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eachz's review against another edition
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
1.0
God I hated this so much that I finished it out of spite. And then the ending was worse than I could have imagined.
I'm pretty sure the author has a humiliation fetish and I say this both because of the EXTREMELY nauseating way every unnecessary sexual encounter was described AND the fact that he put his name on this book.
The whole thing was extremely 12-year-old-who-thinks-hes-deep. Imagine taking a really interesting, nuanced topic like internet privacy and then writing a one-note book with the most BASIC take and no grey area. So much of the time was spent explaining the new tech being developed in this hypothetical era -- which has, by the way, wildly inconsistent levels of ability, which is a pet peeve of mine -- and zero time bringing any dimension or sign of life to the cast of boring, unlikeable, flat characters. No one's motivations remotely make sense, and no one seems to have any thoughts or conversations that aren't a ham-fisted monologue on one end or the other of the ideological spectrum.
For a while I wondered if I was just bothered because it was written 11 years ago and hasn't aged well in terms of the conversation around tech and privacy. But no, I've read plenty of outdated science fiction that was still extremely enjoyable. This was just a terrible book.
I'm pretty sure the author has a humiliation fetish and I say this both because of the EXTREMELY nauseating way every unnecessary sexual encounter was described AND the fact that he put his name on this book.
The whole thing was extremely 12-year-old-who-thinks-hes-deep. Imagine taking a really interesting, nuanced topic like internet privacy and then writing a one-note book with the most BASIC take and no grey area. So much of the time was spent explaining the new tech being developed in this hypothetical era -- which has, by the way, wildly inconsistent levels of ability, which is a pet peeve of mine -- and zero time bringing any dimension or sign of life to the cast of boring, unlikeable, flat characters. No one's motivations remotely make sense, and no one seems to have any thoughts or conversations that aren't a ham-fisted monologue on one end or the other of the ideological spectrum.
For a while I wondered if I was just bothered because it was written 11 years ago and hasn't aged well in terms of the conversation around tech and privacy. But no, I've read plenty of outdated science fiction that was still extremely enjoyable. This was just a terrible book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Kidnapping, Car accident, Fatphobia, Suicide, and Sexual violence
Moderate: Kidnapping, Body shaming, Panic attacks/disorders, Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Alcohol
Minor: Police brutality, Slavery, Colonisation, and Misogyny
riereeds's review against another edition
dark
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Very big brother is watching. Which is the point it’s really got me thinking about my only social media use.
Content Warnings
Minor: Suicide and Violence
robyn_fenix's review against another edition
challenging
dark
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Medical content, Suicide, and Fatphobia
Moderate: Alcohol, Bullying, Panic attacks/disorders, Animal death, Cancer, and Stalking
Minor: Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Medical content, Abandonment, Slavery, Cancer, Sexual violence, Child abuse, Grief, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, Cultural appropriation, Eating disorder, Murder, Police brutality, Racism, and Sexual assault
missjeann's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body shaming, Fatphobia, and Gaslighting
Moderate: Suicide and Violence
Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, and Classism
pumpkinbisque's review against another edition
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.5
the speed with which i read this book betrays how i ended up feeling about it. eggers is a very compelling author and while his characters fell flat for me, i sort of devoured this book because i needed to know if my suspicions about how it ended were correct (they were).
i don’t think it’s fair to reduce this book to “ooga booga technology bad” because there were several points in which i found myself thinking “okay, that *could* work, but…” and i got the impression that was the point. i think this book could be more accurately described as a “technology dangerous” book; we are (obviously) not at the level of surveillance and control that is described here, but it’s clear that eggers has feelings about how social media and technology in general are beginning to get a little scary.
i found mae relatable for the first half of the first book. i just graduated from college myself, and i empathized with her desperation to not get stuck in the first job available to her. however, the longer i spent with mae, the more irritating i found her. she resented her ex-boyfriend for acting “morally superior” to her by caring about privacy and helping her parents to the hospital, so she retaliated with some pretty nasty fatphobia whenever she got upset with him. even though she never directly spoke these thoughts to him, it was a little grating to read her calling him “fat” and “an ugly moose” and allowing other people around her to call him “Sasquatch”. i don’t know. that felt like the turning point to me where i really started to hate mae.
as the novel progressed, i predicted how things would have turned out (i fucking KNEW kalden would be one of the wise men ) and it didn’t feel like it was saying anything meaningful enough for me to look past the predictability. mae got more insufferable, the men around her were still little shits (except mercer who i loved; fat boys deserve so much), and her work environment kept placing more and more onto her while she blamed herself for not being “caught up” with the company. every time mae got a new screen added to her desk i thought i was going to implode. who DOES that? is she a twitch streamer????? why does she have like 6 by the time she moves departments????
i think eggers has a lot to say about the work/life balance, as i found that aspect most appealing. the campus itself brought to mind companies like google and apple who have these incredible (free) amenities offered to their employees in order to ensure they spend as much time as possible at work and therefore are more likely to work around the clock (or close to it). i enjoyed annie’s character for a while, and i found bailey to be convincingly convicted about his moral ideals. most of the other characters fell super flat for me. the sex scenes were weird and unnecessary, mae’s relationship with her parents felt off, and the kayaking thing was also one of the more compelling aspects of the book which eventually disappeared.i know this is probably to convey how the circle is eating up all aspects of her life and she has no reason to leave campus and do extracurriculars like she used to, but damn that didn’t make me like it more. i loved reading about mae’s kayaking adventures.
i’m giving it a 2.5 because i read it quickly and mostly had a good time. mr. eggers, please consider writing some creative nonfiction on the topics of work/life balance and of surveillance. i liked what you were saying, i just wished it wasn’t filtered through fiction.
i don’t think it’s fair to reduce this book to “ooga booga technology bad” because there were several points in which i found myself thinking “okay, that *could* work, but…” and i got the impression that was the point. i think this book could be more accurately described as a “technology dangerous” book; we are (obviously) not at the level of surveillance and control that is described here, but it’s clear that eggers has feelings about how social media and technology in general are beginning to get a little scary.
i found mae relatable for the first half of the first book. i just graduated from college myself, and i empathized with her desperation to not get stuck in the first job available to her. however, the longer i spent with mae, the more irritating i found her. she resented her ex-boyfriend for acting “morally superior” to her by caring about privacy and helping her parents to the hospital, so she retaliated with some pretty nasty fatphobia whenever she got upset with him. even though she never directly spoke these thoughts to him, it was a little grating to read her calling him “fat” and “an ugly moose” and allowing other people around her to call him “Sasquatch”. i don’t know. that felt like the turning point to me where i really started to hate mae.
as the novel progressed, i predicted how things would have turned out (
i think eggers has a lot to say about the work/life balance, as i found that aspect most appealing. the campus itself brought to mind companies like google and apple who have these incredible (free) amenities offered to their employees in order to ensure they spend as much time as possible at work and therefore are more likely to work around the clock (or close to it). i enjoyed annie’s character for a while, and i found bailey to be convincingly convicted about his moral ideals. most of the other characters fell super flat for me. the sex scenes were weird and unnecessary, mae’s relationship with her parents felt off, and the kayaking thing was also one of the more compelling aspects of the book which eventually disappeared.
i’m giving it a 2.5 because i read it quickly and mostly had a good time. mr. eggers, please consider writing some creative nonfiction on the topics of work/life balance and of surveillance. i liked what you were saying, i just wished it wasn’t filtered through fiction.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Chronic illness, Suicide, Violence, Fatphobia, and Body shaming
Moderate: Sexual content
Minor: Murder
iridaceae's review against another edition
challenging
dark
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcohol, Animal death, Cursing, and Sexual content
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Body shaming, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Fatphobia, Murder, Rape, Sexual violence, Stalking, Suicide, Terminal illness, and War
Minor: Abandonment, Ableism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Blood, Bullying, Cancer, Colonisation, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Excrement, Gore, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Islamophobia, Kidnapping, Medical content, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Police brutality, Racism, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Slavery, Toxic friendship, Trafficking, Violence, Vomit, and Xenophobia
charlynlynlyn's review against another edition
challenging
dark
informative
mysterious
reflective
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Forced institutionalization, Sexual content, Suicide, and Gaslighting
Moderate: Chronic illness, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, and Trafficking
Minor: Slavery, War, Violence, Stalking, and Police brutality
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