Synopses & Reviews
@expectations is a fabulous work of women's fiction by a writer who has made a career of delving deep into women's hearts and finding the truth of their feelings and their lives. Reed's fiction has always examined the female and familial conditions with a sharp eye, a truthful insight, and a unique style that leaves her readers breathless and wanting more.
Jenny is living a typical suburban life, one she's no longer sure she really wants and doesn't know how to change. When she stumbles upon an online community where people create their own lives through words, she dives in headfirst, eager for something new.
But soon Jenny becomes so far removed from her life that she can no longer even see the line between reality and fantasy; she's even got an online lover who insists that he will leave his own family, take her away from it all, and make their virtual life a reality. Eventually Jenny will have to make a choice: return to her husband, her children, her home, her "real life"--or escape into the arms of a fantasy world that may never become truly real.
Review
"Kit Reed brings her subtle mastery of twentieth-century fiction into the new millenium without missing a beat. @expectations is a funny, warm, and surprising story about a cold new world. Don't miss it." --Peter Blauner, author of
Slow Motion Riot"Oh, what a tangled Web Reed weaves! In the chilling tradition of future shocks--Orwell's 1984, Levin's Stepford Wives--@expectations leads us into the amazing temptations of online "life" and "love." Log on at your peril." --Lois Gould, author of Mommy Dressing
"In her dark, dangerous, irrestistible novel, Kit Reed plunges the reader into the psychological equivalent of a seedy waterfront bar-a band of desperate misfits, linked by modem, whose passions and projections shatter their real lives. @expectations, however, is less a snapshot of cyber-life than a portrait of our hidden selves." --M. G. Lord, author of Forever Barbie.
Synopsis
@expectations is a fabulous work of women's fiction by a writer who has made a career of delving deep into women's hearts and finding the truth of their feelings and their lives. Reed's fiction has always examined the female and familial conditions with a sharp eye, a truthful insight, and a unique style that leaves her readers breathless and wanting more.
Jenny is living a typical suburban life, one she's no longer sure she really wants and doesn't know how to change. When she stumbles upon an online community where people create their own lives through words, she dives in headfirst, eager for something new.
But soon Jenny becomes so far removed from her life that she can no longer even see the line between reality and fantasy; she's even got an online lover who insists that he will leave his own family, take her away from it all, and make their virtual life a reality. Eventually Jenny will have to make a choice: return to her husband, her children, her home, her "real life"--or escape into the arms of a fantasy world that may never become truly real.
About the Author
Kit Reed has been the recipient of two Guggenheim fellowships and an Aspen Institute Rockefeller Fellowship. Her novel,
Little Sisters of the Apocalypse, and a short story collection,
Weird Women, Wired Women, were finalists for the James W. Tiptree Award. She has been nominated for the World Fantasy Award for short fiction. A novel,
The Ballad of T. Rantula, was named to the American Library Association list of Best Books for Young Adults.
Short fiction comprises the majority of her work. Most of her stories are science fiction and fantasy, where Reed is generally considered one of the best feminist sf writers, often writing about women's issues and body image through a science fictional filter.
Reading Group Guide
1.The media is full of stories about people who meet in cyberspace and fall in love before they ever meet in real life, the way Reverdy and Zan do in the book. How does this happen?
2. Reverdy and Zan love each other with a passion that would probably be diffused somewhat if they had to cope face-to-face with mundane things like stubble and morning breath. Why are lovers who cant see each other bound to be more romantic than people you encounter in everyday circumstances?
3. How do two people whove never met get to know each other in the first place? How do they get to know each other well enough to fall in love? What makes them trust each other? What makes Zan fall in love with Reverdy, and why does she trust him sight unseen, enough to leave her husband for him?
4. Have you ever formed an impression of somebody before you met them, for instance, through a correspondence or telephone calls? Through conversation in cyberspace? What contributed to the impression you got?
5. If you have, did you meet this person later? Were they what you expected or completely different? Is it possible to know what a person is like even though you dont know what they look like?
6. What kind of morality exists in cyberspace? Should moral and ethical stances be applied to a world that is, essentially, made out of words?
7. In love with two men at once, Jenny has convinced herself that she isnt hurting anybody. Do you think shes right, or wrong? If you have an affair in cyberspace, is it only an intellectual affair or are you in fact being unfaithful to your mate in real life?
8. Of the world she creates in @expectations, Kit Reed says, “Its clear to me that everything we do, even in a virtual space, has repercussions.” What do you think this means?