Book Review - Anyone by Charles Soule

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In Ann Arbor, Michigan, a scientist is working inside her barn trying to locate the cure for Alzheimer's. When she flips a switch on her project, she finds herself mysteriously transported into her husband's body. Her botched attempt to cure Alzheimer's ends up changing her life and the world forever.

Two decades later, all over the world, the "flash" technology enables individuals the ability to transfer their consciousness into another person's bodies. The flash market is available to anyone who meets their criteria and individuals are only allowed to flash for a specified amount of time.  Every aspect of human life has been transformed by technology from travel to warfare to entertainment.

I thought the novel had an interesting premise but, I couldn't finish the rest of the novel, even though I was close to the ending. The story moved very slowly and nothing happened to advance the storyline chapter after chapter.  I was quite disappointed because the beginning of the novel was interesting and I couldn't wait to read more. Then towards the middle of the book because unbearable slow. After being maybe 100 pages shy of finishing the book, I couldn't be bothered with it anymore.

**Disclosure - I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest opinion. This post may contain affiliate links which means I earn advertising and/or referral fees if you purchase an item through my link. Please note, there will be no extra charges to you. Thank you for your support.**

Book Review - Still Here by Lara Vapnyar

Photo  Source - Amazon

**Disclosure - I received a free uncorrected advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest opinion**

Four immigrant Russian friends are bought together by an act of betrayal. They wade through their complicated relationships with each other and dealing with the drudgery of everyday complications.  Each of the four friends leave their homeland for a better life but they are haunted by death, love, happiness, forgiveness and finding themselves in a digital age.  Vica and Sergey are a couple who are struggle as Sergey loses one job after another. Regina who was once a famous translator is married to a rich tech startup owner, Bob and is dealing with losing a loved one. While, Sergey's best friend is a programmer who is unsuccessfully searching for love and his true self.

Sergey develops an app called "Virtual Grave", which preserves a person's online presence. While, each one of the friends are dealing with loss, they view his app as a waste of time. However, it sparks a debate within the group on how someone's death should affect their virtual selves. When a person dies who should take over their online persona? How does our virtual lives define us? Will the friends be torn apart while trying to figure out what they want? 

The book was an interesting read. As a person who lives in NY and used to live in Staten Island and Brooklyn, it was fun to hear familiar places. However, the book was a bit boring and tedious at times. I fell like there was no story or real purpose to the novel. It  was like a cross between a "Friends" and "Seinfeld" episode. The title of the book "Still Here", is basically asking readers -- "Are You Still There"?