray's first job out of college and though he's overqualified for it based on his interview and the elaborate and knowledgeable responses he gives to the questions, he accepts the job offer. When he's meeting with the head of Human Resources, whom they each dislike on sight for a few reasons, the writing is on the wall and we can tell he won't fit in to the quirky culture of the company. He has no use at all for any of his co-workers except Warren, who hired him, and Bob whom he gets to help him in his quest to ask Delilah out. This becomes Ray's main focus and most of his time and energy is spent on it. He even has Bob create a simulation program for him to be able to act out his fantasy and to perfect his words and actions. This is done over and over again - 42 times to be exact! Some of what they do to create the simulation isn't ethical and digs into personal, private and confidential information. Bob doesn't seem to mind since most of his own day is spent in his own self-created Sims game that is out of the realm of ever being possible.
Most of the employees we meet seem to act unprofessionally and take care of their own needs first. Even management seems to have their own agenda and except for Warren take an immediate dislike to Ray. There are roadblocks thrown in Ray's path that he and Bob always get around including a theft. He has several meetings with management but always goes back to doing what he wants and not his job. The ending left me puzzled and I didn't feel there was closure. Not an author I would read again if this is his style of writing.
Book provided by the author
This is the author's debut novel and it's for those that have an interest in virtual reality and computers. The plot is nonexistent except for Ray, during working hours, trying to figure out a way to ask out Delilah, the pretty building receptionist who greets people as they come in the building. There isn't any depth to the characters or the storyline which is very repetitive in actions and words and takes place mainly in the world of virtual reality. For the most part there are few interactions between the characters. There are a lot of references to the television show The Office and The Sims computer games which you have to be familiar with to understand the connection.
This is Ray's first job out of college and though he's overqualified for it based on his interview and the elaborate and knowledgeable responses he gives to the questions, he accepts the job offer. When he's meeting with the head of Human Resources, whom they each dislike on sight for a few reasons, the writing is on the wall and we can tell he won't fit in to the quirky culture of the company. He has no use at all for any of his co-workers except Warren, who hired him, and Bob whom he gets to help him in his quest to ask Delilah out. This becomes Ray's main focus and most of his time and energy is spent on it. He even has Bob create a simulation program for him to be able to act out his fantasy and to perfect his words and actions. This is done over and over again - 42 times to be exact! Some of what they do to create the simulation isn't ethical and digs into personal, private and confidential information. Bob doesn't seem to mind since most of his own day is spent in his own self-created Sims game that is out of the realm of ever being possible.
Most of the employees we meet seem to act unprofessionally and take care of their own needs first. Even management seems to have their own agenda and except for Warren take an immediate dislike to Ray. There are roadblocks thrown in Ray's path that he and Bob always get around including a theft. He has several meetings with management but always goes back to doing what he wants and not his job. The ending left me puzzled and I didn't feel there was closure. Not an author I would read again if this is his style of writing.
September 29, 2019
Dark seascape and interesting
This was a very odd story. It was as surreal as some episodes of The Office and that comparison was made a number of times in the book. Kafka would be proud of this story, I think.
I didn't know what I felt about the book or what I thought I should feel. I was a little unsettled by the ending and wasn't sure why. Nice read but get in the frame of mind that is ready for The Castle or The Office, complete with a Pam and Jim trapped in a bizarre corporate culture.
This was a very odd story. It was as surreal as some episodes of The Office and that comparison was made a number of times in the book. Kafka would be proud of this story, I think.
I didn't know what I felt about the book or what I thought I should feel. I was a little unsettled by the ending and wasn't sure why. Nice read but get in the frame of mind that is ready for The Castle or The Office, complete with a Pam and Jim trapped in a bizarre corporate culture.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews