Do You Remember Being Born?

A Novel

By: Sean Michaels

Narrated by: Lisa Bunting, Alex Paxton-Beesley

Marian Ffarmer is a world-renowned poet and a legend in the making—but only now, at seventy-five years old, is she beginning to believe in the security of her successes. Unfortunately, a poet's accomplishments don't necessarily translate to capital, and as her adult son struggles to buy his first home, her confidence in her choices begins to fray. Marian's pristine life of mind—for which she's sacrificed nearly all personal relationships, from romance to friendship to motherhood—has come at a cost.

Then comes a cryptic invitation from the Tech Company. Come to California, the invitation beckons, and write with a machine. The Company's lucrative offer—for Marian to coauthor a poem in a 'historic partnership' with their cutting-edge poetry bot, named Charlotte—chafes at everything she believes about artmaking as an individual pursuit . . . yet, it's a second chance she can't resist. And so to California she goes, a sell-out and a skeptic, for an encounter that will unsettle her life, her work, and even her understanding of kinship.

Both a love letter to and interrogation of the nature of language, art, labor, capital, family, and community, Do You Remember Being Born? is Scotiabank Giller Prize winner Sean Michaels's empathetic response to some of the most disquieting questions of our time.

©2023 Sean Michaels (P)2023 HighBridge, a division of Recorded Books

Very topical—will AI replace poets?

A thought-provoking and entertaining book. The presentation was almost unlistenable because of bad audio editing.

Poetic

I enjoyed the interaction among the characters (including the AI) and descriptive language of the book. It was compelling.

Kept my attention

I liked the thought provoking language and concept of this well performed story. It was worth the credit. As an aging writer and artist myself, I related to the protagonist.

Elegance of language.

Exceptional analysis of elegant communication between a human and a machine, both attempting to feel each other.

Beautifully combined human and AI

I enjoyed the different voices, how it combined the childlike learning of “the machine” and the poet. It was all at once timeless and timely.