Goodbye for Now: A Novel
Laurie Frankel
Language: English
Pages: 304
ISBN: 0385536186
Format: PDF / Kindle (mobi) / ePub
In the spirit of ONE DAY, comes a fresh and warmhearted love story for the 21st century. Sometimes the end is just the beginning . . .
Sam Elling works for an internet dating company, but he still can't get a date. So he creates an algorithm that will match you with your soul mate. Sam meets the love of his life, a coworker named Meredith, but he also gets fired when the company starts losing all their customers to Mr. and Ms. Right.
When Meredith's grandmother, Livvie, dies suddenly, Sam uses his ample free time to create a computer program that will allow Meredith to have one last conversation with her grandmother. Mining from all her correspondence—email, Facebook, Skype, texts—Sam constructs a computer simulation of Livvie who can respond to email or video chat just as if she were still alive. It's not supernatural, it's computer science.
Meredith loves it, and the couple begins to wonder if this is something that could help more people through their grief. And thus, the company RePose is born. The business takes off, but for every person who just wants to say good-bye, there is someone who can't let go.
In the meantime, Sam and Meredith's affection for one another deepens into the kind of love that once tasted, you can't live without. But what if one of them suddenly had to? This entertaining novel, delivers a charming and bittersweet romance as well as a lump in the throat exploration of the nature of love, loss, and life (both real and computer simulated). Maybe nothing was meant to last forever, but then again, sometimes love takes on a life of its own.
Meredith insisted. “Only you get help from the person in your life who is most able to give it.” “Was,” said Jason Peterman. “Was most able to give it.” “Not anymore.” The next day the ticker at the bottom of the screen on CNN read, “RePose creator admits, ‘… of course it’s not real.’ ” And the Times headline was, “Grieving, Healing, Moving Forward? New Seattle Company Says ‘Not Anymore.’ ” Then it seemed to Sam like every newspaper, magazine, TV network, and online press in the world called
Then, “We are easing their pain. We are helping them grieve.” Then, “Aren’t there people you miss so much you’d give anything just to be able to talk to them again?” Then, “We are miracle makers!” On the fifth call, Dash finally took the phone away from her ear. “This is Dashiell Bentlively. How can I help you?” “This is Marisha St. James, Times of London. As I was saying to Ms. Maxwell, your company is being accused of profiting off people’s pain, sickness, sadness, and death.” “As opposed,”
Meredith didn’t want to laugh, but she couldn’t help it. “You didn’t see them, Dash.” “I have an appointment after lunch,” he said. “You do?” “Of course.” “You hate hospitals.” “Everyone hates hospitals.” “It’s so awful there.” “I know. But after I got off the phone with Sam yesterday, I called Dr. Dixon and set up a time to go over.” “Why?” “It’s important. It upset you. It upsets me. It raises questions about what we’re doing and how and why. I know what’s going on—I understand—but I
down outside and the soft glow from the Christmas tree lighting up her face and bouncing off the locket full of her daughter around her neck and howled. Sam put his hands over his ears like a four-year-old and waited for her to be done. Then he said “no” again. She grabbed his upper arms with both hands and began talking to him rabidly through clenched teeth. “Do not tell me no. You talk to her. I know you do. This godforsaken technology killed my baby. It was the death of her. It is the death
We need to play this all the way out. We owe that to Meredith. Sam said, “Let it die. Everybody else does.” “What about all our users?” said Dash. “They can stay. They’re barely using anymore anyway. We’ve become a support group. Frankly, they could find that anywhere, but they’re welcome to the space. They don’t need me for that. Support groups are very low-tech.” “Just because people take a week off doesn’t mean they’re done RePosing,” said Dash. “And besides, we get new users every day.”