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piratebear's review
3.0
Claire fumbled the bag with two women, one of whom was her own girlfriend. I don’t know if Claire should feel grateful that Vanessa took her back, or sad that Vanessa is willing to give Claire a second chance.
narzibenoucdel's review against another edition
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
This book is not that well-written, but Claire’s mess is very entertaining. A super quick and fairly fun read that lacks any true substance; it grapples with serious subjects and themes, but ultimately gets completely bodied by mediocre writing. Not the worst way to spend a few hours, but don’t expect anything noteworthy or innovative from this story.
deadmooneyes's review
2.0
This book was fine but I don’t really know if I would recommend it. It was certainly interesting to read a fictional book on a historical event that I lived through. There were definitely portions of it where I went “oh yeah I remember that happening” which was interesting to read. Ultimately I found Clarissa hard to handle just because she was so stupid sometimes and horrible at communicating despite being a writer. She would sound interesting while writing her babble posts but then just seemed super dumb in conversations with people in person or even in her own thoughts. The other characters were definitely weird in that the author painted you one picture of the personalities of the characters and then pulled a 180 in the last ten pages and suddenly the characters are totally different and leaves the reader feeling conflicted with the ending. Ultimately it was okay and a pretty simple read but in a story where little action occurs, I think the characters should have been a little stronger.
squidpluiex's review
slow-paced
2.0
This book was the definition of meh. It was very repetitive and most of the time boring. I didn’t like any of the characters or the relationships. It was definitely….interesting…to read a book about Covid (even though they never directly said Covid). It wasn’t similar to my experience in quarantine but it’s interesting to think how other people lived through that time.
bookish26's review
emotional
funny
lighthearted
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
rockin_joss's review
emotional
reflective
sad
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
3.5
thesustainablebookshelf's review
5.0
What I thought would be an anxiety ridden teenager girl's point of view when the pandemic hit, totally blindsided me with the incredibly transformative experience that it had on every single person. It's only been 3 years, but it really brought me back to all the hidden beauty behind those tumultuous times. Such a quick, easy read!
lightshower's review
2.0
Don’t expect fancy language from me.
I already had bad expectations for this book. Not sure why, but I did. So, I wasn’t surprised when I rated it 2/5.
First off, the writing style. If I’m being honest, it sounded like a fourth grader wrote it. There’s no fantastic vocabulary, like, why is everyone speaking “brightly?” I also hate the way it takes place during “present/modern” times with Covid, even though that’s like the main thing of the book. The way the slang is used bothers me. I also hate when the author made characters say “Soooo…..”
Secondly, the characters. I HATED CLARISSA. She was this annoying cocky girl and she was so ungrateful for everyone she had. Honestly, Vanessa DID deserve better. I don’t get what she sees in Claire, but whatever. Personally, Claire was a creepy stalker towards Sadie, a bratty daughter towards her parents, and an annoying girlfriend towards Vanessa. I find it difficult to enjoy books in which I dislike the main character.
Finally, the plot. It’s an interesting plot, Ill give it that. I was really interested to see what would happen, but the execution…
It just wasn’t for me. Maybe one of you loved the way it used slang and was during Covid-19 times so it was relatable. You do you!
Overall, I’m not surprised I didn’t enjoy this book. Thanks for reading
I already had bad expectations for this book. Not sure why, but I did. So, I wasn’t surprised when I rated it 2/5.
First off, the writing style. If I’m being honest, it sounded like a fourth grader wrote it. There’s no fantastic vocabulary, like, why is everyone speaking “brightly?” I also hate the way it takes place during “present/modern” times with Covid, even though that’s like the main thing of the book. The way the slang is used bothers me. I also hate when the author made characters say “Soooo…..”
Secondly, the characters. I HATED CLARISSA. She was this annoying cocky girl and she was so ungrateful for everyone she had. Honestly, Vanessa DID deserve better. I don’t get what she sees in Claire, but whatever. Personally, Claire was a creepy stalker towards Sadie, a bratty daughter towards her parents, and an annoying girlfriend towards Vanessa. I find it difficult to enjoy books in which I dislike the main character.
Finally, the plot. It’s an interesting plot, Ill give it that. I was really interested to see what would happen, but the execution…
It just wasn’t for me. Maybe one of you loved the way it used slang and was during Covid-19 times so it was relatable. You do you!
Overall, I’m not surprised I didn’t enjoy this book. Thanks for reading
sbbailey's review
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.25
the author writes like i did in the fourth grade, and there was only one good character. this book made me wanna kms. atleast get in my swamp had good writing
homulucy's review
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
Reading this about 3 years after the Covid pandemic & subsequent lockdown, it still hits fairly close to home. Going Viral was a relatively accurate portrayal of living in lockdown and not being able to go outside. The way the chapters were half real life and half online posts was an effective way of showing how the lines between Claire’s real life and story start to blur. At times, I even forgot that the blog posts were not real.
But, for all of the good parts of this book, there are just as many, if not more, flaws. Claire is a pretty unlikeable character throughout the story and she doesn’t seem to really improve herself even at the end of the book. Her and Vanessa (Claire’s girlfriend)’s constant fights over text and/or video call never have a proper resolution in the moment, with the argument just getting swept under the rug. They never address the problems on their relationship
The dynamic between Sadie and Claire is never really present throughout the book, they talk a few times, but besides that there was nothing there in terms of relationship. The eventual blowup between Claire and Sadie felt like it was long time coming and should have happened chapters earlier. Every bad thing that happened to Claire wouldn’t of happened if she had been honest with Vanessa and Claire about the posts
Overall, Going Viral was not bad, but not good either. The basic structure and plot of the book is interesting, but the execution wasn’t the best I’ve seen. Hopefully some better books set during Covid will be published, because it’s important to cover events we all went through.
But, for all of the good parts of this book, there are just as many, if not more, flaws. Claire is a pretty unlikeable character throughout the story and she doesn’t seem to really improve herself even at the end of the book.
The dynamic between Sadie and Claire is never really present throughout the book, they talk a few times, but besides that there was nothing there in terms of relationship.
Overall, Going Viral was not bad, but not good either. The basic structure and plot of the book is interesting, but the execution wasn’t the best I’ve seen. Hopefully some better books set during Covid will be published, because it’s important to cover events we all went through.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Medical content and Pandemic/Epidemic
Minor: Death