The Startup Wife by Tahmina Anam
This is not Sci-Fi...
6 April 2021
I thoroughly enjoyed this timely novel of ideas. The narrative does follow (among other things!!) the love story of two characters: Asha, a (very) brainy computer genius second-generation American, who is also the narrator, and Cyrus, a (very) brainy charismatic self-taught student of all things philosophic and religious.
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There are many more characters, each of them deftly delineated, never secondary, and always deeply interesting, eg Jules, a WASP reject yet an enabler to both Asha and Cyrus of what is the engine of the story, the creation of a new social platform (the startup company) with a thought-provoking raison d'être: an algorithm that will provide a personalised response to your spiritual, ritual needs...
As I started the book, I was unsure of where in time I was and where the story was going, as there is a wonderful sense of sci-fi in the air as things begin to move... suffice it to say that you will embark in a sort-of romantic comedy which makes you think about pretty interesting, never banal issues: the role of ritual and religion in a secular society, the actual realisation of ideas, power struggles within equalitarian settings, gender roles, feminism, societal v self-imposed limitations... The sheer abundance of ideas and how they are developed just enough to allow your own analysis of the issues, is rather exhilarating. The humour and self-awareness of the narrator, the precise, clear prose which uses the historic present to great, dynamic effect, they all contribute to this absorbing, entertaining story with a denouement which brings the events ever closer and more relevant to our present times.
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I recommend it without hesitation if you want to think about issues that matter in a rather humorous way... I will read it again.
(With many thanks to Canongate via Netgalley for an advance copy of this engrossing novel.)