Rachel (Kalanadi)'s Reviews > Crosstalk

I received this book as an ARC for free from NetGalley in exchange for a review.

As I've seen said elsewhere, Crosstalk is a novel about the pros and cons of telepathy. It's also a frantic sci fi romantic comedy.

I hate to compare an author's newest novel overwhelmingly to prior works, but having read quite a few novels and stories by Willis in just the past 2 years, I was reminded... a lot... of other stories. The maddening corporate culture and miscommunication was reminiscent of Bellwether. The not-so-scientific science? That's pretty much the time travel technology from Doomsday Book and To Say Nothing of the Dog. Lots and lots of dwelling on trivia is pure Willis in just about everything. Psychics and con-men? "Inside Job". A plethora of song titles and lyrics? "All Seated on the Ground". Classic movies and film stars? Remake.

I give this list because I'm of two minds. Am I happy that Crosstalk gives me the type of Connie Willis story I find so entertaining? Well yes! Am I left deflated because the details didn't feel new? Well... yes. There is good and bad in equal amounts here. I want that balance between the qualities that attracted me to Willis in the first place, and a newness that keeps me on my toes through all 500+ pages.

The most classic and enjoyable ingredient of this novel is how effortlessly, wickedly, and exhaustingly Willis turns over-communication into non-communication. That is Connie Willis to me. In a fantastic turnaround from previous novels that relied on lack of communication because communication was impossible, she now brilliantly shows how even an inundation of devices and channels cannot improve how we talk to each other. Machines and breakneck-pace lifestyles will only make matters worse!

And then, goodness, the telepathy.

I don't think I even need to cover that, because we all know how cool... and how terrible! telepathy would be. Briddey has no control over what comes in and what goes out of her own head. She's desperate to keep secrets from one person who overhears her while she must talk to another. But isn't it awesome that this exists?

That's pretty much telepathy in a nutshell, if you ask me.

Crosstalk is an excellent book when I force myself to think of it only as communication satire. As a romantic comedy, it falls down, and I will take the blame for that as the reader. Willis is witty, very witty! But she is almost too good at writing the hectic, interruptive, misfiring conversations between her characters. I felt truly anxious and stressed by Briddey's family behavior, the lack of respect all characters had for each other's privacy or consent, how no one could finish a single sentence or thought without being interrupted at least once - maybe twice! - by another person. "This is just so rude!" my mind wailed. I boiled with frustration. I wanted to punch Trent in the face. I wanted to slap some backbone into Briddey. I wanted to throttle C.B. until he came clean. I wanted to slam the door in everyone's faces!

This is just not a good mental space to appreciate a screwball comedy or a light romance. It's hard to laugh at the same sentence that's reminiscent of one's own social anxieties. It's hard to imagine a budding romance or anything sweet blossoming in conditions this toxic.

Willis achieves something with the comedy, the romance, and the science, but I'm not sure what. I can hold this book up to the light and find a few key lumps of stuff in it that looks good, but the rest is already dissolving into a frustrating tangle in the back of my brain. These frustrations take the form of "could haves" and "should haves". But I'll end with just one: Briddey could have been stronger. Most of Willis's main characters seems helpless, clueless, or flailing, much of the time. But Briddey seemed an unusually flat, dim doormat. I think the spark in Crosstalk could have taken hold and crackled if Briddey had fought back, or simply said "No!" and walked out the door.