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eachz's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
1.0
I'm pretty sure the author has a humiliation fetish and I say this both because of the EXTREMELY nauseating way every unnecessary sexual encounter was described AND the fact that he put his name on this book.
The whole thing was extremely 12-year-old-who-thinks-hes-deep. Imagine taking a really interesting, nuanced topic like internet privacy and then writing a one-note book with the most BASIC take and no grey area. So much of the time was spent explaining the new tech being developed in this hypothetical era -- which has, by the way, wildly inconsistent levels of ability, which is a pet peeve of mine -- and zero time bringing any dimension or sign of life to the cast of boring, unlikeable, flat characters. No one's motivations remotely make sense, and no one seems to have any thoughts or conversations that aren't a ham-fisted monologue on one end or the other of the ideological spectrum.
For a while I wondered if I was just bothered because it was written 11 years ago and hasn't aged well in terms of the conversation around tech and privacy. But no, I've read plenty of outdated science fiction that was still extremely enjoyable. This was just a terrible book.
Graphic: Fatphobia, Sexual violence, Suicide, Violence, Kidnapping, and Car accident
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body shaming, Panic attacks/disorders, Kidnapping, and Alcohol
Minor: Misogyny, Slavery, Police brutality, and Colonisation
riereeds's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Minor: Suicide and Violence
robyn_fenix's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Graphic: Death, Fatphobia, Suicide, and Medical content
Moderate: Animal death, Bullying, Cancer, Panic attacks/disorders, Stalking, and Alcohol
Minor: Cancer, Child abuse, Eating disorder, Racism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Toxic relationship, Violence, Police brutality, Medical content, Grief, Murder, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Abandonment
missjeann's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Body shaming, Fatphobia, and Gaslighting
Moderate: Suicide and Violence
Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, and Classism
pumpkinbisque's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.5
i don’t think it’s fair to reduce this book to “ooga booga technology bad” because there were several points in which i found myself thinking “okay, that *could* work, but…” and i got the impression that was the point. i think this book could be more accurately described as a “technology dangerous” book; we are (obviously) not at the level of surveillance and control that is described here, but it’s clear that eggers has feelings about how social media and technology in general are beginning to get a little scary.
i found mae relatable for the first half of the first book. i just graduated from college myself, and i empathized with her desperation to not get stuck in the first job available to her. however, the longer i spent with mae, the more irritating i found her. she resented her ex-boyfriend for acting “morally superior” to her by caring about privacy and helping her parents to the hospital, so she retaliated with some pretty nasty fatphobia whenever she got upset with him. even though she never directly spoke these thoughts to him, it was a little grating to read her calling him “fat” and “an ugly moose” and allowing other people around her to call him “Sasquatch”. i don’t know. that felt like the turning point to me where i really started to hate mae.
as the novel progressed, i predicted how things would have turned out (
i think eggers has a lot to say about the work/life balance, as i found that aspect most appealing. the campus itself brought to mind companies like google and apple who have these incredible (free) amenities offered to their employees in order to ensure they spend as much time as possible at work and therefore are more likely to work around the clock (or close to it). i enjoyed annie’s character for a while, and i found bailey to be convincingly convicted about his moral ideals. most of the other characters fell super flat for me. the sex scenes were weird and unnecessary, mae’s relationship with her parents felt off, and the kayaking thing was also one of the more compelling aspects of the book which eventually disappeared.
i’m giving it a 2.5 because i read it quickly and mostly had a good time. mr. eggers, please consider writing some creative nonfiction on the topics of work/life balance and of surveillance. i liked what you were saying, i just wished it wasn’t filtered through fiction.
Graphic: Body shaming, Chronic illness, Fatphobia, Suicide, and Violence
Moderate: Sexual content
Minor: Murder
iridaceae's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Animal death, Cursing, Sexual content, and Alcohol
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Body shaming, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Fatphobia, Rape, Sexual violence, Suicide, Terminal illness, Stalking, Murder, and War
Minor: Ableism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Cancer, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Homophobia, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Racism, Sexual assault, Slavery, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Police brutality, Islamophobia, Medical content, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail
charlynlynlyn's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
Graphic: Sexual content, Suicide, Forced institutionalization, and Gaslighting
Moderate: Chronic illness, Toxic relationship, Trafficking, and Toxic friendship
Minor: Slavery, Violence, Police brutality, Stalking, and War