Courtney Maum has something to tell you, but you may not want to hear it. A master in the art of the letdown, her 2014 debut novel, I Am Having So Much Fun Here Without You, exposed the ways that even a picturesque marriage can spider with cracks. The book sold well, netting Maum an advance for her new novel, Touch. And now, after years working on a remote homestead in Connecticut, Maum has returned for something more personal than a marriage: your phone. Is it making your life easier? Does it make you smarter, savvier, more synergized with the world around you?
Maum’s answer (spoiler alert) is a resounding no.
Since Seattleites have a fraught relationship with the tech industry, the snarky attitude toward tech in Touch might be well received. But for the lanyard-bound hordes marching back and forth across 520 every day, Maum’s notes could fall flat. So at the risk of turning her noontide visit to Elliott Bay Book Company on June 5 into a clash of the badge-haver versus the badgeless, I decided to play devil’s advocate.