By Mary Ann Zehr
A monthly column by a local teacher and reader about connecting with books and taking in Harrisonburg’s literary scene.
~ Holsinger, Bruce. Culpability. Spiegel & Grau, 2025. ~
“A family is like an algorithm,” the character Lorelei Shaw declares to her husband, Noah Cassidy, in the prologue of Bruce Holsinger’s novel, Culpability. Lorelei is a creator of computer algorithms and a world-renowned expert on the ethics of Artificial Intelligence.
Noah, her husband, initially affirms Lorelei’s observation. “Like an algorithm,” he thinks, “a family is endlessly complex yet adaptable and resilient, parents and children working together as parts of an intricate, coordinated whole.” He notes that glitches in a family may occur, but the family can address them and stick with patterns.
But even before the prologue is over, Noah casts doubt and reflects: “A family is like an algorithm. Until it’s not.” His skepticism sends a signal that it might not take much to throw his family–or any family-as-an-algorithm off-kilter.
The Cassidy-Shaws have well-established patterns in family activities and relationships. Lorelei and Noah are a loving couple who are attentive to (hovering over?) their three kids. Lorelei is programmed to be analytical. Noah is programmed to be emotionally intelligent. The story of how the Cassidy-Shaws interact is told mostly from the perspective of Noah. (His daughter Alice also provides some insights through her digital communications that make appearances in the novel.)
Seventeen-year-old Charlie is bent on being a top-notch lacrosse player, tween Alice is a loner addicted to her screen, and 11-year-old Izzy is a cheery person who gets along with almost everyone.
Lorelei brings in big bucks, and Noah, as a lawyer, has a high salary as well. The whole family is reliant on and savvy with some of the latest technology. Yet the family groove includes offline activities such as playing Hearts; kayaking and paddleboarding on vacation; and most important of all, traveling to and watching Charlie’s lacrosse games.
The family takes a road trip from their home in Bethesda, Maryland, to Delaware to attend Charlie’s last lacrosse game before he is expected to go to university on a lacrosse scholarship. Charlie is behind the wheel of the family minivan. His hands are not on the wheel because the minivan has a state-of-the-art self-driving system.
Suddenly, Alice screams, and Charlie grabs the wheel, and the minivan collides with an oncoming car. Lorelei, Alice, and Izzy are injured, though not seriously. Charlie and Noah are relatively unscathed.
The collision kills the elderly couple in the incoming car.
The story explores the impact of technology on family relationships. Who or what is to blame for the fatalities? The minivan’s technology? Charlie, who took the wheel when it wasn’t supposed to be necessary? Noah, who was sitting in the front passenger seat of the minivan, engrossed in composing a work email on his laptop and not supervising his son, a minor?
As law enforcement officials investigate culpability for the accident, the novel becomes a thriller. Like Oprah Winfrey, who commented that she was “riveted” by the novel, I had a hard time putting it down. The novel raises questions that are very relevant in our times, so I understand why Oprah selected it for her book club. If I were in a book club right now, I would recommend Culpability.
The family retreats to a vacation rental on the Chesapeake Bay (equipped with a voice AI service) to recover both physically and emotionally. Noah carries out his usual mode of operation of trying to smooth things over even though no one in the family is okay.
The fatal accident particularly disrupts Noah and Charlie’s connection. Both father and son are worried about how a verdict of culpability could play out and affect Charlie’s future. They can’t talk openly about their anxiety. New tensions arise in the vacation home after Charlie falls in love with the only daughter of their super-rich neighbor, a tech mogul.
What I particularly like about the craft of Holsinger–an English professor at the University of Virginia–is variation in pace. At times, I read hurriedly to keep up with the quickly unfolding drama of the incredibly modern Cassidy-Shaw family. But in other instances, I lingered over conversations and descriptions of the family’s entanglement with technology–Googling people they meet and news stories and texting each other or ignoring each other’s texts–as well as their offline activities, such as kayaking in a cove of the Chesapeake Bay. I appreciated how the slower-paced parts enabled me to get to know the characters, particularly in relation to each other.
I personally live a rather low-tech existence, yet I recognize that many of the technologies woven into the action of the novel–drones, chatbots, self-driving systems, AirPods, tracking apps on phones–are ubiquitous. Some of them impact me even if I don’t own them.
Whether the Cassidy-Shaws will restore some semblance of the connectivity they had with each other before the tragic accident and avoid dark consequences of reliance on technology or having high-profile tech expertise, as is the case with Lorelei, are questions that drive the thrill of reading this novel.
Bruce Holsinger will participate in Books and Brews at 7 pm, Tuesday, February 10, at Pale Fire Brewing Company, 217 S. Liberty Street, #105, in Harrisonburg.
