by Jonathan Coe
First published 2011
Maxwell Sim sits at his computer, typing another email to his estranged wife under a fake name. His teenage daughter ignores him for her BlackBerry. His childhood friend won't answer his calls. His father cared more about poetry than family. Maxwell has seventy-four Facebook friends but no one to actually talk to. He quits his customer service job at a department store and takes a bizarre assignment: drive a Prius loaded with toothbrushes to the remote Shetland Islands for a dental company's promotional stunt. The journey becomes a detour through his past as Maxwell visits people who shaped his life. Each encounter proves awkward and revealing. He develops feelings for Emma, the voice of his GPS system. He becomes obsessed with a sailor who staged a famous hoax and lost his sanity. Maxwell begins to suspect that his inability to connect with others stems from his complete lack of self-understanding. Jonathan Coe crafts a gentle comedy about the struggle to form real relationships in an age of constant digital connection.
Genres: fiction, literary-fiction, contemporary, 21st-century
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: fish-out-of-water, unreliable-narrator
Setting: Shetland Islands
Period: 21st Century
336 pages · Hardcover · Knopf