Calvin Kasulke

Is it still WFH when you're now just binary code? Whilst working on a spreadsheet for a New York-based PR firm, Gerald has his consciousness uploaded into his company's Slack channel. He posts for help, but his colleagues assume it's an elaborate joke to exploit the new working-from-home policy, and now that Gerald's productivity is through the roof, his bosses are only too happy to let him work from . . . wherever he says he is. Faced with the looming abyss of a disembodied life online, Gerald enlists co-worker Pradeep to care for his body and Slackbot, the service's AI assistant, to help him navigate his new digital reality. But when Slackbot discovers a world (and an empty body) outside the app, will it hijack a ride into the 'real' world? Meanwhile, Gerald's co-workers are scrambling to stem a company PR catastrophe like no other, their CEO suspects someone is sabotaging his office furniture, and if Gerald gets to work from home all the time, why can't everyone? Hilarious, irreverent, and wholly original, Several People Are Typing is the perfect remedy for any idle fingers waiting to doomscroll: a satire of both the virtual office and contemporary life, and a perfect antidote to the way we live #now.

Several People Are Typing

"A mid-level employee of a New York-based public relations firm finds his consciousness uploaded into the company's internal Slack channel"--

Sabrina D. 

sunsets are not naturally occurring on the internet.

 I mean, there are plenty of web designers who try and convince us that's not true with CSS

all blues and yellows and pinks and the un-shittiest orange they can find which might be subliminally "reminiscent" of a sunset to soothe you into purchasing goods and/or services

you can't drum up a sunset with sequences of letters and numbers following a hashmark 

see, that's exactly my point. we have a byzantine hierarchical structure 

we have a SPECIAL PURPOSE, which we call our MISSION STATEMENT and slap it right on the website 

Even the language of employment is cult-y! We're not employees, we're a "team." That's only two notches away from just calling us "acolytes" or something. And the stuff we supposedly devote ourselves to, like "innovation" or "influence" or "engagement" 

how is that any different from telling everyone you're a Prophet of the Coming Storm?

If you’ve ever been stuck feeling like the work-life balance is non-existent and that the ability for you to be reachable online by co-workers or your boss feels almost parasitic, this might be the book for you. I found it to be charming, funny and unique. I always knew there was something shady about slack. Vindicated at last. 

Apiecalypse Jen

Liyah 🤎

This book was really fun and interesting. Since it takes place entirely in the slack channel it made a fantastic listen on audiobook. It was zany and had a cute mystery. I felt like it could have been a little tighter there were times when I wasn't quite bored but was wondering when we'd get back to the meat of the story. The romance was cute and surprising. A very covid era read.

I read this book in one sitting and I wouldn't have been able to put it down even if i wanted to. The story completely captivated me and this is definitely one of my new favourite books. If you have a few hours to spare read it.

John Manoogian III

Sweet, fun, fast throwaway read. I’d say four stars except I wouldn’t want that interpreted as a recommendation to buy because it’s literally like reading a Slack thread. But it was a great pull from the local library. Funny times we live in.

Allison Dempsey

I… loved this? As someone who is several years removed from a work team with a Slack channel, I found it hilarious and accurate (aside from the body-snatching part, obviously). A very fast and enjoyable read.

JoAnna

This book is so fucking funny lmao. Kasulke captured the cadence of chatspeak perfectly in a way that doesn’t feel forced or overwrought. Some themes of interest include: office politics, interpersonal drama, the Internet, and what it means to be a physical person.

Kendall McClain

Very innovative but the format gave me a headache

kyra

A great, bizarre book! 
Could have done without _that_ part though (you know what I'm talking about).
Also, whatever happens with Lydia?

i enjoyed this a lot !!!!! fun & silly & cute & a little eerie. i only wish there was more lydia bc i found the howling a lot creepier than anything else :]

A very unique book that is worth it when you need a quick read 

Elizabeth Denny

brianna

Kristen Claiborn

I do not miss the corporate world, where your entire office conversations happen entirely on a “ping.” Sometimes I felt like I only knew names, only faces. I had actually never heard of Slack before, but halfway through this book while watching something on TV, I got a serious case of the giggles when a Slack commercial popped up. My husband looked at me like I was insane (he’s not too far off). Apparently Slack is the new ping. 
	This book came at the perfect time in my TBR line-up. I had been riding the struggle bus for a while, for no discernable reason, then I got to this one and it refreshed my reading brain. This book is incredibly quirky and unique! The format is entirely in texting form, which is decidedly different from every other book on the planet. While Gerald’s storyline is at the forefront, every character has some idiosyncrasies that created laugh-out-loud moments. The only turn-off for me was the emojis. I wished they were the actual emoji instead of the text versions. That made some of the content slightly confusing. I wonder how in the world the author came up with the idea for this book, and why he chose the format! I’m so intrigued with this book and this author, I’m probably going to spend the rest of my day cyber-stalking him. 
	This particular work isn’t for everybody, the format really bucks the norm. But if you’re up for literary adventure, it’s the right book for you. Give it a read!!

this is literally slack messages as the whole book. no narration. I read it really quickly, maybe like 2 hours?

this felt like being at work. I've used slack for years and I am in marketing. I've worked in an agency and totally find those conversations accurate. however, everything else about this was so silly & dumb. not in a bad way! it felt like a seth rogan or will ferrell film.

despite really relating to the work aspects of this book I dont think it was meant for me. its not my kind of humor. it also felt like being at work after hours. I wish all the emojis were the actual picture and not the code for it. it did make it hard to comprehend at times.

Charlee Boone

this is literally slack messages as the whole book. no narration. I read it really quickly, maybe like 2 hours?

this felt like being at work. I've used slack for years and I am in marketing. I've worked in an agency and totally find those conversations accurate. however, everything else about this was so silly & dumb. not in a bad way! it felt like a seth rogan or will ferrell film.

despite really relating to the work aspects of this book I dont think it was meant for me. its not my kind of humor. it also felt like being at work after hours. I wish all the emojis were the actual picture and not the code for it. it did make it hard to comprehend at times.

High Fidelity

3.5⭐
It was so fun and captivating, that I almost read it in one sitting. .I can help by answering simple questions about how Slack works. I’m just a bot, though! . Interactions and personalities are very well done considering they are done in chat format. Even just the meaningless conversations that had nothing to do with the plot were relatable and pleasant to read. . Head to our wonderful Help Center for more assistance! .
The unraveling however was a big letdown for me. I just don't understand how it could be so weak with such a good concept and setting. It was like not having the opportunity to say that.. .user is currently in Do Not Disturb mode and may not be alerted of this message right away. .

sophia n

how was this weird little book so perfectly written for me oh my GOD

Samantha Cherry

Okay so this book is WEIRD and I LOVED it. 

The premise is wild: Gerald has somehow uploaded his consciousness into his PR firm's Slack workspace and is stuck in there. He's able to chat his colleagues and communicate with Slackbot - Slack's AI feature meant to Help! users. 

His co-workers don't believe that Gerald is no longer in his body and think that he's taking advantage of the company's lax WFH policy to avoid coming into the office. So, how can Gerald re-unite with his body? Where even is Gerald's body? Which life is better - inside of Slack or the never-ending treadmill that is of life? Who can he trust? Is Slackbot Gerald's salvation or the end of him altogether? 

WEIRD RIGHT? 

💭 My thoughts: I am enamored with the intersection of technology, work, and culture as well as the way tech platforms impact our lives, so this book was 100o% up my alley. This is a super quick read - I ran through it in a four hour sitting. Reflective of the questions I posed above, there's a lot of commentary on what work means now a-days and what is a life, all wrapped up in a sci-fi, horror, mystery-vibe. This book is also FUNNY - I found myself laughing out loud multiple times.

I think if you work at an organization that uses Slack, you might enjoy this book even more since you'll probably see a lot of your own workplaces' quirks represented in this book (like random inside jokes and #channel names). It just made me think about all of these norms we've set up for ourselves inside these platforms and how it's a language itself. 

My Recommendation: Take an afternoon and read this one, meditate on capitalism, technology, and work, and have a good time while doing it. 📲

Fraser Simons

Cindy Lieberman

Agency workplace humor via Slack messages. Clients, new hires, social media quotas, inside jokes. Lots of WFH requests (before WFH became mandatory due to COVID). It’s all light and fun until someone gets stuck inside the slack channel….

Lauren Attaway

So strange and I could not put this book down. I would have finished it in one sitting if I did not have such a busy week! I am not sure how I feel about this book but I know I had to finish it.

Maggie

A slack epistolary novel could have easily been a gimmicky workplace comedy. Instead it went absolutely batshit. Hard to classify- certainly satire, but absurdism? sci-fi? magical realism? Whatever it is, it’s very of the moment.

death nurse

A Good Morning America Book Club Pick! • A work-from-home comedy where WFH meets WTF. "An absurd, hilarious romp through the haunted house of late-stage capitalism."—Carmen Maria Machado, author of In the Dream House Told entirely through clever and captivating Slack messages, this irresistible, relatable satire of both virtual work and contemporary life is The Office for a new world. Gerald, a mid-level employee of a New York–based public relations firm has been uploaded into the company’s internal Slack channels—at least his consciousness has. His colleagues assume it’s an elaborate gag to exploit the new work-from home policy, but now that Gerald’s productivity is through the roof, his bosses are only too happy to let him work from . . . wherever he says he is. Faced with the looming abyss of a disembodied life online, Gerald enlists his co-worker Pradeep to help him escape, and to find out what happened to his body. But the longer Gerald stays in the void, the more alluring and absurd his reality becomes. Meanwhile, Gerald’s colleagues have PR catastrophes of their own to handle in the real world. Their biggest client, a high-end dog food company, is in the midst of recalling a bad batch of food that’s allegedly poisoning Pomeranians nationwide. And their CEO suspects someone is sabotaging his office furniture. And if Gerald gets to work from home all the time, why can’t everyone? Is true love possible between two people, when one is just a line of text in an app? And what in the hell does the :dusty-stick: emoji mean? In a time when office paranoia and politics have followed us home, Calvin Kasulke is here to capture the surprising, absurd, and fully-relatable factors attacking our collective sanity…and give us hope that we can still find a human connection.

Several People Are Typing

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