this book is warming, startling and profound. it's a fresh, confrontational, provocative novel that pulls the reader into the narrative while making them realize the world that surrounds them. like the radiohead record "ok computer", it emphasizes the juxtaposition of technology with the patterns of life, the patterns of sadness and desperation, and the things we need to do to take control of our lives from being gripped by either technology, sadness OR desperation.

the focus, despite the occasional confrontation of a page saying something like "I AM YOUR PERSONAL COMPUTER", shifts from the materialism of life making what makes life worthwhile to the interdependency and essentiality of friendship in society. it freaks me out to think of all the technology that has made it so much harder for people to connect in society. this book is ironic: in the narrative, it brings together the people at the very root of the creation of technology that causes this separation and makes a family out of them. and really, it's not cheesy... this book seems like a direct ray of purpose from the author telling us to wake up. i think it's great. and you don't have to be a computer geek to agree.