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beingfacetious's review against another edition
If this hadn't been billed to me as "a page-turning thriller," I would have LOVED it. I mean, I did love it! It's beautiful! But it is not a page-turning thriller and I got to the end annoyed that I kept waiting for it to be. It's a grief book about people who are Very Online and I guess that's where the "who was she REALLY was she leading a DOUBLE LIFE??" stuff came from but that's ... a description not written by a millennial lol
janey's review against another edition
4.0
I read a review of this book in the NY Times that compared it to The Great Gatsby in that it is written from the POV of someone reflecting on a friend who has died, trying to piece together the full picture of his friend. This comparison really informed my reading and helped me to enjoy it. It's a debut novel and the writer has worked in different media prior to this, so I expect that he will age well. Still, this is an interesting and worthy read.
leelock's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
leeeeeds's review against another edition
I tried really hard, just couldn’t get into it.
kathryn36_reads's review against another edition
3.0
Set in the world of tech startups and online message boards, Nguyen’s novel asks the reader to grapple with defining what people mean to us in a digital age. Our primary narrator, Lucas is friends with Margo from work but also shared a message board from their teens. After her death, Lucas discovers that Margo was messaging with an internet friend everyday (Jill). As Lucas deals with the impact of technology on his relationship to Margo, Jill, his direct reports and his boss, the startup he works at has a reckoning about user privacy and content moderation that echoes the invasion of Margo’s personal digital legacy. Overall, I liked this novel, the themes explored (race, romantic relationships, friendship, privacy), and the use of multiple narrators/.wav files. However, I feel like there were a few threads I wished had tied up at the end.
danaisreading's review against another edition
3.0
3.5 stars
This is definitely not a techno-thriller as advertised. Or a heist gone wrong. Yes, Lucas and Margo steal the customer list from their former employer, but that's as heist-y as it gets. They use the list to get new jobs, but then Margo dies in a random car accident several months later. The list is never mentioned again in the book until the very end, by which time you've probably forgotten about it altogether.
Most of the novel is devoted to Lucas being left behind, trying to process his grief. After the funeral, Margo's mother asks Lucas to delete Margo's Facebook account. From there, Lucas discovers that Margo has an online life that doesn't resemble her offline life. He meets Jill, one of Margo's online friends, and they grieve together, yet separately, for the person they thought they knew.
The other part of the novel deals with Lucas at the job Margo got with him because of the "heist", and trying to deal with the ethics/morality of the startup. Lucas has zero technological knowledge. He does the grunt work and CS jobs the rest of the company can't be bothered with because they're developing the software or apps. But then the startup becomes a success for completely unintended reasons, and suddenly Lucas' job becomes more important. The company has to figure out which remains vital to them - integrity or practicality.
Interspersed within the novel are some SciFi story snippets. All but one are maybe a page or two long, and are titled strangely. Their inclusion isn't explained until you're about halfway into the novel. It'll make sense then, but not before.
Margo dies early on, but she is a strong presence throughout the novel. The story is first-person, mostly in Lucas' voice. There will be segments from other perspectives, both in character and time. I didn't find it too jarring or hard to figure out, but others might.
Despite the misleading summary, I thought it was a good book, and drawn in enough to read the book in a couple of sittings.
This is definitely not a techno-thriller as advertised. Or a heist gone wrong. Yes, Lucas and Margo steal the customer list from their former employer, but that's as heist-y as it gets. They use the list to get new jobs, but then Margo dies in a random car accident several months later. The list is never mentioned again in the book until the very end, by which time you've probably forgotten about it altogether.
Most of the novel is devoted to Lucas being left behind, trying to process his grief. After the funeral, Margo's mother asks Lucas to delete Margo's Facebook account. From there, Lucas discovers that Margo has an online life that doesn't resemble her offline life. He meets Jill, one of Margo's online friends, and they grieve together, yet separately, for the person they thought they knew.
The other part of the novel deals with Lucas at the job Margo got with him because of the "heist", and trying to deal with the ethics/morality of the startup. Lucas has zero technological knowledge. He does the grunt work and CS jobs the rest of the company can't be bothered with because they're developing the software or apps. But then the startup becomes a success for completely unintended reasons, and suddenly Lucas' job becomes more important. The company has to figure out which remains vital to them - integrity or practicality.
Interspersed within the novel are some SciFi story snippets. All but one are maybe a page or two long, and are titled strangely. Their inclusion isn't explained until you're about halfway into the novel. It'll make sense then, but not before.
Margo dies early on, but she is a strong presence throughout the novel. The story is first-person, mostly in Lucas' voice. There will be segments from other perspectives, both in character and time. I didn't find it too jarring or hard to figure out, but others might.
Despite the misleading summary, I thought it was a good book, and drawn in enough to read the book in a couple of sittings.
raymond_murphy's review against another edition
3.0
I may have reached my quota of books about Brooklyn for the whole year.
That aside, this was a quick and good read. Sad though, but it's all about grief, so that works.
I like the sub-genre represented here, workplace drama, but I have absolutely no personal relationship to tech start-ups and, if what I read here is representative of what those places are like, I am glad to keep it that way.
What Nguyen does here with race is--I hope--a sign that the publishing industry might be changing away from the cis white male gaze.
A special LOL came out of me when clueless white Jill tells Viet/Chinese Lucas she had no idea Margo was Black, even though her message board username was afronaut300.
That aside, this was a quick and good read. Sad though, but it's all about grief, so that works.
I like the sub-genre represented here, workplace drama, but I have absolutely no personal relationship to tech start-ups and, if what I read here is representative of what those places are like, I am glad to keep it that way.
What Nguyen does here with race is--I hope--a sign that the publishing industry might be changing away from the cis white male gaze.
A special LOL came out of me when clueless white Jill tells Viet/Chinese Lucas she had no idea Margo was Black, even though her message board username was afronaut300.
readingwithkt's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Somehow managed to race through this book, devouring it in less than 24 hours. Feel this book spoke to me at a very particular time in my life, and thus I feel I picked it up at a perfect time.
It’s both an exploration of technology - the way we use it in our lives, the way it’s designed to use us - and a portrait of a friendship/love lost - of how it is to go on when there’s a gaping hole in our lives, about how humans can try to fill such holes by whatever means necessary (alcohol, sexual relationships, overworking).
The flaws of the characters, of technology, of our modern lives, are truly the centre point of this book.
I don’t know what else to say, I low key loved this one and I’m sure it’s gonna leave me with lots of thoughts for a little while to come.
It’s both an exploration of technology - the way we use it in our lives, the way it’s designed to use us - and a portrait of a friendship/love lost - of how it is to go on when there’s a gaping hole in our lives, about how humans can try to fill such holes by whatever means necessary (alcohol, sexual relationships, overworking).
The flaws of the characters, of technology, of our modern lives, are truly the centre point of this book.
I don’t know what else to say, I low key loved this one and I’m sure it’s gonna leave me with lots of thoughts for a little while to come.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Racial slurs, Racism, Grief, and Alcohol
Moderate: Bullying, Infidelity, Sexual content, and Car accident
Minor: Hate crime, Suicide, Stalking, Sexual harassment, and War
acheng's review against another edition
3.0
very character driven book that leaves the reader with no closure
jenn_nguyen's review against another edition
dark
medium-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
3.25