Goodbye for Now by Laurie Frankel - Adult Fiction

Only a couple of ladies came to our Lit Chicks book club on Wednesday morning, August 9th. It could have been the weather. Perhaps it was the book. While both ladies were happy to have read the book, only one said she would recommend it, and that recommendation would only be for someone “who reads a lot of books."

Frankel’s novel is about a computer service called RePose that uses the social media logs of the deceased to create projections that are able to mimic the deceased in a way that the living can interact with to find closure. The group felt that while this service is fictional now, it could be a possibility in the future. Both of the attendees have been widowed; one recently and one shortly after she was married many years ago. I asked both women if they would use RePose if it was a real service and they both said no. Not only did they think that RePose would keep them from “moving on”, they both doubted if their deceased husbands would have enough of a social media footprint to create a believable projection. We then talked about our own social media use and wondered how a RePose projection might reflect us just based on our emails, texts, and other accounts.

Goodbye For Now has a fascinating premise with a sweet love story. The high-tech business created by the characters in this book is explained just enough to appear plausible and did not put off the non-techie of the group. The book does deal with loss; so much loss! For this reason, it may not be appropriate or desirable for someone who is grieving.

Kim Ottesen
Information Services Supervisor