Tell the Machine Goodnight is a novel about several different people's lives in a future that relies on technology for happiness. Sort of sounds like the present, but there's more: A machine has been invented which can read a person's DNA, and then provide a few obscure directives that seem to increase a person's level of contentment. Through her characters, author Katie Williams examines the direction in which society is headed as we shift our focus from relations that rely solely on human interactions, to relations that are mediated, built, and broken based on mechanical recommendations.

So what happens when the folly of human intuition is replaced by a machine's objective edict? The answer, according to Williams, seems to be in the subtleties. And somehow, this is fitting. The fingers of technology creep into each corner of our lives slowly, quietly taking over processes that we have historically had to perform based on subjective reasoning.

Other reviewers have commented that Tell the Machine Goodnight is a novel without plot. Perhaps this is true to an extent, but I do believe that Williams gently builds towards a new understanding of tech's role in her characters' lives -- and therefore in readers' -- which is itself her purpose. Her writing is admirable, alighting the stories with poignance and insightful observations. I recommend this as a slow-paced, thought-provoking read.