Our discussion of vN by Madeline Ashby

Last night, the group met to discuss vN by Madeline Ashby.  As always, we had a great discussion, and found a lot to talk about.   Here are some highlights of people had to say (with aliases for those who want ‘em):

• I should begin by noting that we met in the YS Activity Room, a/k/a “The Puppet Room,” which always seem to guarantee an especially entertaining meeting.  This one was no exception.  The book discussion started with, “Could you pass me that pig?”
• Mike said he was really disappointed with the book.  He had anticipated the story would be full of complications and discussions …”and then the kid eats her grandmother.”  Of course, this prompted aNON to chime in with, “That was my favorite part!”    Mike said the first part of the book seemed to be going in one direction, but then changed the focus, making a big difference between the beginning of the story and the rest of the book.
  • Menolly agreed, and said that the book took on a different tone partway through the story.  She liked the beginning and the exploration of the different moral issues, and felt that as a reader, you need this to understand Amy’s upbringing and her mother’s desire to give her an understanding of humans in order to give Amy some empathy.
• Theresa said that this made her want to know more about Charlotte, which was something that other readers agreed with.  We learned the backstory of her particular kind of vN, but some readers wondered why Charlotte left her clade, etc.
• Klaupaucius said he found it strange how different all of the vN seemed to be, and how most of the interactions between the vN and humans seemed to be almost too human.  He wondered where the author was going with this.
• Theresa stated the book just didn’t hook her.  She found it hard to follow, like she was missing some of the transitions in the story (and this was something some other readers agreed with, as well).   She also said that she didn’t have as much sympathy for the vN characters as she felt she should.  She didn’t care about them as much as Jack.
• Hola, on the other hand, said she enjoyed the book and said she thought the author did a good job of touching on a lot of creepy issues surrounding AI, such as pedophilia.  She felt Ashby covered subjects with an AI spin on them, while still keeping them relevant.   She also liked how the author included a lot of references, like Silent Hill and “Electric Sheep.”
• Hola at this point gave us one of the memorable quotes of the evening, which was, “I love the Spanish in it.  And I love the cannibalism.”
• We had some general discussion about the failsafes in the vN and how those affected not only the vN, but the humans around them.   For example, we talked about how Javier likes Amy so much because she’s almost human, and how Charlotte hid her lack of a failsafe from Jack.   We also talked about how the Portia model would have originally had a modified failsafe, and that humans seemed to conveniently “forget” this.
• Portia was a character many readers found interesting, although there was some confusion about her origin.  This was an example for some readers of how they sometimes found the author’s storyline hard to follow.
• Derek said he felt there was a good delineation in the story to show that the vN are quite human, but when you get down to how they replicate themselves, and see their family, that it’s interesting to see the comparison between them and humans.
• A few people said they found the relationship between Jack and Charlotte to be interesting, and it made them more curious about Jack.  Ed wondered if Jack’s background might be revealed in the second book in this series.  Hola, on the other hand, said she felt that Charlotte didn’t really love Jack and in fact, “He’s just her meat shield.”   Yes, this was another memorable quote from this evening’s discussion.
• We also had some general discussion about how the vN came to be, and the reasoning behind their invention.  This led to some additional discussion about what readers thought the economy would be like in this world, as well as the integration of technology and biomechanics into other aspects of the world.  Greg brought up an interesting point about how the vN in the story work as carbon sinks, and how this would affect the environment.
• There was also some general discussion about AI and sentience, in general, both in this story and in other stories that people have read.  We talked about just how sentient the vN are, and how in this story, it appears there is some transitioning happening from their original programming to more actual thought and autonomy.  Burt Macklin, FBI, made the point that this process is relatable to other things, such as the civil rights movement in our own world, and how it’s really a process (and that there are still inequalities).   As Portia says, though, on page 181, “Sentience is not freedom.  Real freedom is the ability to say no.”

As you can see, we had a lot to say!    And, our discussion led to some exploration of other ideas --- Burt Macklin, FBI, said he now wanted to form a band called “Meat Shield,” whose first album would be titled “I Love Cannibalism.”   Which then led Derek to state that the album would contain hits such as “Charlotte,” and “I Ate Grandma.”   I see a lot of potential here for a possible act for the upcoming Lollapalooza in Chicago.

The group gave this book the codes ETH, AGE, ROB, HIT and HOME and the averaged-out rating was a 4.  We welcome comments!