Jonathan Coe on ‘The Terrible Privacy of Maxwell Sim’

In today’s world, it’s not unusual to wake up alone, drive to work alone, and eat our meals alone. It’s expected that most of our communicating will take place through machines, rather than face to face. And it’s not unusual for us to develop relationships with those machines, whether they’re our cell phones or GPS devices.  But what does all this isolation do to us? And does technology make our isolation better or worse? Jonathan Coe  is the author of “The Terrible Privacy Maxwell Sim.” The novel follows the journey of its title character, Maxwell, who spends much of the story alone in his car. Along the way, Maxwell falls for his GPS device, and Coe explores the finer points of isolation. Karen Jacobson is a voice-over artist and singer and her voice is featured on over 25 million GPS devices.