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A review by opticflow
The Impossible Fortress by Jason Rekulak
1.0
BEWARE OF SPOILERS. ALL THE SPOILERS. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.
I read this book in under 24 hours. Flew through it, actually, like ripping off a Band-Aid. Did I read a different book than other reviewers? Where is the sweet romance and charming coming of age story listed in the description?
It is a memorable, thought provoking, and disturbing book. It can be applauded for having a smart, computer coder girl love interest. It has a lot of 1980s pop culture references and game code throughout. It is a complicated and (mostly) unpredictable story told in a compelling, breezy way.
But the main takeaway I had was that every woman loses. I do not think this was the message the author intended. That's why I am so disturbed.
"America's Sweetheart," Vanna White, loses when she can't prevent Playboy from publishing nude photos of her against her will. This is the catalyst of the entire book. Billy and his friends hatch a scheme to make money from selling Vanna's photos to other teenage boys. Vanna White is a good girl turned sex object.
Unbeknownst to her, Christie Brinkley also loses her clothes in an ASCII-rendered strip poker computer game. This is the first game Billy creates. Making video games is the only thing Billy is good at. Christie Brinkley has always been a sex object.
14 year old Mary and her father lose thousands of dollars in merchandise and damage to their store. This occurs because two 18 year old boys violently exact revenge. Mary pursued one of them, slept with him, regretted it, and lied about him stealing so that her dad fired him from their store. The older boys manipulate Billy and his friends to break in to the store under the pretense of getting copies of Playboy. Billy abets the crime because of his own desire for revenge, after Mary tells Billy she is not interested in him. Mary also has no friends. She is a pariah at school because she likes computers. Mary is dehumanized and the butt of all jokes because she is fat and slutty. The plot twist is that actually Mary is not fat. She is pregnant. Billy was beginning to fall in love with Mary but is now shocked that even Mary is a sex object. Mary gives her baby up for adoption and distances herself from Billy.
Billy's mom is a lost cause. She is absent nearly the entire story because she works nights and sleeps days, and Billy's father left her years ago. Billy's terrible grades are a surprise. Picking up Billy from the police station is a surprise. Seeing a note in Billy's handwriting with "fat bitch" scrawled over and over is a surprise, because Billy is such a good boy. Billy's mom gains a boyfriend out of the police officer who takes a shine to Billy.
Billy's friends are mean and the older guys are dangerous. But Billy is supposed to be the hero readers root for in this story. He has moments where he wants to do the right thing, and treat Mary with respect, but it doesn't last. Two quotes from Billy seem to sum up the situation. "It seemed cruel but I nodded anyway." "Most of our thoughts are truly unthinkable." Authors can get away with a lot in the guise of creating a naive character, but the entire time I thought this would have a redeeming ending where the character learns to be a better human being. The author's complicity in this deeply sexist narrative perpetuates the problem.
So what happens to Billy?
Billy does not face criminal charges for the burglary and vandalism. Billy thinks he might lose his friends for liking a fat girl, but they end up supporting him. Billy is not at risk of any harm from the older dangerous guys because they are neatly dispatched.
Billy loses his computer. His mother sells it to help reimburse the damage to Mary's dad's store. But he gets computer access back when Mary's dad allows Billy to use the store computers.
Billy loses his summer, because his GPA is so low from skipping school and not doing schoolwork that his principal makes him take on a summer internship. But the principal knows Billy is not a bad kid, and can redeem himself. Billy has a video game producer interested in his games so his future prospects are looking good regardless.
Billy loses his love interest. Or does he? Mary wants to start a new life after putting her past mistakes behind her. But by the end of the story Billy freely admits he still likes Mary. He has apologized. And they are going to work together on another video game. Does she forgive him? Is there a chance she is interested in more? It is ambiguous.
There is much more to analyze here. What is the author trying to allude to naming these characters William and (the virgin) Mary? There's a dissertation hiding here in what I'm sure many people could skim as a cute and funny story. I just cannot see it. I am really troubled by this book.
I read this book in under 24 hours. Flew through it, actually, like ripping off a Band-Aid. Did I read a different book than other reviewers? Where is the sweet romance and charming coming of age story listed in the description?
It is a memorable, thought provoking, and disturbing book. It can be applauded for having a smart, computer coder girl love interest. It has a lot of 1980s pop culture references and game code throughout. It is a complicated and (mostly) unpredictable story told in a compelling, breezy way.
But the main takeaway I had was that every woman loses. I do not think this was the message the author intended. That's why I am so disturbed.
"America's Sweetheart," Vanna White, loses when she can't prevent Playboy from publishing nude photos of her against her will. This is the catalyst of the entire book. Billy and his friends hatch a scheme to make money from selling Vanna's photos to other teenage boys. Vanna White is a good girl turned sex object.
Unbeknownst to her, Christie Brinkley also loses her clothes in an ASCII-rendered strip poker computer game. This is the first game Billy creates. Making video games is the only thing Billy is good at. Christie Brinkley has always been a sex object.
14 year old Mary and her father lose thousands of dollars in merchandise and damage to their store. This occurs because two 18 year old boys violently exact revenge. Mary pursued one of them, slept with him, regretted it, and lied about him stealing so that her dad fired him from their store. The older boys manipulate Billy and his friends to break in to the store under the pretense of getting copies of Playboy. Billy abets the crime because of his own desire for revenge, after Mary tells Billy she is not interested in him. Mary also has no friends. She is a pariah at school because she likes computers. Mary is dehumanized and the butt of all jokes because she is fat and slutty. The plot twist is that actually Mary is not fat. She is pregnant. Billy was beginning to fall in love with Mary but is now shocked that even Mary is a sex object. Mary gives her baby up for adoption and distances herself from Billy.
Billy's mom is a lost cause. She is absent nearly the entire story because she works nights and sleeps days, and Billy's father left her years ago. Billy's terrible grades are a surprise. Picking up Billy from the police station is a surprise. Seeing a note in Billy's handwriting with "fat bitch" scrawled over and over is a surprise, because Billy is such a good boy. Billy's mom gains a boyfriend out of the police officer who takes a shine to Billy.
Billy's friends are mean and the older guys are dangerous. But Billy is supposed to be the hero readers root for in this story. He has moments where he wants to do the right thing, and treat Mary with respect, but it doesn't last. Two quotes from Billy seem to sum up the situation. "It seemed cruel but I nodded anyway." "Most of our thoughts are truly unthinkable." Authors can get away with a lot in the guise of creating a naive character, but the entire time I thought this would have a redeeming ending where the character learns to be a better human being. The author's complicity in this deeply sexist narrative perpetuates the problem.
So what happens to Billy?
Billy does not face criminal charges for the burglary and vandalism. Billy thinks he might lose his friends for liking a fat girl, but they end up supporting him. Billy is not at risk of any harm from the older dangerous guys because they are neatly dispatched.
Billy loses his computer. His mother sells it to help reimburse the damage to Mary's dad's store. But he gets computer access back when Mary's dad allows Billy to use the store computers.
Billy loses his summer, because his GPA is so low from skipping school and not doing schoolwork that his principal makes him take on a summer internship. But the principal knows Billy is not a bad kid, and can redeem himself. Billy has a video game producer interested in his games so his future prospects are looking good regardless.
Billy loses his love interest. Or does he? Mary wants to start a new life after putting her past mistakes behind her. But by the end of the story Billy freely admits he still likes Mary. He has apologized. And they are going to work together on another video game. Does she forgive him? Is there a chance she is interested in more? It is ambiguous.
There is much more to analyze here. What is the author trying to allude to naming these characters William and (the virgin) Mary? There's a dissertation hiding here in what I'm sure many people could skim as a cute and funny story. I just cannot see it. I am really troubled by this book.