Reviews with content warning for Xenophobia - We Had to Remove This Post

Reviews tagging 'Xenophobia'

We Had to Remove This Post by Hanna Bervoets

38 reviews

evanaviary's review against another edition

challenging dark fast-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

1.5

The vibe of this book is off. I can't recall another book that I've been put off by just by the feel of it. Although it clocks in a slim novella, We Had to Remove This Post feels cold and sterile, quietly morose, and with a dour alienation. It's terminally online. But if you look past the bad vibe, you find a book that half-finished. The pacing is way too fast, every character is underdeveloped, and its central message is completely lost underneath the weight of its own ambition.

Although it's effectively a two-hander, this book is too short to make much of an impact. Two content moderators, Kayleigh and Sigrid, take up most of the novel, as their relationship falters as their job slowly eats away at their morality, their ability to delineate right from wrong. But neither Kayleigh or Sigrid, or their coworker friend group, is really identifiable. They're not rounded characters I was never invested in their trajectory—again, because of the tone: cold, alienated. From the beginning, these are characters hired to do a calculated job: review objectionable content, identify if it violates community guidelines, and receive a score based on accuracy. There's not enough time or space for us to be invested in these characters, because by the time we meet them, it seems they're already too far into the work. They've already sunk into the routine, part of their good nature stripped away as they watch incendiary content for hours each day. This book would've benefitted from being twice as long so that we could better understand these characters.

Bervoets was close here: the subject of content moderators and what makes content objectionable in an increasingly open digital age is interesting, but ultimately unexplored here. The book employs shock for the sake of shock, showing the dregs of online content without much followthrough. We see how it affects Kayleigh and Sigrid's relationship, sort of, but again, it feels rushed. We don't see how the work has impacted these characters longterm, who they were before being a moderator. And every time something graphic is depicted (and the content warning list is exhaustive here), it feels like it's just there to be startling. It often adds very little to the greater world of the novel. It's inflammatory. That's it. That's all. By the end, there are threads that connect back to early sections. This book might benefit from re-readings, if you wanted to put yourself through that. I don't.

Rating it a generous two stars as it's not completely without merit: there's a shallow groundwork here; a rough discussion of how exposure to depravity affects our outlook. A question of how you maintain humanity in a line of work to asks you to witness a complete lack of it. There's something here. It's clearly researched, but nowhere near nuanced, often times moving too quickly and without focus. There's a moment where Kayleigh's coworkers begin spouting the very conspiracy theories they review. It feels like Bervoets is almost on the mark, but then it ends. Any time it feels like we're about to break ground and move into something meaningful, we pull away. There's too much ground here and not enough surface. In the end, this book portends it has a much larger message than it actually does. It reads as unfinished. An idea. A rough sketch with a bad vibe that you immediately want to wash your hands of.

Content Warnings

hannahmacd's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

3.75

Content Warnings

tabitha_thorns's review against another edition

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3.75

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ru_th's review against another edition

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dark fast-paced

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

3.0

Content Warnings

josiee's review against another edition

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challenging dark informative fast-paced

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

5.0

Content Warnings

ciwanski's review against another edition

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challenging dark sad tense fast-paced

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

3.0

I think this would make a good A24 film.

Disturbing, realistic, almost anticlimactic. A good commentary on how exposure to bad/uncomfortable/hateful things can desensitize, inundate, and indoctrinate us.

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Content Warnings