Book Review
Jan. 26th, 2022 10:03 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kenjariWe Are Satellites
by Sarah Pinsker
We Are Satellites is set in a very recognizable near-future. A new technology is spreading across society - a brain implant called a Pilot that enhances cognitive functioning so that people can pay full attention to multiple things and thus truly multitask. The narrative centers around a family of four, each of whom has a very different relationship with the Pilot. David is the first of the family to get a Pilot, in order to fit in at high school and to do better in his classes. His mother Julie gets one soon after he does, to help her in her job as a congressional staffer. Sophie, David's sister, is unable to get a Pilot due to her epilepsy. Val, their other mother and Julie's wife, chooses not to get one. The book covers about a decade and shows the way the Pilot shapes each of their lives: Sophie joins an anti-Pilot activist organization, David joins the military, and Val and Julie work through the changes that come with their children's emergence into adulthood. They all deal with the ways the Pilot changes them and the world around them.
We Are Satellites is both a story about a family coping with a changing world and a thought-provoking examination of the ramifications of technology and the intersection of health and corporate interests. It was very, very good. The characters were interesting and relatable and complex and people I really cared about. The themes were weighty but never weighed the book down.
by Sarah Pinsker
We Are Satellites is set in a very recognizable near-future. A new technology is spreading across society - a brain implant called a Pilot that enhances cognitive functioning so that people can pay full attention to multiple things and thus truly multitask. The narrative centers around a family of four, each of whom has a very different relationship with the Pilot. David is the first of the family to get a Pilot, in order to fit in at high school and to do better in his classes. His mother Julie gets one soon after he does, to help her in her job as a congressional staffer. Sophie, David's sister, is unable to get a Pilot due to her epilepsy. Val, their other mother and Julie's wife, chooses not to get one. The book covers about a decade and shows the way the Pilot shapes each of their lives: Sophie joins an anti-Pilot activist organization, David joins the military, and Val and Julie work through the changes that come with their children's emergence into adulthood. They all deal with the ways the Pilot changes them and the world around them.
We Are Satellites is both a story about a family coping with a changing world and a thought-provoking examination of the ramifications of technology and the intersection of health and corporate interests. It was very, very good. The characters were interesting and relatable and complex and people I really cared about. The themes were weighty but never weighed the book down.
