Reviews tagging 'Classism'

Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

20 reviews

abicaro17's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense 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? Yes

5.0

HOLY SHIT. Well gooddamm. So this is probably one of the best books I have ever read (well listened too but same difference). Wade Watts is a socially awkward poor 18 year old boy living in the year 2045. In this not so distant future, a immersive reality video game has taken over most of the planet. The Oasis was invented by James Haliday and Oggden Morrow. When Haliday died, his will revealed that he will leave all of his fortune and the entire Oasis game in the hands of the player who can find the egg he hid. Wade, and most of the Oasis population, has been searching for the first key for 5 years and when he accidentally stumbles upon the answer everything changes. This is a beautiful tale of love, friendship, perseverance, and ambition along with the message that reality is better than even the best recreations. I definitely thought this would be a boy book, based on the movie (which I have seen and can safely say this is almost nothing like it), but it pleasantly surprised me with how entertaining and emotionally deep Cline goes. This is a fantastic read/listen and I will be rereading this soon. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Homophobia, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexism, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Lesbophobia, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

a_novi's review

adventurous funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

For the first time in my life I was actually glad I watched the movie before I read the book. The move adaptation absolutely changed EVERYTHING about the challenges and so many huge details of the story. If I had read this book before the movie came out I would have been FURIOUS in the theater. This book is awesome. The futuristic dystopian concept is fascinating and scarily metaphorical for reality at times. There’s mysteries, puzzles, romance, suspense, and emotion. This is a book that I would read over again to catch even more detail the second time around. Good movie. Even better book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Bullying, Cancer, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Homophobia, Violence, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, and Classism

theaceofpages's review against another edition

adventurous lighthearted medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.5

Honestly, this book was okay. It was a quick read and although the experience wasn't a bad one, I felt very meh about it. The world was the strongest point by far. With the way the world is crumbling around us it makes a lot of sense that people want to escape into into a virtual one and surround themselves with nostalgia. The concept of the OASIS is a cool one as well. The plot was okay although it didn't always make sense

so much happened because Wade is the main character and main characters are special even when they shouldn't succeed

- it was interesting enough. But I didn't like the characters. Wade was annoying and uninteresting and everyone else existed to serve him. Art3mis was so much better (major spoiler:

And deserved to win so much more

) but ended up being reduced to being an object of Wade's affection.

And as a somewhat related note?: I really don't like how that gotcha  moment about Aech was handled. Very much felt like tokenism since it was revealed and then immediately pushed aside so Wade could keep doing his thing - if you want to do something like this you should ay least deal with it properly

While the reading experience was pleasant enough I didn't actually like this book. I would love to see something more nuanced done with this idea, but I do get why others love it so much.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, Murder, and Classism

Moderate: Cursing and Gun violence

Minor: Homophobia and Death of parent

lpdx's review against another edition

Too much immature, obnoxious teen boy character dialogue 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Death of parent, and Classism

swimfast724's review

adventurous funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted tense 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

5.0

This is possibly the best book ever written in the universe forever. I can't stress this enough. It's brilliant, it's funny, it's relatable, it's scientifically accurate, it's serious, it's innovative, it's quirky, it's enticing, and you get completely submerged in the world created by this amazing author. Best best best book ever, maybe even better than Harry Potter and for myself that's saying something. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism

Moderate: Bullying, Police brutality, and Kidnapping

Minor: Confinement, Toxic friendship, and Abandonment

hazeleyeddreamer's review against another edition

adventurous hopeful inspiring medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Slavery, Violence, Police brutality, Trafficking, and Classism

Moderate: Child abuse, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Death of parent, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Confinement and Fatphobia

I put mass shooting and fire and injury but it's actually a bombing.

lenorayoder's review

adventurous

3.0

I might have rated this 4 stars because I do think the world is cool, but the teen boy of it all gets to be a bit much, especially by the end of the book. At first I thought the main character was just an accurate portrayal of teen boyness, warts and all, but it becomes obvious as the book goes on that Wade can do no wrong (and actually those aren’t warts at all!) once he’s learned the Moral of the Story. Cline also really hits you over the head with said moral. And let’s not forget the clumsy exposition that continues throughout the novel. I can tolerate that at the beginning of a book, but the entire thing?? Also “rubenesque”. More than once. Kill me. 

Kind of a bummer, because I think this book had a lot of potential. I still liked it though, and I’ll probably check out the sequel. I can definitely see why this was adapted into a movie and I’ll be checking that out too. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Murder, and Classism

Minor: Bullying, Child abuse, Drug abuse, Fatphobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Death of parent, and Lesbophobia

drnaynay's review

adventurous challenging emotional funny tense 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Death of parent, Murder, Classism, and Pandemic/Epidemic

oliverreeds's review

adventurous hopeful tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated

4.25

Good book; the portrayals of Shoto and Daito are a little racist; the main character is a pick-me boy and while he does experience some growth, most of it is because of a woman (sexist) and that whole subplot is honestly ridiculous. Like it suits the character but christ it’s a little excessive and he never faces any repercussions for his obsessive nature. We also never see a developing care for the outside world which realllly makes the love interest feel like a moral hospital for a promising young man. The world building is exceptional and the characters are all believable. I think the theme of race really gets trampled on//doesn’t get enough attention in the novel. It felt like an after thought, like the character was made to develop Wade into his final form. He’s the hero but he also sucks a lot. Also, there’s a paradoxical idolization of the creators or OASIS (rich) who honestly do and did so little to help the real world despite their vast sums of money (the reason why some characters want to win the game in the first place — to save the world). idk. the whole thing felt half-baked in terms of ideology but very strong in terms of character personas but weak in terms of character development

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body shaming, Bullying, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Homophobia, Racism, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Vomit, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, War, and Classism

eyedoc's review

adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Cursing, Drug use, Forced institutionalization, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, and Classism