partiallybooked's review against another edition
2.0
It's been a while since I've picked up Non-Fiction and I miss it!
Doomscrolling, Online Presence, Self-Confidence are just a few Lockwood ponders about the essence of being online.
We are so reliant on technologies thanks to the wonder of the web which turns the question to what lit will be like in the foreseeable future. You can't help but imagine a string of sentences mirroring Haiku in tweet forms. It's also important to recognise the level of identity we will have within the blogosphere. The ideas of representation to what you want to be as supposed to who you are is very fine on the Web. Goes to show we've all spent hours scrolling reviews about books, symptoms or how-tos. There is very much a 'Black Hole' trap that can heavily impact someone's life but yet we struggle to see it behind a screen. The title in itself makes me want to scream it out loud.
Doomscrolling, Online Presence, Self-Confidence are just a few Lockwood ponders about the essence of being online.
We are so reliant on technologies thanks to the wonder of the web which turns the question to what lit will be like in the foreseeable future. You can't help but imagine a string of sentences mirroring Haiku in tweet forms. It's also important to recognise the level of identity we will have within the blogosphere. The ideas of representation to what you want to be as supposed to who you are is very fine on the Web. Goes to show we've all spent hours scrolling reviews about books, symptoms or how-tos. There is very much a 'Black Hole' trap that can heavily impact someone's life but yet we struggle to see it behind a screen. The title in itself makes me want to scream it out loud.
gracectomy's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
reflective
sad
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
4.5
This book absolutely destroyed me. In a good way.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death
quejk25's review against another edition
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.25
vel33's review against another edition
3.0
I’m not sure how to feel. The writing style is intriguing, but it seems like two different books. I’m still thinking about it days later though, so maybe I did like it? Certainly good food for thought if nothing else…
anna_in_the_spring's review against another edition
I just couldn't get into it. It is not for me. I wasn't enjoying it. Tried reading a bit from later on the book to see if it would get interesting the, but I still wasn't feeling it. And because I wasn't feeling excited to read more but instead dreading picking the book up again, I dnfed it. As I should. Reading should be fun.
burzumalba's review against another edition
dark
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
caorthann's review against another edition
challenging
funny
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75
rockingreader's review against another edition
3.0
Two books in one. The first part, life on twitter, and the second, a heartbreaking family drama. Hard to give four stars (really liked it) to a book documenting what we're still experiencing including the real threat disinformation and sociopaths on social media pose to democracies everywhere. :/
ecruikshank's review against another edition
4.0
“She lay every morning under an avalanche of details … the world pressing closer and closer, the spiderweb of human connection grown so thick it was almost a shimmering and solid silk, and the day still not opening to her.”
* * *
“What do you mean you’ve been spying on me? she thought—hot, blind, unreasoning, on the toilet. What do you mean you’ve been spying on me, with this thing in my hand that is an eye?”
Separated into two distinct parts, NO ONE IS TALKING ABOUT THIS is the story of an unnamed narrator who has achieved fame on “the portal” for a viral post; she splits her time between sitting motionless at home merging with the hivemind and traveling the world discussing the new collective consciousness. The book is filled with unexplained references to viral tweets and memes, revealing and reflecting a strange new sense of humor that will resonate most with people who are at least somewhat online. The book creates a strong sense of “place”—it’s just that the place is Twitter. Part two shows the narrator experiencing family tragedy and falling out of the portal into the real world with a thud. The second half loses its ironic distance and is intense, moving, raw, human. Some might find the second half emotionally manipulative, but to me it was exceptionally powerful and full of love and grief—by the end I was weeping.
The book is necessarily polarizing—there will be people for whom it is excruciatingly relatable and others who won’t understand it at all. I would say I am Fairly Online but not Extremely Online, and at times I struggled with the “avalanche” of references; I imagine the book would be less successful for someone even less familiar with Twitter. And while the writing is beautiful and precise, I sometimes found it a bit impenetrable.
Structurally and narratively, the book resembled Why Did I Ever by Mary Robison and Speedboat by Renata Adler. More than anything, though, it reminded me of endlessly scrolling, passively observing The Discourse, absorbing the memes, internalizing the new sense of humor, and eventually being jolted awake by reality. Basically, it me.
C/w for child death, terminal illness, ableism
* * *
“What do you mean you’ve been spying on me? she thought—hot, blind, unreasoning, on the toilet. What do you mean you’ve been spying on me, with this thing in my hand that is an eye?”
Separated into two distinct parts, NO ONE IS TALKING ABOUT THIS is the story of an unnamed narrator who has achieved fame on “the portal” for a viral post; she splits her time between sitting motionless at home merging with the hivemind and traveling the world discussing the new collective consciousness. The book is filled with unexplained references to viral tweets and memes, revealing and reflecting a strange new sense of humor that will resonate most with people who are at least somewhat online. The book creates a strong sense of “place”—it’s just that the place is Twitter. Part two shows the narrator experiencing family tragedy and falling out of the portal into the real world with a thud. The second half loses its ironic distance and is intense, moving, raw, human. Some might find the second half emotionally manipulative, but to me it was exceptionally powerful and full of love and grief—by the end I was weeping.
The book is necessarily polarizing—there will be people for whom it is excruciatingly relatable and others who won’t understand it at all. I would say I am Fairly Online but not Extremely Online, and at times I struggled with the “avalanche” of references; I imagine the book would be less successful for someone even less familiar with Twitter. And while the writing is beautiful and precise, I sometimes found it a bit impenetrable.
Structurally and narratively, the book resembled Why Did I Ever by Mary Robison and Speedboat by Renata Adler. More than anything, though, it reminded me of endlessly scrolling, passively observing The Discourse, absorbing the memes, internalizing the new sense of humor, and eventually being jolted awake by reality. Basically, it me.
C/w for child death, terminal illness, ableism