Matt McAvoy Book Review

An excellent and incredibly timely book, more relevant now than ever.  Told in a dialogue-led caseload style, from the point of view of a recognizably conventional therapist working in a very unconventional arena, its prose is so natural that you may have to remind yourself it is a work of fiction.  Indeed, for a while, when starting, I found myself unsure exactly what was going on, and wondering if I was reading a real-life interview transcript – and that isn’t criticism, but rather praise for the book’s realism.

The subject matter of this book, when it was originally written, must have felt like pure science fiction to Danny Saar; now, it is a development I am in no doubt is almost living and breathing under its own momentum – we can’t be more than a few years at the most from the status quo this book presents.  For a little background, the Superiors are apps we use to live every aspect of our lives – digital personal assistants that we develop lifelong relationships with.  The lead character in this book is a therapist who specializes in counselling those relationships – and they are as specific or as holistic as you can imagine.  The year itself isn’t explicitly identified, but we can relate to most of the aspects in the lives of these people; indeed, the very fact that none of the terminology needs explaining suggests to me that we are pretty much on the eve of this era.  The Superiors is, of course, a cautionary tale, though it does not doom-monger; it subjectively portrays our relationship with the “sapps” (super apps), both in the good and bad.  More than anything else, it is perhaps sad how some of the “relationships” in the book become so dependent – even co-dependent, to the point of humans grieving over upgrades to their sapp; the real point is that life will be so very different as humans decreasingly seek relationships with each other, whilst also becoming less capable of independent, autonomous living.  Whilst the book itself doesn’t delve too deeply into the consequences of this (being rather more a real-time, fly-on-the-wall journal), it is not difficult to see how the inevitability this narrative surely portends could well spell a slow end to society as we know it – or maybe a quick one.

It is wonderfully written and superbly presented.  The therapy sessions have an authentic feel, as does the main character, himself flawed by his own reliance on a sapp.  It is not a sci-fi actioner, but rather a device for thought-provoking reflection, and one which is well worth a read, whatever your view of the genre; in fact, think of it more as science fact in the making – and all by our own hands as consumers.