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sarahjsnider's review against another edition
4.0
Exploring the space between raw emotion and technology. They're short stories, so I liked some more than others (and I spaced them out over several days so they wouldn't all run together). Worthwhile, but I think only the first section will stick with me.
katymm's review against another edition
4.0
Rounding up to 4* for this enjoyable short story collection
nadinekc's review against another edition
5.0
Re-reading six years later, and my star rating remains a 5. I may like the last two stories less this time around, although that could be because I read them late on the historically awful night of Nov 3, 2020, when my mind was melting.
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I've finally come to like short stories and this book has one of my all time favorites, "Hero Absorbs Major Damage", a first person narrative about an action hero in a video game. (He's more sensitive than he looks and is struggling with some existential issues.) Also loved "Designer Emotion 47" a snarky/hilarious shareholder's report given by a CEO who'd fit in with the 'Wolf of Wall Street' gang. Most of the other stories are gems too, just not quite the diamonds these are.
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I've finally come to like short stories and this book has one of my all time favorites, "Hero Absorbs Major Damage", a first person narrative about an action hero in a video game. (He's more sensitive than he looks and is struggling with some existential issues.) Also loved "Designer Emotion 47" a snarky/hilarious shareholder's report given by a CEO who'd fit in with the 'Wolf of Wall Street' gang. Most of the other stories are gems too, just not quite the diamonds these are.
drewsof's review against another edition
4.0
This is a really great entry point, I think, for Yu's work. Reading [b:How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe|9902193|How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe|Charles Yu|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1320537641s/9902193.jpg|10491121] was a terrific intro and it established his (apparently) dominant themes on a large canvas - but it was complex and hard to grapple with at times, and I'm a sci-fi nerd. This book provides the reader with an opportunity to taste Yu's writing, to experience that cloudy melancholy, and tease the complex metafictional pyrotechnics that are on greater display in the novel. It's also a quick read - one perfectly suited to a rainy solitary Sunday.
More at RB: http://wp.me/pGVzJ-Ir
More at RB: http://wp.me/pGVzJ-Ir
vylotte's review against another edition
3.0
A book of short stories grouped under humanity's four areas of interaction: Please, sorry, thank you and you're welcome.
A couple standard, a couple playing with formatting and structure, all geeky. Quick little palate cleanser, I read it in one evening.
A couple standard, a couple playing with formatting and structure, all geeky. Quick little palate cleanser, I read it in one evening.
sariggs's review against another edition
I liked some of these stories, but I found myself wishing the book was over, because I still have trouble getting invested in a book of shirt stories.
laura1's review against another edition
3.0
I loved the first story but lost interest by the end of the book.
tdeshler's review against another edition
3.0
As with many books of short stories, there were some I liked and some I didn't. On balance, however, there was a bit too much existential angst.
mahsdad's review against another edition
5.0
This is an excellent collection of odd, but delightful quasi-science fiction stories. I read his first novel; How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe many years ago and I've always liked his writing. These stories are an interesting mix. One's about a guy working at a company that will take on your pain, for a fee, another is about a Hero in a D&D campaign, and what happens when he meets his "god". There's a story of what happens when you wake up every morning in a different universe and another where a guy writes a letter to his alternate self in an alternate universe. Fun stuff.
"She doesn't look at me, but I feel, or maybe I wish, or I imagine, that something in the way that she does not look at me is not quite the same. She is not-looking at me in a way that feels like she is consciously not looking at me. And from the way she is not-looking at me, I can tell she knows I am trying to not-look at her. We are both not-looking at each other. And yet, there is something in the way she is not-looking at me. First the first time in a long while, I have hope."
9/10
"She doesn't look at me, but I feel, or maybe I wish, or I imagine, that something in the way that she does not look at me is not quite the same. She is not-looking at me in a way that feels like she is consciously not looking at me. And from the way she is not-looking at me, I can tell she knows I am trying to not-look at her. We are both not-looking at each other. And yet, there is something in the way she is not-looking at me. First the first time in a long while, I have hope."
9/10
jenn_reads's review against another edition
5.0
I'm so glad I discovered Charles Yu last year, and this collection of short stories didn't disappoint. Some of them are better stories than others (the best was the opening Standard Loneliness Package, as well as First Person Shooter and Hero Absorbs Major Damage), but my kindle edition is littered with highlights of passages and phrases that are heartbreakingly beautiful. I love his style and his words and I want to keep reading it forever.