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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
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
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
grem_ler's review against another edition
funny
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror
Minor: Sexual content
philippmk's review against another edition
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Content Warnings
Minor: Animal death and Sexual content
workingdaley's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
fast-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? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror and Confinement
Moderate: Sexual content
Minor: Animal death and Excrement
emily_koopmann's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
funny
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
5.0
Content Warnings
Minor: Sexual content
melchncookies's review against another edition
dark
funny
mysterious
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
3.0
I just finished this book. My first thoughts are that the story was inventive. It was a very fast read too. It’s funny but probably not all that memorable. Great book to help boost your count.
Gerald works in a PR firm and has accidentally uploaded himself to the company slack program. There’s some great banter but whenslack’s help bot takes over Gerald’s body the story takes a weird turn. There are some sort of rape light themes that only a man would think is ok to write about.
Gerald works in a PR firm and has accidentally uploaded himself to the company slack program. There’s some great banter but when
Content Warnings
Minor: Animal death, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Excrement