Crosstalk by Connie Willis

Published in 2016, Crosstalk is part sci fi, part romance, and complete satire. It’s set in the near future where in addition to Facebook, Snapchat, and Instagram, you can now connect with your significant other via an implant called an EED. This enables you to share your emotions with your partner. Crosstalk: A Novel tells the story of Briddey Flannigan who is getting an EED with her new boyfriend. Shortly after the procedure, she finds out that she’s connected not just emotionally, but telepathically. Great, right? The problem is the connection is NOT to her boyfriend, but to C. B. Schwartz, a co-worker she barely knows. What’s a girl to do? The novel pokes gentle fun at our over-connected world as Briddey strives to find a way out of her dilemma.

Usually when I read a book, I can give a definitive recommendation of yea or nay. Not so with this one. There were some things I loved about the story and some things that, yes, I hated. You decide.

What I loved about Crosstalk:

1. The Sci Fi element of telepathy is done in an intelligent and believable manner.
2. I loved the humor of how obsessed our culture has become of being constantly ‘connected’ via phone calls, texts, and, of course, social media.
3. The book is a romance, but it is not love at first sight. Much of the novel details WHY the couple fell in love, and it’s not because she had eyes the color of the sky or that he had abs of steel, but for deeper reasons.
4. Finally, I actually missed the main characters after I’d finished reading the book. That doesn’t happen very often to me, and it’s the mark of an author who makes her characters very real and very sympathetic.

What I hated about Crosstalk:

1. Briddey Flannigan, the main character, seems to have no backbone at all. She cannot tell anyone no. The novel opens up with Briddey going into work after a big date with her boyfriend during which he’d asked her to get the EED. She didn’t want to share this. Instead of just tactfully telling co-workers who asked that she didn’t want to talk about it, she spends all her time trying to avoid her co-workers. Her boyfriend runs her life, her family encroaches on her privacy, and her friends ask nosy questions. She cannot seem to set boundaries with anyone.
2. Since Briddey can’t seem to say no, she lies. A lot. For example, if her sister calls and Briddey doesn’t want to talk, she lies and says she has a meeting. This happens repeatedly. Instead of setting boundaries, she just lies to get out of a phone call, a get together, or anything she doesn’t want to do. I desperately hoped part of the story arc would be that she learns how to say no, but, NOPE, it never happens.
3. At 512 pages, the book is long-winded, and it could have been a good 100 pages shorter.

In summary, I recommend the book, but with the caveats listed above.