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3.36 AVERAGE
3.36 AVERAGE
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
This felt like a wasted opportunity. There's so much in our tech-obsessed world that lends itself to fiction, but this just fell so flat for me.
Mae, our heroine, is incredibly flat. While I originally related to and identified with her lack of direction post-college and her struggle to prove herself at what she thinks is her dream job, there wasn't much else to like about Mae. She is frustratingly passive; she accepts each new plot device with a kind of bland doe-eyed acceptance. Participate in endless, unpaid mandatory after-work events? Have sex with a stranger in a hitherto unknown secret passage underneath your office? Wear a camera that documents every moment of your waking hours? She resists nothing, and wants nothing. Everything in the book happens to her, not because of her.
All of the other characters felt like caricatures. Annie is the high-achieving, raunchy friend who guides Mae through office culture. Both of Mae's love interests are puppets. Mercer is the author-insert, the canary in the coal mine, and somehow the only character in the whole book who realizes there's a dark side to social media.
Also: this book is 500 pages. It does not need to be 500 pages. There are multiple subplots and motifs that go nowhere. There are so. many. kayaking. scenes. that never add up to anything spectacular and just take up pages and pages. There are a lot of in-depth descriptions of Mae learning how to use her work computer, which is about as interesting as it sounds.
There's some interesting themes here, like the role of technology in transparent governance, widespread acceptance of surveillance in our daily lives, and the inherent risks of having a private corporation own all the details of your life. But overall, I just felt like this book was an overlong, overwrought dud. Just reread 1984.
Mae, our heroine, is incredibly flat. While I originally related to and identified with her lack of direction post-college and her struggle to prove herself at what she thinks is her dream job, there wasn't much else to like about Mae. She is frustratingly passive; she accepts each new plot device with a kind of bland doe-eyed acceptance. Participate in endless, unpaid mandatory after-work events? Have sex with a stranger in a hitherto unknown secret passage underneath your office? Wear a camera that documents every moment of your waking hours? She resists nothing, and wants nothing. Everything in the book happens to her, not because of her.
All of the other characters felt like caricatures. Annie is the high-achieving, raunchy friend who guides Mae through office culture. Both of Mae's love interests are puppets. Mercer is the author-insert, the canary in the coal mine, and somehow the only character in the whole book who realizes there's a dark side to social media.
Also: this book is 500 pages. It does not need to be 500 pages. There are multiple subplots and motifs that go nowhere. There are so. many. kayaking. scenes. that never add up to anything spectacular and just take up pages and pages. There are a lot of in-depth descriptions of Mae learning how to use her work computer, which is about as interesting as it sounds.
There's some interesting themes here, like the role of technology in transparent governance, widespread acceptance of surveillance in our daily lives, and the inherent risks of having a private corporation own all the details of your life. But overall, I just felt like this book was an overlong, overwrought dud. Just reread 1984.
Decent writing but ultimately pointless story line?? Like, the stuff he talks about is kind of realistic, and it’s almost believable that people would become beholden to that type of system. Almost. I was hoping the second book would explain more things, but no. It just gave more pieces to an ultimately pointless story line.
If there was a way to give this book zero stars I would. This is one of the worst books I've ever read. The amount of foolish in this book is ridiculous. I kept reading hoping it would improve and it never did. There isn't one like-able character in this entire book.
Tiene buenas ideas y nos dibuja un camino posible de nuestro futuro con la internet y la tecnología pero al centrarse demasiado en eso, queda a deber en el desarrollo de la historia de la protagonista
Although not a great work of art this is a worthy and necessary book addressing the ever-increasing surveillance we allow into our lives via Internet-giants such as Facebook and Google. And via "unthinkable" collaborations between these commercial giants and their public counterparts.
Throughout the book I had to stop and defend myself from the barrage of good and sound arguments for more and more and more surveillance. No more child abuse, no more crime, no more bad behaviour... Where does it stop? Where should it stop? This book takes these questions to the limit and forces you to think long and hard about it. Not a mean feat!
Throughout the book I had to stop and defend myself from the barrage of good and sound arguments for more and more and more surveillance. No more child abuse, no more crime, no more bad behaviour... Where does it stop? Where should it stop? This book takes these questions to the limit and forces you to think long and hard about it. Not a mean feat!
While I enjoyed this book at times it seemed to repeat itself in too many facts & numbers that were unnecessary. Maybe it was to drive home the extent of the violation of privacy & the pace it could barrel out of control but it became a tad bit monotonous.
On the other hand, it's an eye opener to the extent to which people could get wrapped up in their presented life instead of being real.
On the other hand, it's an eye opener to the extent to which people could get wrapped up in their presented life instead of being real.
3.5 stars. Jesus Christ LOL. was not expecting it to go that route. Throwing my phone away right now.
Pretty amazing. Not the typical book that I read. Really different and intriguing topic. Well-written. Will definitely make my top five list of the year.