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nearit's review
4.0
I do too, which might be a problem in real life, but which makes me the ideal audience for this book!
Of course, if being part of an audience solved anything I wouldn't be writing this review in the first place...
Of course, if being part of an audience solved anything I wouldn't be writing this review in the first place...
daviddavidkatzman's review
5.0
Wow. Now this is something. I Hate the Internet is a punch in the face that also made me laugh hysterically. Kobek’s book is didactic, experimental, accessible, and uncompromising. It names names and kicks ass. It’s vibrant and energizing. I call it a must-read.
Although it’s a very different book, I Hate the Internet reminds me in some ways of my intentions behind my first novel Death by Zamboni. In writing DbyZ, I wanted to break every rule of writing a proper novel that I could and did so mostly for the fun of it. For the frisson of breaking conventions. It was a fuck you to fiction writing as well as poking direct fun at sitcoms and advertising. I believe Kobek has a different motivation for his didactic in-your-face style that he calls out during the story: that the CIA funded the growth of literary fiction in the 60s. Here’s an article about that in Vice magazine, interviewing the author of the book How the CIA Tricked the World’s Best Writers. Shocking indeed!
While this might be the inspiration for Kobek’s style, the content of the story is primarily an evisceration of the web elite, the big four (Google, Apple, Facebook and Twitter), and the internet that allows them to thrive. With incisive wit and brutal takedowns, Kobek demonstrates how corrupt and poisonous these corporate entities are for society within the context of a lightly plotted story set in San Francisco of a successful graphic novelist, her friends, and her relationships.
I really can’t praise this enough. I wish everyone would read it. I dare you. You’ll at least get a good chuckle out of it and perhaps a little bit of inspired rage at the machine. There is plenty of traditional fiction out there teaching empathy through believable characters in the standard literary approach. Blah-blah-blah. We need more books that just say fuck it, none of that has saved us from global warming, political fascism or dehumanizing Capitalism so let’s just do something different—because why not. Bravo.
Although it’s a very different book, I Hate the Internet reminds me in some ways of my intentions behind my first novel Death by Zamboni. In writing DbyZ, I wanted to break every rule of writing a proper novel that I could and did so mostly for the fun of it. For the frisson of breaking conventions. It was a fuck you to fiction writing as well as poking direct fun at sitcoms and advertising. I believe Kobek has a different motivation for his didactic in-your-face style that he calls out during the story: that the CIA funded the growth of literary fiction in the 60s. Here’s an article about that in Vice magazine, interviewing the author of the book How the CIA Tricked the World’s Best Writers. Shocking indeed!
While this might be the inspiration for Kobek’s style, the content of the story is primarily an evisceration of the web elite, the big four (Google, Apple, Facebook and Twitter), and the internet that allows them to thrive. With incisive wit and brutal takedowns, Kobek demonstrates how corrupt and poisonous these corporate entities are for society within the context of a lightly plotted story set in San Francisco of a successful graphic novelist, her friends, and her relationships.
I really can’t praise this enough. I wish everyone would read it. I dare you. You’ll at least get a good chuckle out of it and perhaps a little bit of inspired rage at the machine. There is plenty of traditional fiction out there teaching empathy through believable characters in the standard literary approach. Blah-blah-blah. We need more books that just say fuck it, none of that has saved us from global warming, political fascism or dehumanizing Capitalism so let’s just do something different—because why not. Bravo.
noisydeadlines's review
3.0
This was a fun book, full of dark sarcasm about the digital world but I am sure I didn’t understand half the jokes. It’s full of San Francisco references.
dbuntinx's review against another edition
3.0
Een in orde rant over het huidige internet, vormgegeven door puber met hoodies om geld te verdienen aan de zogeheten onbeperkte vrijheid van meningsuiting. De auteur legt de vinger op een gapende wonde.
tahlz's review
4.0
This book is written a very different format/structure - more like an explanation of events, making it a kind of non-novel. I thought I would get tired of it quickly but I actually enjoyed it; this book was pretty funny even thought it touched on real and sensitive topics.
If you're a user of social media and want to know more about how it's affecting the world and the people in it, definitely read this book.
Here are some enjoyable quotes:
"Billionaires were always giving advice to people who weren’t billionaires about how to become billionaires. It was almost always intolerable bullshit."
"Lady Gaga just walked around. She was shitting gold and pissing honey and she wanted to be part of the Art World."
And to summarise the whole book and the world of today - "Nothing says individuality like 500 million consumer electronics built by slaves. Welcome to Hell."
sarahmac314's review
4.0
This books is spot-on and hilarious! A must read for anyone with an internet connection.
visualradish's review
Reading this book and recent ones by Naomi Klein and Douglass Rushkoff makes me worry if I am a "low level cog in the tech industry" happily perpetuating a system of oppression and exploitation in return for a "soon-to-be-dismantled middle class life". On the other hand, I am happy that I can pay my bills.
readingrara's review against another edition
dark
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Cyber satire.