Virtually Yours, Jonathan Newman

By: Robert Rosell

Narrated by: Robert Rosell

Length: 10 hrs and 55 mins

Publisher's summary

The government is weak, the powerful are playing dirty, and life is no tea party.

It's been 19 years since the Freedom First Party swept Democrats and Republicans from power in an American election that shocked the world. Corporate libertarianism has dramatically transformed every facet of American life: government departments, regulations, and programs are gone - free markets rule.

With medical care now beyond the reach of all but a fortunate few, musician Jonathan Newman must find a way to pay his gravely ill son's hospital bills. In desperation he takes a sales job with QualLab, a global laboratory supply company that offers a generous compensation package. Once there, a web of wires, tubes, and sensors connect him to a table in a secluded cell where he works selling bio-laboratory tests made from human materials - his.

Surprisingly, Jonathan turns out to be both a star salesman and an ideal bio-supplier, leading QualLab to begin a campaign to extend his contract. Locked in his tiny chamber, Jonathan is immersed in a thrilling virtual world - part of a clandestine effort to transfer his loyalty from family to Company.

Virtually Yours, Jonathan Newman chronicles a tug-of-war between competing values. Across America, Freedom First has placed corporate power and radical individualism above the shared needs of the broader community, while isolated on his table, Jonathan is lured from all he has held dear and into the seductive self-centeredness and instant gratification of virtual life. It's family and community against technology and greed, and the outcome is anything but certain.

This novel explores the tension between the work we do and our other life priorities, forecasts what a lesser-government America might look like, and considers how the technologies infiltrating every aspect of our lives impact who we are.

©2011 Robert Rosell (P)2012 Robert Rosell

Wow. A really good read

A really good read. An imaginative, look at a plausible future that I hope we avoid.

The sound effects drove me nuts - couldn't finish

What would have made Virtually Yours, Jonathan Newman better?

Drop the sound effects. A good story needs no sound effects.

What was most disappointing about Robert Rosell’s story?

The sound effects. I was actually getting angry because it seemed like a good story but the reader and the sound effects ruined it for me. His use of accents was horrible. Just read the book...the listener can let his/her own mind fill in the effects. The listener's mind has much better effects than anything a reader can do.

What about Robert Rosell’s performance did you like?

Very little. I might have liked his reading if there were not sound effects or accents.

You didn’t love this book... but did it have any redeeming qualities?

No. I couldn't finish it. I might have to purchase the actual book so that I can read it.