Speak Paperback – April 15, 2016

Powerful, poignant, and deep, Speak has an unusual structure, weaving together six narrative voices that together illuminate a link between the creation of artificial intelligence and the fundamental human yearning for connection. When I started the book its nonlinear format put me off, but it took just a few chapters for me to become totally hooked. The narrators include a Pilgrim or Puritan girl leaving her former life behind to journey to America, AI pioneer and WWII code-breaker Alan Turing, and a now illegal, slowly “dying” babybot--a doll of the future so lifelike and compelling that children who had one couldn’t bond with people--as it slowly loses power and memory.

This is a difficult one to review. Really this book in my estimation is a 3.5 stars but the writing itself was so good and I felt so absorbed in the narrative that I was able to overlook some of the flaws. I think comparing this book to Cloud Atlas is wrong and probably unfair. Really other than a shift in perspectives and timelines there are really no similarities between the two books. All these characters that were developed here felt real and I became absorbed in their narratives (with the girl headed to America on the boat I became increasingly less interested the more the story unfolded and I began to question what the point of it was, and really it’s link to the overall narrative was very slim and just seemed unnecessary). As good as the writing is and as interesting some of the characters are, I became somewhat bothered by the fact that everything and everyone’s story seemed to be taking place in the past. I wanted some kind of update on the present but except for a few side notes or chapter headings all the characters seemed to be having flashback or telling us something that happened years ago. I guess maybe the conversation between the girl and the computer take place in the present but even that felt like some was retelling something. Also for a book supposedly about A.I I felt there was really very little actually about A.I. Yes we have some conversations between a girl and a computer but that’s about it. Nothing really too in depth there. I think though my biggest critique of this book, even though the writing was excellent and the characters were all interesting and complex, was that nothing too remarkable ever happened. Nothing really unexpected. For me there were no great insights or surprises and seemed to end with a whimper rather than a thud. Don’t get me wrong I think it’s a book worth reading, but I don’t think it’s as good as a lot of other books our there right now.

Competent writing and laudable conceptual goals, but I found it hard to get caught up in any of the parallel storylines, making it a bit of a chore to stick with through to the end.

I loved Louisa Hall's newest novel. It took me a bit to adapt to the alternating voices and I found the style so different from her last novel ("The Carriage House") that an adjustment period was in order. But once I got into it I could not put it down. When I did manage to temporarily set it aside, it would almost seem to call to me from across the house to pick it up again. I will not get into the details of the plot or the characters (that is never my strong suit), but suffice it to say that it is a book that I will ponder for weeks, maybe months and years, to come. After hearing the author's interview on NPR's "All things Considered", I got a little bit of insight into her intentions in writing the book, but one thing I loved most about it was that I was able to have my own interpretation(s) separate from what hers may or may not have been. It is a beautiful and intelligent book with prose that is like poetry. Definitely one of the best works of fiction of 2015.

Through most of the book, I felt it's disjointedness; only toward the end did I sense the logic of organization and gave up the desire to go back and read it again from the beginning to make sense of it. The story was unfinished, of course, as life is until it's over. No matter. Like life, I'm glad I experienced it, but don't need to again.That's the extent of a recommendation for others.

"A book like Cloud Atlas!"How many books are being written, touted to agents, promoted, even published with the conceit that they are the next Cloud Atlas, as if criss-crossing and layering strands of time to form an appetizing confection was as easy as concocting one of those checkerboard cakes? All you need, some might insist, is the right recipe and the right pan.Speak doesn't even come close.Speak is filled with manicured platitudes about time and memory that sound as though they should mean more than they do, with snippets of plot that seem compelling until they wither away, with dreary characters that seem more stylized than real (except for the dog, but I had to flip a lot of pages to get to his scenes). It's as if the author had a bunch of ideas for different books, couldn't figure out how to construct a coherent narrative from the pieces, and thus decided to go the Cloud Atlas route and mix it all together. If you like to feel superior to other readers, only from a literary perspective, of course, this is your book. If anyone asks what it's supposed to mean, you can just look at them askance over your reading glasses and sniff "I guess it was a little too...deep for you?" How many book club members have already fallen prey to similar efforts at humiliation?The fault lies not with you. It's Speak, a book that offers neither a good story nor a thought-provoking philosophy. You already know how to be human. Move on to something better.

Ótima leitura!

Wonderful book about the relationships of people and artificial intelligence, speech and memory.A deeper insight into the lives of people from different centuries and generations.This story is stored in the memory of robots. Small chapters from different people's perspectives, stick with it and you will love it

Almost unbearably beautiful, to me this was a meditation on love and loss. The first Mary's diary alone is worth the price of admission; Hall's ability to capture five very different voices is stunning.

Speak is a uniquely profound and intelligent book that is both moving and very thought provoking. The chapters of the book move between the past and future but are all focused on timeless questions of consciousness and connection (read: love). If you loved Cloud Atlas or books on the complexity of companionship then this will be a perfect one for you. It is also a very timely book to read given the recent movie and interest in Alan Turing. Another brilliant book by author Louisa Hall.

Interesting idea behind the book, but felt the writing style lacked warmth or color. That may have been the intent, but still makes it a rather cold book to read. The different viewpoints are well done