Mac vs. PC

computers are easier to fix than people

by

3 stars (1 review)

As a computer technician at the university, Anna Petrowski knows she has one thing in common with doctors and lawyers, and it’s not the salary. It’s that everyone thinks her advice comes free, even on weekends. That’s why she keeps a strict observance of her Saturday routine: a scone, a caramel mocha, and nobody bothering her. So when she meets a new campus hire at the Bean Grinder who needs computer help yet doesn’t ask for it, she’s intrigued enough to offer. It’s the beginning of a beautiful friendship and possibly something more. But Elizabeth Markel is a little higher up the university food chain than she’s let on, and the truth brings out buried prejudices that Anna didn’t know she had. People and computers have one thing in common: they’re both capable of self-sabotage. The difference is that computers are easier to fix.

1 edition

reviewed Mac vs. PC by Fletcher DeLancey

Apple should sponsor this book, but at least it's cozy and somewhat class-conscious?

3 stars

I like the university setting, and the acknowledgement of class/hierarchy in university society was an unexpected bonus. I like that the POV character is in IT support. I appreciate that it didn't go too far into "our relationship has failed and my life is over, whatever shall I do, Friar Laurence*?" angst as so many romance novels tend to; it just felt like normal "that sucked and I'm disappointed" angst.

The book is aware of class and takes the less-common tack of pointing out that snobbery can go both directions, but it isn't particularly critical of social or economic inequality. If anything, it valorizes upper-middle-class university-educated lifestyles. sigh

The computer stuff was... fine? It really ought to get a sponsorship from Apple for how excited the characters are about Macs. I was surprised that nobody at a sizeable research university mentioned Linux even once.

Anyway, it was nicely low-key. This …