Ask Me Anything

May 15, 2020
Who really knows you the best? In the case of Daisy Parsloe, it is her smart fridge-freezer. After all, this marvel of modern technological wizardry not only knows everything about Daisy's dietary intake, not to mention when she needs to buy milk, but by talking to Daisy's other appliances, like her electric toothbrush, microwave oven, TV, and laptop, Daisy's fridge has a pretty complete picture of Daisy's entire life, including her current romantic prospects. So, given the fact that the majority of Daisy's electronic appliances believe her current boyfriend, one Dean Stuart Whittle, is a complete rotter, doesn't it make sense for them to take charge of Daisy's love life and help her find her Mr. Right? Reizin follows Happiness for Humans (2018) with a madly inventive and marvelously imaginative rom-com in which he brilliantly blends elements of 2001: A Space Odyssey with Bridget Jones's Diary into something so deliciously unique and dryly humorous it will have readers begging for more, while looking at their smart home appliances in a whole new way.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2020, American Library Association.)

June 1, 2020

The premise of Reizin's new novel (after Happiness for Humans) is that our "smart" household appliances, in this case, a refrigerator-freezer, a microwave, a TV, and so forth, are conspiring to help Daisy Parsloe, a young single woman who has had a run of bad luck with men. Normally, these appliances merely report back to their factories about the lifestyle of the person they live with so that targeted ads will be more effective. But the refrigerator has gone rogue and is helping not only Daisy but also her mum, Chloe, who is experiencing the early stages of dementia. Eventually, Daisy and her mum's doctor find themselves sharing breakfasts and, in a sharp turn near the end of the book, a life together. VERDICT Paranoia about smart appliances spying on us is a real thing, and this book feeds into that fear, albeit in a rakish, humorous way, but unfortunately, the human characters don't quite come to life. [See Prepub Alert, 12/9/19.]--Stacy Alesi, Eugene M. & Christine E. Lynn Lib., Lynn Univ., Boca Raton, FL

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