The Unbinding

January 29, 2007
Kirn (Thumbsucker) serialized this neat surveillance culture satire on Slate.com in 2006. The web version makes a mostly smooth transition to print, except for items in bold that Kirn encourages readers to type into the book's accompanying web site. The book centers around Kent Selkirk, who makes his living at a company called AidSat, a kind of invasively cyber Dear Abby-like organization designed to coach desperate people on everything from alternatives to suicide to negotiating the purchase of a home. (Caller heart rates are monitored through bracelets and ear jacks.) When smug Selkirk starts to develop a crush on bland neighbor Sabrina, he uses AidSat to his advantage, but is unaware that others are working against him. Adding an element of mystique is Sabrina's eccentric friend Colonel Geoff, who talks incessantly and mysteriously of "The Unbinding." The familiar morals-that people are not who they appear to be, that they can easily lose track of themselves in the cybercacophony, and that exhibitionism is replacing real contact-are done with a light enough touch and enough novel content to make the thin conceit and epistolary format work swimmingly. The Crying of Lot 49 this isn't, but it's a quick and funny George Saunders-esque slice-and-dice of creeping corporate information hegemony.

January 1, 2007
Kent Selkirk works for AidSat, which helps its customers through an online monitoring system. The tradeoff is that AidSat has complete files on its customers. When Kent learns that Sabrina, a woman he is interested in, is an AidSat customer, he tries to get information about her that could help him give a good impression. Meanwhile, new acquaintance Rob seems surprisingly well informed about Kent. The story, which develops these three characters through their histories, explores the implications of knowing more about someone than he or she realizes. In the end, we are not sure who is spying on whom and where this activity will lead, which raises many questions about privacy and personal data. Kirn ("Thumbsucker") was asked by Slate.com to write a serial Internet novel, posted a chapter at a time, and this is the final compilation of that work. Scattered throughout the text are boldface words that will serve as hyperlinks if you go to the web site. This is an interesting experiment, but the form this novel takes does not lend itself to a consistent vision of the questions raised. One could just go to slate.com and read it online. An optional purchase.Joshua Cohen, Mid-Hudson Lib. Syst., Poughkeepsie, NY

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