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mattycakesbooks's review
3.0
I'm a bit hesitant to agree with all of the comparisons to Vonnegut -- there are definitely a lot of one-liners and jokes, there are definitely a lot of repeated lines and glib reframings of common narratives, but the similarities end there. Vonnegut, at his core, was motivated by compassion (at best) or pity (at worst) for mankind, and Kobek seems to feel nothing but contempt for humanity. Seriously, this is maybe the most pessimistic book I've ever read, and I'm including in that assessment Thomas Ligotti's "Conspiracy Against the Human Race," in which he argues that humanity should stop breeding because consciousness is a horrifying genetic mutation and is basically a torture we should eliminate by choosing voluntary extinction. Ligotti, at least, seems motivated by a basic sympathy for humans and the torture they go through, while Kobek seems more disgusted with humans than anything else.
The thing is, he's usually right. Sometimes, he's just being shitty (which I'd guess is his intention), but most of the time, there's no lie in what he's saying. And ultimately, I'd rather see a book be honest than uplifting, so by that measure, it's an unqualified success. But man, is it depressing.
The thing is, he's usually right. Sometimes, he's just being shitty (which I'd guess is his intention), but most of the time, there's no lie in what he's saying. And ultimately, I'd rather see a book be honest than uplifting, so by that measure, it's an unqualified success. But man, is it depressing.
ominousevent's review against another edition
The distance between “witty and scathing” and “glib and embittered” can be very small sometimes.
I think this is mostly very well done (except the one chapter that is mostly just a character being 100% ventriloquised to deliver the author’sblog post diatribe), but reading it felt mostly terrible.
I think this is mostly very well done (except the one chapter that is mostly just a character being 100% ventriloquised to deliver the author’s
saragan83's review
4.0
Took me a while to get over the horrible prose and writing style...it's intentional and after a while you laugh at it and understand why the author uses the language. Really enjoyed reading it, and laughed out loud a lot.
pixe1's review
3.0
I wish this book had made the ToB shortlist over Black Wave. Not that I think for a second it would have beat Underground Railroad, but this was also an indie novel set in San Francisco and I took more away from it than Black Wave.
This book is not perfect. It's exhausting and obnoxious, and might even call itself that. There are some very astute observations about modern society and the internet, and I really wanted to discuss those observations with people I knew, until I realized that no one I know has read this book. The format of the book is also such that you are bombarded with ideas and quickly forget a great insight because you've covered 8 other topics in the following three pages (which does seem to be a deliberate choice on the writer's part). There were also some opinions in here that felt a little too regurgitated or naive - I would have agreed with them more if I'd read this book when I was 21. Now it seems passé, but again I feel like the narrator would have made the same comment in a patronizing voice and it would have fit right in with the rest of the book.
This book is not perfect. It's exhausting and obnoxious, and might even call itself that. There are some very astute observations about modern society and the internet, and I really wanted to discuss those observations with people I knew, until I realized that no one I know has read this book. The format of the book is also such that you are bombarded with ideas and quickly forget a great insight because you've covered 8 other topics in the following three pages (which does seem to be a deliberate choice on the writer's part). There were also some opinions in here that felt a little too regurgitated or naive - I would have agreed with them more if I'd read this book when I was 21. Now it seems passé, but again I feel like the narrator would have made the same comment in a patronizing voice and it would have fit right in with the rest of the book.
themorsecode's review
4.0
This is one hell of an angry book. Kobek's diatribes against contemporary culture and particularly Silicon Valley are not especially groundbreaking or original but rarely are they communicated so coherently or wittily. Very little avoids his criticism and it ends just about at the point where you've heard enough ranting, an entertaining albeit depressingly accurate read.
lpjdamen's review against another edition
funny
informative
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
galaheadh's review against another edition
5.0
this book knows what it is and delivers on what it is. i hope alien anthropologists 20 million years into the future use it as a foundational text for their understanding of humanity. if you think a novel needs a "plot" or "characterisation" or "focus" you will need to look elsewhere. five stars
sonjaloviisa's review
3.0
Reading this was like listening to a paranoid and stoned uncle ramble on about conspiracy theories. Crude to the point of hilarity, with a little seed of truth in the middle, raising lots of good points.
I originally thought this was a work of nonfiction, to find out it was in fact a work of nonfiction wrapped in a really bad work of fiction. The actual story itself was not that great, but Kobek even admits it himself within the book. This was also full of typos, which I don’t think were intentional, and were therefore annoying. But this also expanded my understanding of capitalism, culture, and hidden histories. Many of the facts (which I had to keep fact-checking, since this was, after all, a work of fiction) within this book were ones that I had never heard of, inspiring me to really look more into alternative histories and not just believe whatever mass media tells us.
I originally thought this was a work of nonfiction, to find out it was in fact a work of nonfiction wrapped in a really bad work of fiction. The actual story itself was not that great, but Kobek even admits it himself within the book. This was also full of typos, which I don’t think were intentional, and were therefore annoying. But this also expanded my understanding of capitalism, culture, and hidden histories. Many of the facts (which I had to keep fact-checking, since this was, after all, a work of fiction) within this book were ones that I had never heard of, inspiring me to really look more into alternative histories and not just believe whatever mass media tells us.