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A review by litwrite
The Girl in the Video by Michael David Wilson
3.0
I'm torn.
This was a puzzler for me. I did enjoy this novella, and I found the story a deeply unsettling glimpse into the reality of our times where every move we make is tracked (makes a good companion piece to the Netflix docudrama The Social Dilemma); but there were so many stylistic choices that I questioned:
* Why is it set in Japan? Is it a weeaboo thing or a deliberate choice to establish alienation and a "stranger in a strange land" sort of feel? Or is it just that crazy Asian girls are spookier than crazy white girls?
* What's with the music obsession? It was understandable in the beginning to establish that this creepy person was knowledgeable in every part of the protagonist's life, but after that it just seemed a weird and tedious addition for someone who is already panicking to think about and add to the narrative.
In the end I felt like there was a great skeleton of a story here, but really needed to be fleshed out further to truly have full depth in the way that I think the author intended. Maybe another hundred pages or so to understand motivations of characters would have made this much more impactful. Without it, any kind of horrific reactions I would have had just felt slightly puzzling/disconcerting than full blown horror.
3 stars on this one.
This was a puzzler for me. I did enjoy this novella, and I found the story a deeply unsettling glimpse into the reality of our times where every move we make is tracked (makes a good companion piece to the Netflix docudrama The Social Dilemma); but there were so many stylistic choices that I questioned:
* Why is it set in Japan? Is it a weeaboo thing or a deliberate choice to establish alienation and a "stranger in a strange land" sort of feel? Or is it just that crazy Asian girls are spookier than crazy white girls?
Spoiler
* Why doesn't he just go to the police? I mean I get the whole well she told him not to thing but it feels so cliche to me. Why would he randomly believe this crazy person sending him videos.* What's with the music obsession? It was understandable in the beginning to establish that this creepy person was knowledgeable in every part of the protagonist's life, but after that it just seemed a weird and tedious addition for someone who is already panicking to think about and add to the narrative.
Spoiler
* What secrets is the protagonist hiding? I'm thinking this was a deliberate stylistic choice because it's like this unknowing entity of this insane person is stalking me, she knows something about me, what secrets will she reveal? But honestly the normal person doesn't have that many horrible secrets. Even if you've got secret nudes or you have a DUI on record, pretty sure you would rather have that revealed then have this person stalking you forever. So to me, it just felt like this macguffin of terrible hidden pasts that never got resolved.Spoiler
* Why did the antagonist suddenly decide to just massacre an entire room of school kids that have nothing to do with the protagonist? This kinda came out of left field for me and thus reduced the impact of what should have been a very traumatic event.In the end I felt like there was a great skeleton of a story here, but really needed to be fleshed out further to truly have full depth in the way that I think the author intended. Maybe another hundred pages or so to understand motivations of characters would have made this much more impactful. Without it, any kind of horrific reactions I would have had just felt slightly puzzling/disconcerting than full blown horror.
3 stars on this one.