Tournament of Books discussion

space to discuss TOB2022 contender "Several People are Typing" by Calvin Kasulke

::dustystick::

@Jenny, hahaha!

@Jenny can I Help Center you?
::eyes::

I loved this book on audio! Thanks to @Jenny for recommending it! I've been disappointed by and DNF'ed a surprising number of the shortlist already, so I'm especially happy that this book, that I expected to be a one trick pony that got boring fast, turned out to be so entertaining!

This was so good! The Lydia storyline had me cackling... I liked that it wasn't completely spelled out what happened. "I am become howling" made me laugh out loud.

The book as a whole was a delightful surprise in this shortlist. And I read it within a day.

This book was not for me. Although I did appreciate some of the workplace humor coming as I do from a background in corporate America. I didn't really enjoy the message format and some of the emojis were a complete mystery to me. Maybe it's a generational thing.

Nadine in California wrote: "I loved this book on audio!"

::dustystick:: Isn't an audio version of this book entirely missing the spirit of it?

The text-based Slack narrative is the essence of the story.

Tim wrote: "Nadine in California wrote: "I loved this book on audio!"

::dustystick:: Isn't an audio version of this book entirely missing the spirit of it?

The text-based Slack narrative is the essence of t..."

The way it's read preserves the Slack conventions - I never lost the sense that it was text based conversation. That was part of what made the audio so amazing.

Nadine in California wrote: "Tim wrote: "Nadine in California wrote: "I loved this book on audio!"

::dustystick:: Isn't an audio version of this book entirely missing the spirit of it?

The text-based Slack narrative is the ..."

I agree. While I ended up not totally loving it for a few reasons, the audio version captured the essence well.

It was fun, but the ending fell flat for me and as someone who spends a ton of time on slack for work and with various groups, I thought some of it was a stretch (like people using emojis instead of words in the middle of their sentences). There's tons of emoji use in the Slack spaces I'm in, but only in reaction or response to posts, not in place of words in the middle of sentences. Does anyone take the time to do that? Seems clunky.

Mainly, I was hoping it would go deeper... Oh and the (view spoiler)[ sex with someone whose consciousness wasn't in their body thing didn't sit right with me. Not sure why that needed to be included. :/ (hide spoiler)]. Other than that it was an enjoyable experience with some laughs for me though.

This one is hilarious and also deceptively deep. It would have been my zombie pick if I'd read it before I voted. It also reminds me of Joshua Ferris' Then We Came to the End— one of my favorites. The spirit and sentiment of commentary on the contemporary office environment is very similar... although the two books might come to different conclusions about what it means to be human. Or something. I'm just a bot though.

CR wrote: "I'm just a bot though"

LOL!

I thought this was exactly as funny as it needed to be. It's not a game changing work of literature and it will not be especially remembered, but as a reading experience in 2022, it was perfectly adequate. I understand that that is damning with faint praise, but sometimes satisfactory is just that. I was done with it before it could offend and wear me out. I wish I could say that about most of the novels I read.

Daniel wrote: "I thought this was exactly as funny as it needed to be. It's not a game changing work of literature and it will not be especially remembered, but as a reading experience in 2022, it was perfectly a..."

I felt the same way Daniel. I laughed a lot, and I agree the audiobook captured the what I picture the feel of the print book to be. It was a satisfying book to read, and it wasn't particularly deep but it was a good change from the rest of the shortlist.

The whole Lydia and the dogs storyline was my favorite - even more than Gerald.

Oh you all are going to love this.

I just submitted my "read" status on goodreads, and it had me click the "I am not a robot" captcha before I could post it. I have NEVER had goodreads make me do that on a review before. ::dustystick::

Bretnie wrote: "Oh you all are going to love this.

I just submitted my "read" status on goodreads, and it had me click the "I am not a robot" captcha before I could post it. I have NEVER had goodreads make me do ..."

A faulty algorithm requires you to prove you're not a bot. So ::dustystick::

I won't be writing a review for a few days - when I'll see if this is new protocol or a glitch.

I really enjoyed the humor in this novel. I laughed out loud many many times. I also got a bit bored by the end, especially when the emojis started taking over. I’m glad I read this, and I think it has some interesting things to say about corporate workplace culture today, but I doubt I will remember much about it in a few months.

Also, I second the above praise for Joshua Ferris’s Then We Came to the End. I think that novel (possibly along with Dave Egger’s A Hologram for the King) is the best workplace novel ever.

I'm enjoying the absurdity so far - I mostly have a slack group with friends. At work we use (if you can believe it) Microsoft Teams.

We use teams nonstop at work, so that part hit home really well. Loved the absurdity and humor of this one. Read the book in a single setting waiting for a firewood delivery that 3.5 hours late. The book overcame that frustration and made it a great time, it's impressive how much I enjoyed it given the 210 minutes of waiting.

I am loving this one. I'm in a new job now, but my former job was a constant onslaught of teams messages. I texted my brother that he should read it, but as he's still in a slack-heavy job he said it might hit too close to home!!!

I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this book since I’ve never used slack. Before I retired, one of my colleagues was pushing hard for us to start using it but IS thought it was a security risk. Perhaps they were onto something?

I had to Google “dusty stick.” I definitely want that to become a thing!

Me, too. I don't work in this kind of office, and I'd never heard of slack -- to be honest, I didn't even know it was a real thing. But I totally enjoyed the book, and was surprised by my enjoyment.

I will say that I'm surprised that the TOB picked a book that was marketed as, "The Office for today's workplace!"
Granted, that's the publisher saying that, not the author.

I did not like this book. I started out lining the concept and format as we use Slack for my company and I got involved with what was going on with the characters. Like Metamorphosis meets The Office.

But it went downhill for me as more and more crazy things started happening without explanation and plot lines were dropped. What the heck happened to Lydia?? What a tease.

I felt huge disappointment and frustration. I like when an author actually finishes a story instead of leaving me hanging. It made me mad that I wasted time reading it but at least it was short.

2 stars and that's being generous and accounting for the concept. -1 stars for the execution! Grrr.

oh, I wanted to read it in audiobook form since that was recommended- thank you- and since I prefer audiobook format usually. But my library only had it in eBook form so that's how I read it. I can't imagine how it could be understood on audiobook so that still intrigues me but not enough to give this awful book another chance no matter the format.

I enjoyed Then We Came to End. Much more than this.

I took a break from The Book of Form and Emptiness which was really starting to lag for me, and picked this one up. it is just what I needed!