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This is a hard one to review! I'm rounding up and giving this 4 stars, because I think it's going to stay in my head for a long time, despite some flaws.

There's a lot about this story that can be cringe-inducing - racism and sexism are elements throughout.

And on one level, this can come off pretty gross: middle-aged man objectifies young Vietnamese woman racially and sexually. It can also come across as silly: computer somehow hypnotizes (???) people into suicide.

But Varley's investment in giving the characters harrowing backstories with a strange harmony lends substance to what otherwise seems exploitative. Lisa is certainly the most interesting character, and she's not easily categorized. She talks about a deeply traumatic past that could have broken her but instead made her into the fierce, capable person she is. She doesn't dwell on the evils inflicted on her, or even paint participants in terms of good & evil. Instead, she's cheerfully and cynically using the American system to create a new future for herself, in a way that I found completely endearing.

Victor isn't as fascinating, mostly getting swept up by Lisa's energy and direction. But as we learn more about him, their relationship becomes understandable beyond the surface appearance of a man dating a woman half his age.

Even the potential silliness of the payoff does have some good groundwork in the discussions of Victor's malady and the couple's ponderings about the power of computers versus human cognition.

The very end, I found quite overwrought, even upon reflection. Still, as I said, I'll probably remember this story and mull it over again for a long time.