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Reviews tagging 'Body shaming'
Играч първи, приготви се by Катя Перчинкова, Ernest Cline, Ърнест Клайн
16 reviews
rebekah_creates's review against another edition
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
This is one of my favorite re-readers! I love the focus on nerdy lore, from D&D to video games and everything in between. The only reason I didn’t rate it higher is because the character tends to be very whiny and self-centered, and he doesn’t grow much as a person throughout the book. The experience was positive in spite of the main character, rather than because of him.
Content Warnings
Minor: Addiction, Death of parent, and Body shaming
caitlaird's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
Before I get into this I should state I did actually enjoy this book a lot. The word building is amazing and so well done. I can truly see how realistic of a possibility this world could be. It’s an amazing take on how media and video games can take over and rule society, especially in a world ruined by capitalism, overconsumption, and environmental destruction; and how much easier it is to try and escape from it all rather than facing it.
The use of 80’s media was truly the best part of it all, made for such a cool and fun world.
That being said (possible small spoilers ahead but warnings any moral person might want).
This book is an incels wet dream of a y/n - self insert action hero whatever, complete with casual usage of transphobia and homophobia to really finish it off. Specifically the phrase “twinked out” when talking about people who are just dancing at a club (that he’s at no less!!) and multiple instances of blatant transphobia that you’d hope and think wouldn’t exist in 2045. Also every inspiration listed in this book is a male creator. Science fiction wouldn’t be what it is without women, Mary Shelly, Ursula Le Guin, I could go on. Do men just not think of women? Honestly curious.
I would put this book at the top of my list “so obvious it was written by a man it’s actually physically painful”.
The character Artemis is a queen amongst men. She is however a victim of the manic pixie dream girl ideal but that’s NOT her fault. She is the one voice of reason in this whole book and it feels like that might be the only reason she’s there, other than to be something to lust after and prove that the “nerd” boy can actually get the girl.
That being said Wade is obsessed with her and is totally in love with her so at least he gets one thing right. (This isn’t a spoiler he says it like in the first chapter okay).
And shoutout to Aech, who is just the coolest best friend of all friends.
I kept waiting for Wade to learn the lesson that was the real world is essential to truly living , something you don’t need to read the book to know I think. But he might actually just be the most dense man that’s ever existed ever. At one point, he admitted that he’s an agoraphobic geek and hates it but then changes absolutely nothing about his life. Also why does he have to make such a point that he’s not a fatty. Like realistically he’d be fat. That’s okay. What’s with the fat phobia my guys?
This feels like an Incel boys Bible of what you should do to be the main character. He is a very bad friend to his best friend and he doesn’t even get better. It’s very much a scary look into the mind of a man.
I originally rated the book 4 stars so it’s not that bad I guess, but zoo wee mama it’s like a punch in the gut sometimes. I really have to pause sometimes and go “huh, I know you didn’t just say what I think you did”, but of course he did.
And after a few days processing what I read I actually decided this book deserves 2.75 stars. How can a book be 4 stars when the protagonist is literally the worst person in the world.
Like any other character would’ve been a more interesting protagonist, especially Artemis, not that I want Ernest Cline to write a book from a woman’s pov. The only thing worse than wades pov would be a woman’s pov written by Cline. I think he would really benefit from reading some books written by women with female protagonists.
And after a few days processing what I read I actually decided this book deserves 2.75 stars. How can a book be 4 stars when the protagonist is literally the worst person in the world.
Like any other character would’ve been a more interesting protagonist, especially Artemis, not that I want Ernest Cline to write a book from a woman’s pov. The only thing worse than wades pov would be a woman’s pov written by Cline. I think he would really benefit from reading some books written by women with female protagonists.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Fatphobia, Body shaming, Transphobia, Violence, Sexism, and Death
Minor: Panic attacks/disorders, Gun violence, Homophobia, Suicidal thoughts, Physical abuse, Mental illness, and Body shaming
phantomgecko's review against another edition
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
1.0
If you don't think about this book critically at all, it's fun. That's why I finished it.
But dang dude I hated this. It's listening to a Redditor gatekeep mediocre media for 300+ pages. The most accurate word I can think for this would be masturbatory. I know that the author =/= narrator necessarily, but tbh I can't imagine why he would write this book in this specific way unless he personally just gets right off on it. This had v strong self-insert Mary Sue vibes.
For example, having to describe in detail all the (fake) tech used or having to talk about every article of clothing anyone puts on.
Also, obvs pop culture references are the whole book, but like, my dude. You don't need to explain every reference. This isn't Dora the Explorer.
My facetiously favorite line, paraphrased was 'it's their fault they don't have all the words to Schoolhouse Rock memorized' as if that's a normal thing. Like, bro, yeah, I know. Dissecting everything in Halliday's life is essentially their job, but the condescension and superiority complex that goes along with it is such a toxic part of fandom culture.
I kinda thought the narrative would loop around, and everyone would acknowledge that Halliday was psycho and not worthy of adoration or study. Wah wah wah, whiny piss baby can't forget pathetic childhood. But no. How silly of me.
Also, willing suspension of disbelief and all, but NO. It's just not possible for a kid to have read/watched/listened to/played all the things he has in 3 years. No amount of "that's all he does for 12 hours a day" can convince me that it's possible. He didn't just have 4 screens going at once on double speed. He claims to have consumed the media in a way that he apparently can remember every single thing in all of it. Every sound byte from every obscure snippet of media from a decade. He straight up says he's watched some movies over 100 times. There is simply not time for that. I cannot and will not get over this egregious stretch of the imagination.
And another thing...looking down on Star Trek Voyager and Star Trek Enterprise instantly lowered my opinion of Cline.
Science fiction in particular from the 80s is rife with sexism, and you can tell Cline triiiied to subvert that. But it was done in classic "nice guy" fashion. Sexism with a different face.
Oh, almost forgot about the atheist rant at the beginning. It honestly felt like a fourth-wall-breaking diatribe that didn't fit? Like, wah wah wah, I'm alive and anything good anyone has ever told me is a lie, the only point of life is to end and everyone dies, wah wah wah.
Do not recommend. Tbh, the movie was better.
But dang dude I hated this. It's listening to a Redditor gatekeep mediocre media for 300+ pages. The most accurate word I can think for this would be masturbatory. I know that the author =/= narrator necessarily, but tbh I can't imagine why he would write this book in this specific way unless he personally just gets right off on it. This had v strong self-insert Mary Sue vibes.
For example, having to describe in detail all the (fake) tech used or having to talk about every article of clothing anyone puts on.
Also, obvs pop culture references are the whole book, but like, my dude. You don't need to explain every reference. This isn't Dora the Explorer.
My facetiously favorite line, paraphrased was 'it's their fault they don't have all the words to Schoolhouse Rock memorized' as if that's a normal thing. Like, bro, yeah, I know. Dissecting everything in Halliday's life is essentially their job, but the condescension and superiority complex that goes along with it is such a toxic part of fandom culture.
I kinda thought the narrative would loop around, and everyone would acknowledge that Halliday was psycho and not worthy of adoration or study. Wah wah wah, whiny piss baby can't forget pathetic childhood. But no. How silly of me.
Also, willing suspension of disbelief and all, but NO. It's just not possible for a kid to have read/watched/listened to/played all the things he has in 3 years. No amount of "that's all he does for 12 hours a day" can convince me that it's possible. He didn't just have 4 screens going at once on double speed. He claims to have consumed the media in a way that he apparently can remember every single thing in all of it. Every sound byte from every obscure snippet of media from a decade. He straight up says he's watched some movies over 100 times. There is simply not time for that. I cannot and will not get over this egregious stretch of the imagination.
And another thing...looking down on Star Trek Voyager and Star Trek Enterprise instantly lowered my opinion of Cline.
Science fiction in particular from the 80s is rife with sexism, and you can tell Cline triiiied to subvert that. But it was done in classic "nice guy" fashion. Sexism with a different face.
Oh, almost forgot about the atheist rant at the beginning. It honestly felt like a fourth-wall-breaking diatribe that didn't fit? Like, wah wah wah, I'm alive and anything good anyone has ever told me is a lie, the only point of life is to end and everyone dies, wah wah wah.
Do not recommend. Tbh, the movie was better.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Bullying, Body shaming, Misogyny, Child abuse, Fatphobia, Suicidal thoughts, Death, and Religious bigotry
icarusandthesun's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
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? It's complicated
5.0
excellent! i haven't had that much fun in a while.
even though i'm a little too young (or too little of a game nerd) to understand most of the niche 80s game references, i still enjoyed them all.
the world—the stacks, the OASIS, etc.—is so incredibly interesting and made my video-game (and reality-hating) heart do flips of joy.
10/10, so much better than the movie.
even though i'm a little too young (or too little of a game nerd) to understand most of the niche 80s game references, i still enjoyed them all.
the world—the stacks, the OASIS, etc.—is so incredibly interesting and made my video-game (and reality-hating) heart do flips of joy.
10/10, so much better than the movie.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Murder, Death, Addiction, Confinement, and Cursing
Moderate: Bullying, Domestic abuse, and Death of parent
Minor: Outing, Body shaming, and Grief
lyssa_winegar's review against another edition
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
0.75
i hated this book. i think it sucked and it was painful to finish for book club.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Lesbophobia, Body shaming, and Fatphobia
jayjayre's review against another edition
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
I read this book when the hype first started and it was popular in the sci fi / fantasy recommendations, and I absolutely detested it.
I hate the main character, the plot was horrible, predictable, repetitive. It's not because it's gamified, I've read litrpg that was enjoyable. This is like a smarmy nerd playing through a game they've mastered while ranting about how great they are and winning despite being the most unlikeable mess of a person. I want to throw tomatoes at the main character while he slips on banana peels every day.
I cannot imagine anyone but young boys who want to read a messy power-fantasy enjoying this, the misogyny and other forms of bigotry baked in by the author's awful views gives this a hateful undercurrent that repeatedly pulled me out of the story, even when I tried to go along with it just to finish the book.
This is the type of main character and story I will dislike to my dying days. I sincerely regret spending time reading this book.
I hate the main character, the plot was horrible, predictable, repetitive. It's not because it's gamified, I've read litrpg that was enjoyable. This is like a smarmy nerd playing through a game they've mastered while ranting about how great they are and winning despite being the most unlikeable mess of a person. I want to throw tomatoes at the main character while he slips on banana peels every day.
I cannot imagine anyone but young boys who want to read a messy power-fantasy enjoying this, the misogyny and other forms of bigotry baked in by the author's awful views gives this a hateful undercurrent that repeatedly pulled me out of the story, even when I tried to go along with it just to finish the book.
This is the type of main character and story I will dislike to my dying days. I sincerely regret spending time reading this book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body shaming, Ableism, and Misogyny
Moderate: Body shaming, Violence, Ableism, Homophobia, Misogyny, Racism, and Sexism
oliverreeds's review against another edition
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexism, Grief, War, Classism, Violence, Suicidal thoughts, Addiction, Murder, Body shaming, Cursing, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Vomit, Racism, Confinement, Death, Homophobia, and Bullying
its_erin's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
If there was a church dedicated
to all things 80s Fandom, this would be the Bible and the nerds and geeks would be patron saints. This book, while a slow starter in my opinion, picks up steam to become quite an engaging adventure. Will Wheaton does an excellent and skillful job as narrator, which added to the experience. Some may find this story to be a bit tedious and laden with references, but if you can put that aside then you're in for a treat.
to all things 80s Fandom, this would be the Bible and the nerds and geeks would be patron saints. This book, while a slow starter in my opinion, picks up steam to become quite an engaging adventure. Will Wheaton does an excellent and skillful job as narrator, which added to the experience. Some may find this story to be a bit tedious and laden with references, but if you can put that aside then you're in for a treat.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts
Minor: Lesbophobia, Bullying, Body shaming, Sexual content, and Death of parent
goldyapper's review against another edition
dark
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
0.5
This is one of, if not the worst books I have forced myself to read. And yes, spoilers ahead.
To start with, the plot of the book is super generic and honestly dull. An easter egg hunt in a video game (the OASIS) for money and ‘power’, is the most played-out story you could set around a video game. The OASIS acts as an MMO with basically all the IP in the world in it in some way. Sure, you could argue that the plot itself is generic but not harmful, but you know what is harmful: the main character.
So the main character (Wade Wilson/Parzival) is self-centred, sexist and transphobic and we are subjected to his POV throughout the book. So we see the world be explained through his naive eyes. We are explicitly told that he “[Doesn't] bother with (voting in the U.S elections), because [he doesn’t] see the point”. Even though his best friend ‘Ache’ is a gay, black girl who was “kicked … out of [her] house” when she came out as gay to her mother. But in the OASIS, she presented herself as a tough, muscular “Caucasian male” as there was a “marked difference … in how she was treated and the opportunities she was given” when she had an avatar that accurately depicted herself. ‘Ache’, didn't even tell Wade because she was scared of how he would react. Politics doesn’t matter, my ass. This guy is actively disenfranchising his ‘best friend’ but is too arrogant to think about it.
But that’s not even the worst part of Wade, the worst parts of him come out when he is ‘trying’ to ‘date’ Art3mis. To start with, he has had a “cyber-crush on [her for] 3 years” and has learnt everything he can about her through the blog she runs. Which is just creepy. Once the two of them meet they start texting each other for a while and he lays it on fast. For example, he “conclde[s] that [she] must be a female” as he has a crush on her in the OASIS which makes no sense at all, but somehow he is proven right. He then says “the female of the species has always found me repellent”, which yes, of course, anyone would, he’s a creep who doesn’t think about anyone but himself (for the majority of the book). He then lays on some transphobia in an attempt in deducing that she is a cis woman, he says and I quote “Are you a woman? And by that I mean are you a human female who has never had a sex-change operation?”. Which is creepy and just gross. If she was trans, it isn’t on her to tell someone she had just met that she was. As seen in the previous paragraph, bigotry is persistent in this society and I don’t think transphobia would not be any different. After being creepy towards her (which for some reason constitutes flirting), he then asks if he can “keep emailing [her]”, she tells him no and that she might “block [him] on [her] contact list”. For some bizarre reason she is convinced against it and they stay in contact. Wade then starts referring to her as his “new online pseudo-girlfriend” even though she doesn’t consent to the relationship.
They then text each other back and forth for a while until they meet up at a birthday party held in the OASIS. When they meet each other, for just the third time so far, Wade professes “I’m in love with you Arty”. Her justified response is to look shocked and to distance herself from him as she rightly tells him that they have “never even met” each other. He for some reason asks her “Are you breaking up with me?”, even though they were never in a relationship at all. Why write a character this awful, he just expects a relationship with her because he likes her. There is no point in which he questions whether she likes him. He is then told not to contact her “until the hunt is over'' and somehow he actually respects her boundaries (to an extent). After this he falls into a depressive slump, where he decides to lock himself inside where he “[decides] everything outside … was a distraction from [the egg hunt]”. During this period, he buys and uses a sex robot called an “ACHD (anatomically correct haptic doll)” to get over the fact “Art3mis [had] stopped speaking to [him]. He only gets rid of the robot in the end due to his and I quote “grim relization that virtual sex, no matter how realistic, was really nothing but glorified, computer-assisted masturbation”. I have no words, this is just off-putting, no wonder “the female of the species has always found [him] repellent”.
Later on in the story, he infiltrates the IOI (the antagonists of the book) headquarters and discovers that they have files on him, Art3mis, Ache and Shoto and Daito (the other two ‘main’ characters of the book, which come off as walking Japanese stereotypes). When he finds these files, he checks his and knows that the information that they have is accurate. But instead of grabbing all the files and making a speedy escape to tell the others about this revelation, he spends time breaching their privacy and reading up on everything that they haven't told him yet. He even looks at Art3mis’ real face on a picture, which he knows is insecure about how she looks. When he eventually sends a warning to others, he adds a P.S to Art3mis’ saying “I think you look even more beautiful in real life”. Which again is just creepy behaviour, at this point Art3mis should file a restraining order for him. When he meets up with her again to discuss a final plan, she is rightfully “pissed off” over this, but for some reason, Ache backs Wade up.
I’m going to skip over the ‘final battle’ of the book as it's mostly a generic video-game fight. But the book ends with Wade winning the egg and he decides to split the power of the OASIS and the money between him and his 4 ‘friends’.But he gets to meet Art3mis in person and learns her name is Samantha and gets to talk to her and literally the 5th sentence he says to her is “I’m in love with you” and she says “i’m sorry for breaking things off with you”. WHAT!!? He stalked her, breached her privacy and he still somehow gets the girl in the end. No, no, no. This is messed up awful behaviour and he deserves to be locked up. It says a lot about the author ‘Ernest Cline’, that when I was reading this book I was expecting a plot twist where it's revealed that Wade is an awful person and doesn’t win at the end. Instead, his sexist and misogynistic behaviour is rewarded. This is terrifying.
The thing that horrifies me the most about this book, is the way it's mostly marketed to teenage boys who have an interest in 80s video games. So the boys who are reading this may take the wrong messages away from this book and could end up idolising Wade. The readers of this book may come out as sexiest and misogynistic expecting relationships with women to work the way they want to because they are ‘in love' without even considering the womens’ side of the relationship. Also, they may come off apathetic to voting and politics just like Wade. Who may I remind you has a ‘best friend’ who cant be herself due to racism that is still prevalent in the world. He also doesn’t stop to consider how and why the world has ended in a dystopian nightmare where the majority of people don’t have enough to eat and he only survives due to government handouts. But that's just the ‘real world’ of the book. The OASIS is also a dystopian nightmare, where all of pop-culture is held by one corporation and have the ability to make clones and replicas of real people that have died.
This book was a nightmare to read and actively made me angry and scared at what horrifying thing the main character might do next. Currently, this is the worst book I have ever read.
1/10
To start with, the plot of the book is super generic and honestly dull. An easter egg hunt in a video game (the OASIS) for money and ‘power’, is the most played-out story you could set around a video game. The OASIS acts as an MMO with basically all the IP in the world in it in some way. Sure, you could argue that the plot itself is generic but not harmful, but you know what is harmful: the main character.
So the main character (Wade Wilson/Parzival) is self-centred, sexist and transphobic and we are subjected to his POV throughout the book. So we see the world be explained through his naive eyes. We are explicitly told that he “[Doesn't] bother with (voting in the U.S elections), because [he doesn’t] see the point”. Even though his best friend ‘Ache’ is a gay, black girl who was “kicked … out of [her] house” when she came out as gay to her mother. But in the OASIS, she presented herself as a tough, muscular “Caucasian male” as there was a “marked difference … in how she was treated and the opportunities she was given” when she had an avatar that accurately depicted herself. ‘Ache’, didn't even tell Wade because she was scared of how he would react. Politics doesn’t matter, my ass. This guy is actively disenfranchising his ‘best friend’ but is too arrogant to think about it.
But that’s not even the worst part of Wade, the worst parts of him come out when he is ‘trying’ to ‘date’ Art3mis. To start with, he has had a “cyber-crush on [her for] 3 years” and has learnt everything he can about her through the blog she runs. Which is just creepy. Once the two of them meet they start texting each other for a while and he lays it on fast. For example, he “conclde[s] that [she] must be a female” as he has a crush on her in the OASIS which makes no sense at all, but somehow he is proven right. He then says “the female of the species has always found me repellent”, which yes, of course, anyone would, he’s a creep who doesn’t think about anyone but himself (for the majority of the book). He then lays on some transphobia in an attempt in deducing that she is a cis woman, he says and I quote “Are you a woman? And by that I mean are you a human female who has never had a sex-change operation?”. Which is creepy and just gross. If she was trans, it isn’t on her to tell someone she had just met that she was. As seen in the previous paragraph, bigotry is persistent in this society and I don’t think transphobia would not be any different. After being creepy towards her (which for some reason constitutes flirting), he then asks if he can “keep emailing [her]”, she tells him no and that she might “block [him] on [her] contact list”. For some bizarre reason she is convinced against it and they stay in contact. Wade then starts referring to her as his “new online pseudo-girlfriend” even though she doesn’t consent to the relationship.
They then text each other back and forth for a while until they meet up at a birthday party held in the OASIS. When they meet each other, for just the third time so far, Wade professes “I’m in love with you Arty”. Her justified response is to look shocked and to distance herself from him as she rightly tells him that they have “never even met” each other. He for some reason asks her “Are you breaking up with me?”, even though they were never in a relationship at all. Why write a character this awful, he just expects a relationship with her because he likes her. There is no point in which he questions whether she likes him. He is then told not to contact her “until the hunt is over'' and somehow he actually respects her boundaries (to an extent). After this he falls into a depressive slump, where he decides to lock himself inside where he “[decides] everything outside … was a distraction from [the egg hunt]”. During this period, he buys and uses a sex robot called an “ACHD (anatomically correct haptic doll)” to get over the fact “Art3mis [had] stopped speaking to [him]. He only gets rid of the robot in the end due to his and I quote “grim relization that virtual sex, no matter how realistic, was really nothing but glorified, computer-assisted masturbation”. I have no words, this is just off-putting, no wonder “the female of the species has always found [him] repellent”.
Later on in the story, he infiltrates the IOI (the antagonists of the book) headquarters and discovers that they have files on him, Art3mis, Ache and Shoto and Daito (the other two ‘main’ characters of the book, which come off as walking Japanese stereotypes). When he finds these files, he checks his and knows that the information that they have is accurate. But instead of grabbing all the files and making a speedy escape to tell the others about this revelation, he spends time breaching their privacy and reading up on everything that they haven't told him yet. He even looks at Art3mis’ real face on a picture, which he knows is insecure about how she looks. When he eventually sends a warning to others, he adds a P.S to Art3mis’ saying “I think you look even more beautiful in real life”. Which again is just creepy behaviour, at this point Art3mis should file a restraining order for him. When he meets up with her again to discuss a final plan, she is rightfully “pissed off” over this, but for some reason, Ache backs Wade up.
I’m going to skip over the ‘final battle’ of the book as it's mostly a generic video-game fight. But the book ends with Wade winning the egg and he decides to split the power of the OASIS and the money between him and his 4 ‘friends’.But he gets to meet Art3mis in person and learns her name is Samantha and gets to talk to her and literally the 5th sentence he says to her is “I’m in love with you” and she says “i’m sorry for breaking things off with you”. WHAT!!? He stalked her, breached her privacy and he still somehow gets the girl in the end. No, no, no. This is messed up awful behaviour and he deserves to be locked up. It says a lot about the author ‘Ernest Cline’, that when I was reading this book I was expecting a plot twist where it's revealed that Wade is an awful person and doesn’t win at the end. Instead, his sexist and misogynistic behaviour is rewarded. This is terrifying.
The thing that horrifies me the most about this book, is the way it's mostly marketed to teenage boys who have an interest in 80s video games. So the boys who are reading this may take the wrong messages away from this book and could end up idolising Wade. The readers of this book may come out as sexiest and misogynistic expecting relationships with women to work the way they want to because they are ‘in love' without even considering the womens’ side of the relationship. Also, they may come off apathetic to voting and politics just like Wade. Who may I remind you has a ‘best friend’ who cant be herself due to racism that is still prevalent in the world. He also doesn’t stop to consider how and why the world has ended in a dystopian nightmare where the majority of people don’t have enough to eat and he only survives due to government handouts. But that's just the ‘real world’ of the book. The OASIS is also a dystopian nightmare, where all of pop-culture is held by one corporation and have the ability to make clones and replicas of real people that have died.
This book was a nightmare to read and actively made me angry and scared at what horrifying thing the main character might do next. Currently, this is the worst book I have ever read.
1/10
Content Warnings
Moderate: Body shaming, Sexism, and Misogyny
Minor: Transphobia
jessthanthree's review against another edition
adventurous
informative
lighthearted
relaxing
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Stalking
Minor: Ableism, Fatphobia, and Body shaming