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A review by darlaslays
Several People Are Typing by Calvin Kasulke
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: Lydia hearing howling, Sunset.gif scene, the 52 Twitter posts, Beverly and Tripp’s final conversation