sarahshaiman's review against another edition
dark
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
nelyarosa's review against another edition
adventurous
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
3.0
carolinexmason's review against another edition
4.0
Surveys by Natasha Stagg is solipsistic in the best way. It reminded me a lot of Halle Butler’s The New Me, but with faster pacing and more of (or any existence of) an actual plot. It’s a quick read that can be read in one or two sittings, but the narrator’s voice is likely to stick with you long after you put it down. I was also interested in reading this one because the author used to work at my old job right before me and I was getting her mail for a solid six months so I was curious (nosy) about her.
I know the 20-something, listless, attractive woman with some sort of substance issue and a bad relationship has been done to death, but this felt fresh (though it was published in 2016). It is about a woman with all those descriptors – in this case, Colleen, a 23-year-old woman working a 9-5 at a mall survey center in Tucson, AZ. It did take me a while to get into this book, and I worried it was going to be another whiney millennial story (my favorite genre, lol), BUT it takes a turn just past the halfway point when Colleen becomes internet famous. The reason for her media stardom centers around her relationship with Jim, whom she meets online and the whole internet watches as they fall in love (kind of Black Mirror-y vibes) and become America’s overnight sweethearts. This book is not for everyone as it’s difficult to engage with, but I enjoyed it and you might too if you liked The New Me / My Year of Rest and Relaxation.
I know the 20-something, listless, attractive woman with some sort of substance issue and a bad relationship has been done to death, but this felt fresh (though it was published in 2016). It is about a woman with all those descriptors – in this case, Colleen, a 23-year-old woman working a 9-5 at a mall survey center in Tucson, AZ. It did take me a while to get into this book, and I worried it was going to be another whiney millennial story (my favorite genre, lol), BUT it takes a turn just past the halfway point when Colleen becomes internet famous. The reason for her media stardom centers around her relationship with Jim, whom she meets online and the whole internet watches as they fall in love (kind of Black Mirror-y vibes) and become America’s overnight sweethearts. This book is not for everyone as it’s difficult to engage with, but I enjoyed it and you might too if you liked The New Me / My Year of Rest and Relaxation.
bluestraveler's review against another edition
3.0
this would be more believable if it was about a mormon girl
petersonline's review against another edition
3.0
I liked this book a lot less than I thought I would. I think it's a novel that I would have been thrilled by if I had read it a few years ago, but I felt that it didn't really say anything new that I didn't already know. This isn't even necessarily the author's fault. Natasha Stagg published this book in 2016, and in that year there weren't many novels for adults that explored the topics presented in Surveys. Now, I've read so many other books that I feel better articulate these topics and feel a bit more relatable in this current moment. I'm looking forward to hearing Stagg reflect more on the current cultural moment in her other book Sleeveless, which I plan on reading soon.
Surveys is essentially a dispatch on "influencer" culture and how people can become famous for no reason, just based off of the fact that they are pretty or interesting online. The main character/narrator of Surveys, Colleen, works a dull job at a mall in Arizona, helping to conduct surveys. I found the first part of this book incredibly boring and confusing, much like Colleen's occupation. Several chapters of talking about surveys just didn't do it for me, but I suppose it was meant to capture the monotony of Colleen's life working at the mall.
Then, the novel switches into something else entirely. Colleen becomes internet famous, turning into a character that reminded me of a Lana Del Rey/Slayyyter hybrid (Natasha Stagg has stated, in interviews, that she is a huge LDR fan). She meets an internet boyfriend named Jim, meets up with him in person, moves to LA, and the pair begin throwing parties together. Thus begins a whirlwind tour around the country of various little vignettes taking place in a bunch of different American cities. Some of these vignettes were interesting, and contained poignant commentary on fame. Others were confusing, completely missing the mark.
The plot in Surveys is like a piece of cardboard. Completely one-dimensional with barely any depth at all. The writing wasn't fabulous either, it often felt like something I would write for my creative fiction class. I never felt fully immersed in the setting, which was a shame for a book that could have pulled the reader into the various cities where these parties were taking place. From a writer as talented and well-traveled as Natasha Stagg, I expected more.
However, part of me wonders if this was all intentional. Maybe Stagg wanted her commentary on instafame to be convoluted, flat, much like scrolling through the feed of one of the most annoying influencers on Instagram. It's a catchy idea, but doesn't make for interesting reading. For a book that could have been so much more, I found that I was left cold by the end.
Surveys feels like a long, monotonous scroll through 2014 Tumblr. Which, in all honesty, was what Natasha Stagg was probably going for. I'm sad that this book didn't really grab me, but am still a huge fan of Natasha Stagg, as well as her nonfiction writing and opinions. Looking forward to diving into Sleeveless this spring/early summer.
Surveys is essentially a dispatch on "influencer" culture and how people can become famous for no reason, just based off of the fact that they are pretty or interesting online. The main character/narrator of Surveys, Colleen, works a dull job at a mall in Arizona, helping to conduct surveys. I found the first part of this book incredibly boring and confusing, much like Colleen's occupation. Several chapters of talking about surveys just didn't do it for me, but I suppose it was meant to capture the monotony of Colleen's life working at the mall.
Then, the novel switches into something else entirely. Colleen becomes internet famous, turning into a character that reminded me of a Lana Del Rey/Slayyyter hybrid (Natasha Stagg has stated, in interviews, that she is a huge LDR fan). She meets an internet boyfriend named Jim, meets up with him in person, moves to LA, and the pair begin throwing parties together. Thus begins a whirlwind tour around the country of various little vignettes taking place in a bunch of different American cities. Some of these vignettes were interesting, and contained poignant commentary on fame. Others were confusing, completely missing the mark.
The plot in Surveys is like a piece of cardboard. Completely one-dimensional with barely any depth at all. The writing wasn't fabulous either, it often felt like something I would write for my creative fiction class. I never felt fully immersed in the setting, which was a shame for a book that could have pulled the reader into the various cities where these parties were taking place. From a writer as talented and well-traveled as Natasha Stagg, I expected more.
However, part of me wonders if this was all intentional. Maybe Stagg wanted her commentary on instafame to be convoluted, flat, much like scrolling through the feed of one of the most annoying influencers on Instagram. It's a catchy idea, but doesn't make for interesting reading. For a book that could have been so much more, I found that I was left cold by the end.
Surveys feels like a long, monotonous scroll through 2014 Tumblr. Which, in all honesty, was what Natasha Stagg was probably going for. I'm sad that this book didn't really grab me, but am still a huge fan of Natasha Stagg, as well as her nonfiction writing and opinions. Looking forward to diving into Sleeveless this spring/early summer.
lmrising's review against another edition
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
ominous_teapot's review against another edition
reflective
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.25
Content Warnings
Moderate: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Suicidal thoughts, Drug use, Toxic friendship, Addiction, and Toxic relationship
olivia_asta's review against another edition
2.5
The first third of this book is a sharp if depressing portrait of what one could describe as Mall Life: not just because the main character Colleen works in a mall, but because the boundaries of her life as a whole seem hemmed-in and stale, the way that air and light inside a mall feel. Then all of a sudden, in the span of literally less than a page, Colleen becomes incredibly famous online. The details of how this fame occurs and what it entails are frustratingly scarce: we know that she makes blog posts, and that she cemented her fame via a relationship with a man named Jim, but we don't know what she blogs about, or what makes her particular blog so special, or what Jim did to become famous, or what kinds of content they post together. I've read reviews that say this vagueness is intentional on Natasha Stagg's part, to make a kind of statement about the hollowness and interchangeability of all internet fame. But to me it just vastly lowered the realism of the book. Without any specificity as to what Colleen and Jim do all day in their public life, we get instead chapter after chapter of these people—who are pretty boring in isolation—drinking in hotel rooms and arguing about nothing. I couldn't see anything special about these people despite the book's insistence that they were fabulously wealthy and beloved. Their fame felt arbitrary, like something Stagg just decided to throw in for intellectual excitement without thinking through how it manifest in the lives of these particular characters. Sure, it might all be a statement about how much it sucks to be an influencer, but it also kind of sucks to read after a while.