Eh. Fascinating concept. Mediocre execution.What would grieving for a deceased loved one be like if a computer could generate a sort of alter ego for the loved one, using all of the loved one's e-mails, video-chats, etc. to generate a facsimile of the loved one to communicate with you? Would that be a very good thing or a very bad thing?This question lies at the heart of Goodbye for Now. Our protagonist, a computer geek named Sam, has shown himself to be brilliant at using computer programming t...

3.5, to be totally honest, and more like a three. But I feel that a book like this needs to be viewed in two different ways - the what, and the how. The what here is awesome, the how not so much. I will therefore start with the what.Many authors will tell you that their stories are often born about by a simple game of what if. What if a star pitcher broke his arm, what if the world began to freeze over, what if everyone died and one person remained? And now we have the big what if - what if afte...

I know this will be one of my bests for 2020. The set-up is just genius. A crack programmer figures out how to run a database on all the videos, emails, texts, tweets, social media blurbs, blogs, etc of a person's life...so that when that person dies, a video can "speak" or text or tweet to their living loved ones. So the first of many book club questions--is it good to "speak" with a video of a DLO (dead loved one) to get closure or creepy? Second book club question--Are our conversations all o...

I enjoyed this years ago and it came to mind again after I finished 2 seasons of Upload and all of Black Mirror. Time for a reread.

Originally published at Reading RealityWhat happens to us after we die is the province of religion and philosophy. The ones we leave behind go through an entirely different process, we grieve the loss. We mourn the hole that person has left in our lives; we heal the broken places, we eventually move past it.But what happens when, out of a different kind of love, someone uses technology to short-circuit that grieving process? If you can stay in denial indefinitely, are you healed, or are you just...

There is a difference between a book that is sad because it thoughtfully explores a sad topic and a book that feels emotionally manipulative because it just throws a lot sad events in your face and tells you how sad they are. Whether a book comes down to one of or the other is, I think, a matter of personal experience. It comes down to how much the book resonates with you and reflects the ways you've lived those sorts of sad things. This one, to me, felt like it fell into the second camp. And I

Saying goodbye is hard. So what if you didn't really have to. Sam is a computer programmer with a heart of gold. He develops a great program that helps you find your soul mate and it really works because Sam finds his in Meredith. After Meredith's beloved grandmother passes away Sam sees that Meredith isn't ready to let go so he develops another wonderful program that lets her share emails with her grandmother. This leads to another level and viola - they are in the business of talking with the

Description: Sam Elling gets fired from an internet dating company after designing a ground-breaking algorithm that actually calculates a person's soul-mate. The problem? The software works too well, and after one date, prospective customers find the “one” and cancel their membership. Fortunately, that is how Sam meets Meredith – the girl of his dreams. But the couple hit a rough patch when Meredith's grandmother, Livvie, dies. Meredith is inconsolable, her grandmother being one of the most inf...

There are no words to describe how I'm feeling now that I've finished Laurie Frankel's hopeful and heartbreaking Goodbye for Now. I absolutely loved the book although it really affected me emotionally, and I'm also sad I'm done with it.Sam Elling is an extremely intelligent computer programmer who works for an internet dating company. He creates an algorithm to find your perfect soul mate, and testing it out on himself, meets the love of his life, Meredith, who works for the same company. The ba...

Gorgeous. Amusing. Extremely relevant. Heart-breaking and thought-provoking. Goodbye for Now is a book that will live on in readers' memories long after finishing the book.I'm going to try and make the review of this book intentionally vague because it's a book that everyone should own, and hug, and cherish. Discover on their own. I really can't say HOW MUCH this book affected me given the current circumstances of my life. People die. That a given. But the people that are left behind, grieving t...

I loved this book, even if it did break my heart just a little.Sam is a great computer programmer. So great, in fact, that he creates an algorithm for his workplace - a computer dating service - that actually lets people find their soulmates. And fast. He tests it, and finds his own soulmate, Meredith, who he falls hard for (and vice versa) from the first date. The only problem is, when everyone finds their soulmate right off the bat, the company collects no monthly membership fees. You see wher...

All the reviews were good so I decided to dive into this intriguing concept. I began this book curious to learn if technology really can ease the mourning process when a loved one or friend passes on. I came away with mixed feelings on the subject. It's certainly not for everyone. The choice to use a service such as Sam creates is as individual as we are. Mourning is a process, steps to being OK in the world without your beloved. Talking to a computer version of a treasured human being would app...

This was a NY Times editor's choice book and I have no clue why. Cliche, boring characters, a predictable storyline, plus a needless hot yoga sex scene I almost threw up while skimming through. OK idea, but poorly executed. And SPOILER ALERT, I cry at EVERYTHING so when you try to tug at my heartstrings with the death of a main character and I feel nothing, that is some really bad writing.

I received this book for free through Goodreads First Reads. I loved this book... so glad that I got a chance to read it!Sam is a computer programming nerd. He works for a online dating company and creates an algorithm to match people up with their one true soul mate. He uses it on himself first and finds Meredith. Turns out, the algorithm works TOO good: the company is losing money. Sam is fired and when Meredith's beloved grandma died, he begins a new "job" = creating an algorithm to allow Mer...

I'm so annoyed by this book. A great idea: deals with AI where you get to talk with people you lost. But the characters are soooo boring (even when they were trying to be funny), the dialog is unrealistic (who talks like that?), relationships between them are unbelievable. I just couldn't care less about them. 95% of the book is about them, about their feelings and boring conversations. Too bad, because I really like the idea, but very meh execution.

This is my first free book!!! Was excited to have won it and anxious to read it. As it turns out, was not disappointed. As a self-proclaimed computer geek, Sam works for an internet dating company and still cannot get a date. Deciding to tweak the program, he develops one that matches people with their soul mates. He finds his perfect mate, Meredith. In the meantime, it works so well, the company loses the repeat customers that keeps them in business and he is fired. When his girlfriend's grandm...

Book Review & Giveaway: Goodbye for Now by Laurie Frankel had a book cover I couldn’t resist. It’s funny the things that draw you to a book cover, isn’t it. When I read the publisher’s description, I couldn’t figure out what link the story had to the cover but I was intrigued enough that I wanted to find out. I’m so glad I did! This is a story about love and loss, of relationships we hold dear, but with a unique twist that only social media and the internet could provide. It’s definitely going t...

This was an interesting novel and don't be fooled by the happy little cover, it will make you frown as much as it will make you smile. While I understand those pointing out someone living in their home wouldn't have the ability to create such technology as our little computer programmer invents for the woman he loves, it's okay because fiction is... well fiction. We can abandon all those laws reality chains us to in the name of a story. In any case, this book is more about love- what we do for i...

Goodbye for now is well written and it certainly brings up a variety of questions regarding death. I appreciated the questions raised in the novel such asHow long should we try and hang onto our loved ones and how healthy really is it to keep revisiting a computer projection that can never change while we do?Can technology used in this way really help with the grieving process and/or help people come to grips with unresolved issues?Is social networking harmful in that it isolates – instead of ge...