Machines Like Me

Powell's Midyear Roundup

The Best Books of 2019 (So Far)

Had this been written by any other author I would have thought, Not for me, and moved on. Because it's written by McEwan, I had to try it, and like most of his novels, I loved it. Machines Like Me not only has science fiction, with one of the main characters being a new robotic person, but it also has a great alternative history set during the Falklands War of 1982. Things go differently for England in this history, but at least the Beatles have released their first album in 12 years. Definitely different from other McEwan novels, but definitely worth it as well.  Recommended By Jeffrey J., Powells.com

New from Ian McEwan, Booker Prize winner and international bestselling author of Atonement and The Children Act

Machines Like Me takes place in an alternative 1980s London. Charlie, drifting through life and dodging full-time employment, is in love with Miranda, a bright student who lives with a terrible secret. When Charlie comes into money, he buys Adam, one of the first synthetic humans and — with Miranda’s help — he designs Adam’s personality. The near-perfect human that emerges is beautiful, strong, and clever. It isn’t long before a love triangle soon forms, and these three beings confront a profound moral dilemma.

In his subversive new novel, Ian McEwan asks whether a machine can understand the human heart — or whether we are the ones who lack understanding.

“A sharply intelligent novel of ideas. McEwan’s writing about the creation of a robot’s personality allows him to speculate on the nature of personality, and thus humanity, in general....Beguiling.” Dwight Garner, The New York Times

“[A] sharp, unsettling read...about love, family, jealousy and deceit. Ultimately, it asks a surprisingly mournful question: If we built a machine that could look into our hearts, could we really expect it to like what it sees?” Jeff Giles, The New York Times Book Review

“A searching, sharply intelligent, and often deeply discomfiting pass through the Black Mirror looking glass — and all the promise and peril of machine dreams.” Leah Greenblatt, Entertainment Weekly

From the Booker Prize winner and international bestselling author of Atonement and The Children Act--"a sharply intelligent novel of ideas" (The New York Times) that asks whether a machine can understand the human heart, or whether we are the ones who lack understanding.

Machines Like Me takes place in an alternative 1980s London. Charlie, drifting through life and dodging full-time employment, is in love with Miranda, a bright student who lives with a terrible secret. When Charlie comes into money, he buys Adam, one of the first synthetic humans and--with Miranda's help--he designs Adam's personality. The near-perfect human that emerges is beautiful, strong, and clever. It isn't long before a love triangle soon forms, and these three beings confront a profound moral dilemma.

Ian McEwan is the bestselling author of 17 books, including the novels Nutshell; The Children Act; Sweet Tooth; Solar, winner of the Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize; Saturday; Atonement, winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award and the W. H. Smith Literary Award; The Comfort of Strangers and Black Dogs, both shortlisted for the Booker Prize; Amsterdam, winner of the Booker Prize; and The Child in Time, winner of the Whitbread Award; as well as the story collections First Love, Last Rites, winner of the Somerset Maugham Award, and In Between the Sheets.