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pikkumarja's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.25
I do not know what to say or think. The book contains a lot of interesting, sometimes even funny observatorions but I feel the story will be out dated in a few years because some of the chromically online parts felt like that already. The main character is kinda annoying and I feel like I am supposed to feel connected to her but I don't want to and I don't feel the connection. Storytelling and language is still five stars.
I did not know the book (or the second half of it) is autofictional. I realized that just before the ending. The second half of the book is heartwarming and heartbreaking. Two halves are total opposites and it bothered me. Some connection would have been nice.
After all, I still kind of recommend the book.
I did not know the book (or the second half of it) is autofictional. I realized that just before the ending. The second half of the book is heartwarming and heartbreaking. Two halves are total opposites and it bothered me. Some connection would have been nice.
After all, I still kind of recommend the book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death and Medical content
Moderate: Ableism and Racism
Minor: Blood
bealittlebrave's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
funny
reflective
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
This was not what I thought it was, but it was funny, and then it hurt, and all throughout it was beautiful.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death
zara89's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Child death, Terminal illness, and Chronic illness
min3's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death
breauseph's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
My greatest hope is that readers believe this book. I've been working in digital media for ten years, and the accuracy and clear-sightedness with which Lockwood manages to portray what it's like to be a content creator, to be Extremely Online, was surreal, particularly in the moments when it felt like the narrator was scratching at the inside of her own skull, trying to figure out whether her thoughts were her own, trying to understand what a legacy means when THIS is what you do for a living. Also spookily accurate was the second half of the book, the effect of tragedy and real, breathing life on your thoughts, your sense of legacy. This was catharsis. I loved it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief, Police brutality, Child death, Misogyny, Sexism, Death, Medical trauma, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, and Xenophobia
From my perspective, this book does a good job of celebrating disability and difference. There is a key character with a serious genetic disorder who is cherished, admired, loved, and encouraged for exactly who she is.katielynnkinney's review against another edition
challenging
funny
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child death and Chronic illness
withlivjones's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
funny
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
This is a book about a minor internet celebrity whose perspective on life and how much of it is spent on the internet is completely changed when her family undergoes a tragedy. The first half of the book is very much no plot just vibes as the protagonist narrates her social-media-focused life, but the second half of the book, which focuses on her real life, is where it really steps up and becomes so profound and beautiful - sometimes it’s the little stories, the ones that don’t make the news, that most deserve to be told.
I thought that the writing was very clever: the whole thing is structured in small, Tweet-like sections of prose in reference to the theory that humans’ attention spans are getting shorter because of social media; the tone of the narration is littered with dark humour because many people nowadays use humour to cope with how awful life is; and the book perfectly captures the internet culture of the late 2010s - the period between the 2016 election and the pandemic when we all thought life couldn’t get any worse! - and yet at the same time there are so many absolutely beautiful lines, and you can easily tell that this is a book that was crafted with love.
I’m sure that a lot of the references will go over the heads of those lucky enough to not be chronically online, and it’s so much a product of its time that it will become outdated in a decade or so, but I honestly wouldn’t be surprised if this book gets taught to the literature classes of the far future to get a good idea of the cultural zeitgeist of the Trump era, and those future children will stare at words like “binch” and “sneazing” with the same level of bewilderment as our parents, and the cycle will continue.
I thought that the writing was very clever: the whole thing is structured in small, Tweet-like sections of prose in reference to the theory that humans’ attention spans are getting shorter because of social media; the tone of the narration is littered with dark humour because many people nowadays use humour to cope with how awful life is; and the book perfectly captures the internet culture of the late 2010s - the period between the 2016 election and the pandemic when we all thought life couldn’t get any worse! - and yet at the same time there are so many absolutely beautiful lines, and you can easily tell that this is a book that was crafted with love.
I’m sure that a lot of the references will go over the heads of those lucky enough to not be chronically online, and it’s so much a product of its time that it will become outdated in a decade or so, but I honestly wouldn’t be surprised if this book gets taught to the literature classes of the far future to get a good idea of the cultural zeitgeist of the Trump era, and those future children will stare at words like “binch” and “sneazing” with the same level of bewilderment as our parents, and the cycle will continue.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Pregnancy, Grief, Child death, and Medical content
Moderate: Abortion and Religious bigotry
deenmachine's review against another edition
emotional
funny
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
Absurd and bizarre, with unexpected depth. The descriptions of weird Internet culture, and the descriptions of a family pod experiencing shared loss and grief are both spot-on. Lockwood captures how it feels to be fully present in the bittersweet moments where you know you don't have long with someone. An absolutely unique book! Part 1 is strange and slow (which of course is by design) so stick it out to Part 2 if you're not feeling it yet.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Medical content, and Death
Minor: Rape
jakemitton's review against another edition
challenging
funny
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
4.25
If you have the urge to read a 200 page book that kind of reads like a series of tumblr shit posts but is also really exquisitely written then this is the book for you. Despite some really incredible prose I found the first part of this novel somewhat difficult to get through. I was thinking it was a 3 star read at best. But the second half completely won me over. It maintains the style of the first part but is more grounded in the real world which for me made it must easier to understand. I would really like to give this book to a 25 year old in 30 years and see if they understand the first half of the book at all. There are so many references to recent events and current internet culture it feels like within the next decade this book will be borderline incomprehensible to all but the smallest subset of millennials.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Terminal illness and Child death