A Virtual Love - Andrew Blackman

Andrew Blackman is a fellow blogger who is known to comment here and on whose blog I occasionally comment. Though I was offered a free review copy of his book, I chose to purchase a copy instead as I was not sure if I could read the book and post my commentary within the requested time. I also wished to support the sale of the book.

A Virtual Love by Andrew Blackman is a thoughtful, artistic, entertaining and ultimately sad meditation upon the state of the world in the digital age. 

The plot centers upon Jeff Brennan, a young man who resides in Milton Keynes, U.K. Jeff is employed in a job that bores him to death and spends most of his free time plugged into various online pursuits. He spends inordinate stretches of time playing online computer games with his best friend Jon. The novel consists of a series of first person narratives told by Jeff’s friends, family, and acquaintances, all directed at Jeff.

Early on we are introduced to Marie, a young American woman living in London. Marie has deep familial and intellectual roots within a liberal, environmental and anti-materialistic lifestyle as well as other related causes. She too is very engaged in the digital world and is a blogger. She becomes fascinated and infatuated with the extremely popular blog and persona of another person, who happens to be none other than Jeff Brennan. When Marie meets Jeff, the book’s protagonist, she mistakes him for Jeff Brennan, the political blogger who shares the same name. Jeff, realizing his opportunity with the beautiful Marie, plays along. Since the blogger Jeff Brennan keeps his personal life absolutely secret, our Jeff is able to perpetuate the deception and dates Marie, who eventually falls in love with him. As time goes by, our Jeff manages to further capitalize on the other Jeff Brennan’s blog’s fame. As a result, he slides further and further into emotional and moral vacuity.

Arthur Standhope is Jeff’s grandfather who lives his life based upon experience and reality and is adverse to the online world. His attempts at saving Jeff from himself often result in frustration. Arthur is thematically the key to the story and seems to represent the novel’s moral center.

This novel is immensely engaging and readable, yet it is also filled with ideas. It is an insightful critique of modern society and the digital age. There are many interwoven threads here. The concept of identity, how we project it, edit it, fake it and react to that of others is explored in great depth. We are reminded that identity issues are not exclusive to the digital universe. Even in the real world Marie analyzes and crafts her persona,

“Maybe I like being the centre of attention for once, and maybe I play it up just a little. Maybe I become what people want me to be: an outgoing, glamorous, party-loving American chick. Maybe that’s why I only meet guys who want the fantasy, and probably scare off the ones who might want the real me.”

Yet there is something new going on in the world. Internet institutions like Facebook, twitter, blogs, etc., have revved up the identity game into overdrive. Aside from the main plot thread of Jeff taking on the identity of a famous blogger, he, Marie and their friends are constantly tweaking, editing and misrepresenting their online personas, some of which are completely made up. The novel explores many fascinating variations of this subject.

At one point Marie ponders some ideas concerning blogging,

“Everybody’s life was edited mercilessly. The boredom and humiliation were cropped out, leaving only glamour and excitement. Popularity, after all, was the currency. Housing estates in Bletchley and slow commuter trains on rainy afternoons were the guilty secrets, the shameful inadequacy. They’d bring down a blog’s value just as surely as a leaky sewer would erode property values.”

A plot feature that illustrates the complexity of the issue involves Marie’s entire process of falling in love with Jeff. She seems to fall for a combination of the real person as well as an online persona that she only thinks is his and is in no way connected with him.

I find that like a composer who writes a musical piece centered on a particular key and/or theme, a great book will take an idea or concept, in this case the idea of projected and perceived identities, and explore many of its permutations. Blackman succeeds in doing this here brilliantly.

There is much more to this book then I can explore in this post. There are ruminations on human perception of time, people’s tendency to jump on bandwagons, work ethic, etc. In addition, though the degeneration of Jeff was ultimately very dark and depressing, this book often provides sharp, witty and hilarious commentary upon the state of the world. One aspect of this work that I cannot help to mention is the extremely complex characterizations of all of the major, and some of the minor, characters. In particular Marie and Arthur are nuanced, vividly drawn and really steal the show here.

This is simply a great choice for anyone who wants to read an engaging and often funny story with emphasis on the digital world. It will be particularly interesting to anyone who writes a blog (Just in case anyone who comes here to read does that :)) as many of the characters are bloggers and the narrative is filled with insightful and amusing commentary on the subject. It is also a great choice if one likes deep characterization and rumination upon serious issues concerning the human condition.

Our New Republic

I often hear or read opinions about how bad the Internet and the digital age is in terms of people’s ability to think. I must disagree. I considered not putting up this post, as I think that I am stating the obvious. However, the ubiquity of contrary opinions that I hear on an almost daily basis has convinced me lay out my opinions.

For those of us who are curious about the world, it is simply the best time to be alive so far. Of course there are negative aspects to the information age. There are negative aspects to almost everything; but for those who utilize these modern tools to propagate and explore real knowledge, ideas and opinions, the digital highway is a wondrous medium that no previous generation has had the good fortune to have at its disposal.

No one needs to be reminded about the ocean of information and resources available. Just as importantly, there is such a free and efficient exchange of information, viewpoints and ideas. Book Blogging is but one example! 

In The Better Angels of our Nature: Why Violence has Declined Steven Pinker draws a parallel between what he calls our “Electronic Republic” and the old Republic of Letters. Centuries ago, intellectuals and writers kept their ideas percolating by a system that was known as “The Republic of Letters”.  During the 17th and 18th century, these notable thinkers engaged in a written exchange of ideas and commentary.  Today, people throughout the world have availed themselves the use of this new medium. The modern community is so much vaster. Furthermore it is not solely for the elites anymore. Millions of people throughout the globe are participating. Of course, our system is also much more efficient in terms of speed and is enhanced by verbal and visual communication. Though Pinker’s analogy between the centuries old medium and our modern interactions is limited and not entirely congruous, in many ways our current endeavors are an heir to the old literary republic.

All of my life I longed for more fulfilling communication with interesting, dynamic and innovative thinkers. Long before the Internet came along, I established friendships with such folks, read books and articles written by other such people and even watched television that helped me to understand the world better. Now, however, at any time of day or night I can read, communicate and exchange ideas on my blog, as well as on the sites of fellow bloggers. I can download millions of books and access essays on technological and scientific subjects, history and literary criticism. I can read and comment upon magazine articles, watch videos of authors discussing their books, the list goes on and on!

Many will lament the profusion of fluff, junk information, hate speech, etc. found on the Web. Many humans will also inevitably spend enormous amounts of time on silly online pursuits (indeed, I do so a little myself!).  I think that we must ask, however, twenty, or fifty, or one hundred years ago, were there that many more people engaged in intellectually stimulating pursuits? I hazard to guess that the information age has stimulated more then stymied the growth of curious minds. A dreamer, out of the box thinker, or even just a bright individual, who in years past might have been stuck in an intellectual backwater, now has access to vast communication channels with paths that reach to the far edges of both the geographic and intellectual world.

Nevertheless, a lot of unproductive time is spent with electronic devices. Some folks have had their lives consumed by them. However, when it comes down to it, I could care less what most people do with their time or their thoughts. I am just very happy and grateful that myself and likeminded folks have such a wondrous and useful door to the universe at our fingertips!