UnWorld
A Novel
From the author of Once More We Saw Stars comes a gripping novel about four intertwined lives that collide in the wake of a mysterious tragedy. Set in a near-future world where the boundaries between human and AI blur, the story challenges our understanding of consciousness and humanity.
Anna is shattered by the violent death of her son, Alex, and tormented by the question of whether it was an accident or a suicide. Samantha is Alex's best friend, and the only eyewitness to his death. She keeps returning to the cliff where she watched him either jump or fall, trying to sift through the shards. Aviva is an "upload," a digital entity composed of the sense memories of a human tether. But she's "emancipated," having left her human behind. Set free from her source and harboring a troubling secret, she finds temporary solace in the body of Cathy, a self-destructive ex-addict turned AI professor and upload-rights activist.
With UnWorld, Jayson Greene envisions a grim but eerily familiar near-future where all lines have blurred—between visceral and digital, human and machine, real and unreal. As Anna, Cathy, Sam, and Aviva's stories hurtle toward each other, the stakes of UnWorld reveal themselves with electrifying intensity: What happens to the soul when it is splintered by grief? Where does love reside except in memory? What does it mean to be conscious, to be human, to be alive?
Praise
"I loved this book. The characters feel hopelessly real in this meditation on mental illness, suicide, grief, guilt, the afterlife and AI. All these big thoughtful ideas and it still reads like a murder mystery."
— Anthony Jeselnik (Jeselnik's Book Club Selection, Top 10 Books of 2025)
"UnWorld is a novel both situated in and structured by the excruciating aftermath of loss. . . . Greene's meticulous characterization urges the reader toward a philosophy of human consciousness that acknowledges the obscurity of the mind while gently affirming two entwined, undeniable qualities of personhood"
— The Washington Post
"[UnWorld] is a story of grief, identity, and the struggle for connection. Greene dispenses with tedious sci-fi world-building and concentrates on the emotional journeys of the characters. . . . This is less I, Robot and more Ordinary People. . . . Humane and refreshingly idiosyncratic."
— The Wall Street Journal
"A lightly speculative story where intelligence may be artificial, but emotions are painfully real. . . . The best of UnWorld marks a writer to watch."
— The Boston Globe
"Haunting and deeply introspective. . . . Greene crafts a stunning narrative that is as emotionally resonant as it is thought-provoking, weaving together mystery and philosophical speculation with graceful, evocative prose."
— Publishers Weekly (Starred Review)
"A mesmerizing novel in which boundaries between human and digital are as blurred as those between reality and imagination."
— Kirkus
Interviews
The Cut Interview
New York Magazine - Emily Gould
"Thanks for Asking" Podcast
Nora McInerney
"Circulating Ideas" Interview
Steve Thomas
"Paternal" Podcast
Nick Firchau
"Debutiful" Interview
Adam Vitcavage - Spotify