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dogoodwithbooks's review against another edition
funny
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Weird and timely, this sci-fi take on the modern day workplace will keep you sucked in till the very last page. Told entirely in Slack messages, Several People are Typing is about a PR office going about their work, only for our main character to be stuck inside Slack itself.
Even though this story is told only through text messages, I think that Kasulke does a great job with maintaining the character dynamics that you would find in non-epistolary fiction. Additionally, I liked Kasulke’s use of Slack as a character in this story as our main character navigates being inside Slack and wanting to return to the real world.
If you like books of the weird variety and don’t mind epistolary fiction, you’ve come to the right place with this book.
Even though this story is told only through text messages, I think that Kasulke does a great job with maintaining the character dynamics that you would find in non-epistolary fiction. Additionally, I liked Kasulke’s use of Slack as a character in this story as our main character navigates being inside Slack and wanting to return to the real world.
If you like books of the weird variety and don’t mind epistolary fiction, you’ve come to the right place with this book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement and Gaslighting
Moderate: Animal death
curious_oyster's review against another edition
emotional
funny
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement
Moderate: Animal death, Cursing, Sexual content, and Gaslighting
Minor: Excrement
darlaslays's review against another edition
dark
emotional
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
reflective
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
I listened to this as an audiobook, which was very strange to follow at first. I thought I didn’t like the format, but I got oriented quickly when I was able to mentally visualize the text channels. It captivated me, and I had a fun time listening to it, with some feelings of existential dread here and there.
I only briefly used Slack (less than 2 weeks), so while I sort of knew how the channels worked, I had no context of what the “dusty-stick” emoji even looked like when I heard it over and over.
Speaking of emojis, dialogue including emojis were more challenging to visualize on an auditory level because I had to take an extra step mentally in distinguishing the specific implied meanings of each emoji while the speakers were communicating rapidly. I had to pause and rewind a few times in lieu of being able to take my time reading.
For instance: 👀 (eyes) could mean I see, what is this?, HUH?, you’ve piqued my interest, you and I know something that nobody else does.
👍 (thumbs-up) could mean good, go ahead, like, yes, I approve. Those are all similar meanings but in a string of dialogue, it would sound like this: “I thumbs up how thumbs up of a time we had. Eyes. Is this place thumbs up? Thumbs up. I thumbs up it. Me too thumbs up. What are we doing after? Eyes.” I don’t remember the exact dialogue, but that’s sort of what would happen.
I wonder how different an experience of seeing the physical text would be, because it’s apparent that’s how the book was originally intended to be consumed.
However, the cast did a great job illustrating everything in their performances. Overall, I greatly enjoyed this book.
It does leave you with questions at the end, like:
What happened to Lydia?
Why couldn’t Tripp and Beverly speak normally at the end?
How exactly did Gerald get out of and then back into his body?
It’s a lot to think about because you don’t get clear answers, and I think that’s what’s fun about these kinds of stories.
I only briefly used Slack (less than 2 weeks), so while I sort of knew how the channels worked, I had no context of what the “dusty-stick” emoji even looked like when I heard it over and over.
Speaking of emojis, dialogue including emojis were more challenging to visualize on an auditory level because I had to take an extra step mentally in distinguishing the specific implied meanings of each emoji while the speakers were communicating rapidly. I had to pause and rewind a few times in lieu of being able to take my time reading.
For instance: 👀 (eyes) could mean I see, what is this?, HUH?, you’ve piqued my interest, you and I know something that nobody else does.
👍 (thumbs-up) could mean good, go ahead, like, yes, I approve. Those are all similar meanings but in a string of dialogue, it would sound like this: “I thumbs up how thumbs up of a time we had. Eyes. Is this place thumbs up? Thumbs up. I thumbs up it. Me too thumbs up. What are we doing after? Eyes.” I don’t remember the exact dialogue, but that’s sort of what would happen.
I wonder how different an experience of seeing the physical text would be, because it’s apparent that’s how the book was originally intended to be consumed.
However, the cast did a great job illustrating everything in their performances. Overall, I greatly enjoyed this book.
It does leave you with questions at the end, like:
It’s a lot to think about because you don’t get clear answers, and I think that’s what’s fun about these kinds of stories.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Sexual content
Minor: Death and Excrement
I want to give a trigger warning to people who have existential crises as it relates to AI, being in a simulation or digital world, and fears about disconnecting from one’s body. I was able to get through it, but I know if I was fresh off of an existential crisis episode, I would have a difficult time because of how terrifying certain scenes that involved repetitive and frenzied texts were. Examples that are sort of spoilers but without context include:pey333's review against another edition
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement, Cursing, and Gaslighting
Moderate: Sexual content
rickerm12's review against another edition
funny
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement
librarymouse's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
This was a fun read! Gerald's slow acceptance of his time and experiences in Slack and his befriending of Slack Bot pushed this into the realm of plausibility for being an actual nightmare someone with a corporate job would have. The surrealist horror of it all, especially Leah and the howling and Slack Bot's burgeoning sentience made this book very hard to put down.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement and Mental illness
Minor: Sexual content
chris_reads's review against another edition
funny
lighthearted
relaxing
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement
Moderate: Animal cruelty and Sexual content
Minor: Chronic illness
clovetra's review against another edition
funny
lighthearted
relaxing
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
this is gonna be a short review considering this book is “short”.
page wise it’s normal but considering its text messages with like. 20 words on a page. i breezed thru this.
this was defo what i needed after my last read. super fun & wacky shenanigans
still confused about the whole lydia situation? idk what was going on there
dialogue was v funny
confused about what happened with tripp & beverly too? why were all the emojis all fucked up by the end
loved the unexpected gay factor
would’ve liked a little more substance but also tbh this book’s format and plot worked perfectly together
:dustystick:
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement, Forced institutionalization, and Kidnapping
Moderate: Animal death, Slavery, and Gaslighting
Minor: Sexual content, Excrement, and Vomit
trips's review against another edition
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
This book is so odd to write about because on one hand, I read it over the span of 2 days, which indicates I really enjoyed it. And I did! But I also think the way its written is just inherently compulsive, reading text-logs from some company in NYC where one employee unfortunately gets stuck in the messaging application (Slack).
Honestly, it has some good messages about interacting with technology in our post-capitalist environment but at the end of the day, its just a really entertaining read that made me smile many times. Would easily recommend to many.
I actually think this helped me over come my reading slump as I feel more motivated than ever to read again, so hooray for this book!
Honestly, it has some good messages about interacting with technology in our post-capitalist environment but at the end of the day, its just a really entertaining read that made me smile many times. Would easily recommend to many.
I actually think this helped me over come my reading slump as I feel more motivated than ever to read again, so hooray for this book!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement
Moderate: Animal death
Minor: Excrement
readingpicnic's review against another edition
5.0
This was so fun and fast paced. I burst out laughing so many times reading this, and it genuinely felt like reading slack conversations, as someone who has witnessed many slack convos and arguments from housemates in a cooperative living house. I will say that I finished the book still confused about what was going on with Lydia and whether she existed, as well as how a spreadsheet uploaded Gerald into Slack in the first place? I don’t know if I missed something or if it just wasn’t explained. Not too pressing though.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement
Moderate: Gaslighting
Minor: Excrement