Machines Like Me

A Novel

By: Ian McEwan

Narrated by: Steven Crossley

Length: 11 hrs and 24 mins

Publisher's summary

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

Machines Like Me occurs in an alternative 1980s London. Britain has lost the Falklands War, Margaret Thatcher battles Tony Benn for power, and Alan Turing achieves a breakthrough in artificial intelligence.

In a world not quite like this one, two lovers will be tested beyond their understanding. 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 batch of synthetic humans. With Miranda's assistance, he co-designs Adam's personality. This near-perfect human is beautiful, strong, and clever - a love triangle soon forms. These three beings will confront a profound moral dilemma.

Ian McEwan's subversive and entertaining new novel poses fundamental questions: What makes us human? Our outward deeds or our inner lives? Could a machine understand the human heart? This provocative and thrilling tale warns against the power to invent things beyond our control.

©2019 Ian McEwan (P)2019 Recorded Books

Another winner by McEwan, and the narrator is good

Don't be put off by some of the reviews which say the narrator is not age appropriate. He is just fine, and I love his English accent. I loved the moral questions which McEwan explores about a machine which seems to be human. I think the ending was a little weak, but overall the book was great.
McEwan does a great job of incidentally commenting on a lot of interesting questions our society faces. I loved the ability of the robot being able to make more money by day trading than the human.
I felt he might have explored a bit more the question of the robots learning the huge amount of data on the internet, and what that might mean for us poor mortals.

Engrossing story

Really interesting storyline, the end is a bit hard to take accept, but I think it’s a genuine feeling one is left with.

Really? I thought Lon Chaney was dead!

Great story ruined by totally inappropriate narrator. This guy sounds like Lon Chaney. I keep waiting for him to start singing The Monster Mash. No way is this guy a believable 30 something. He sounds like melodramatic grandpa. Totally ruined the experience for me.

AI Thought Problem

Robotic (pun intended) / dry British humor that was tough to get into occasionally, but very fitting and well done.

Great writing, average listen.

I loved the way the storyline captured the themes set out by the author. If I were reading this book I would've had such a great time, but the voice of the narrator, in particular, his voice for the human machine was very whiney and monotonous, it definitely gave the whole story a different feel and made it hard for me to enjoy that character.

Very disappointed.

While I usually look forward to any McEwan book, this one left me completely unmoved. I have long been interested in AI and the possibilities of creation of artificial beings with human-like but far more capable Brains and/or spirits, but I don’t feel McEwan had any real feel for the topic. At least he didn’t communicate it to me.

While his writing was as good as expected, I felt the book rambled at great length between relationships, robots, British politics et al with no real purpose but to fill pages. Sorry, but not an enjoyable experience.

Great book! Makes you think about life and meaning

A very clearly written, interesting book with incisive thoughts about what it means to be human-- our purpose, our ethics, our inconsistencies. McEwan never fails to disappoint, and I am still thinking about this book days after finishing. That's a rare feat these days!

Great Take on an Old Concept

Artificial life has been the subject of countless books but as always Ian McEwan puts a unique spin on his view of our life with machines. Interesting choice to set it in an alternative 1980s period rather than a futuristic setting that could quickly date the book.

Ian McEwan is once again amazing!

I am always ready to read a book from this author, but I think this one is my favorite. Interesting characters, development, resolution, sad and hopeful all at once. I highly recommend.

Drones on and on

This came off (to me) as a failed attempt at deep, thought provoking literature. It falls short of this by instead becoming an excess of tedious dialogue and description that rarely uncovers a nugget of deeper truth to make the wait worthwhile. I did not think the juice was worth the squeeze. Reading contemporary textbook arguments on ethics and AI was equally entertaining and more insightful.