(2 of 2)
Does he fall in love with what can never become more than a mock-up of human intelligence? Not really, though he is sickened when Lentz mischievously suggests destroying some of the network's circuits -- lobotomizing it -- to test its workings. What gives depth and resonance to Galatea 2.2 is a parallel theme of failed love, the hero's brooding account of an intense 10-year affair, now ended, with a Dutch-American woman he calls "C." At 35, midstream, he is close to drowning. He obsesses briefly about "A.," the pretty student who will take Lentz's test against the computer. She's not interested. This sad and gentle story winds down with "Powers" and "Helen" fully and separately aware of loneliness, and neither able to help the other.