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A review by abrittlebee
Otaku by Chris Kluwe
2.0
It’s a fine line between something being imaginative, and something being a hot mess. Unfortunately, Otaku didn’t manage to stay on the right side of it. Despite some interesting ideas, this book was just too unfocussed. It tried to be way too many different things while also trying to combat misinterpretation to an extreme degree.
I believe having a few different intentions while presenting a narrative can be a good thing. However, it becomes messy when you have too many, and then attempt to push them at the reader through awkward dialogue. In the case of Otaku, different elements of this dystopian world were presented successfully, but then the characters would discuss or argue about them in a way that made me question why something that was an aspect of everyday life was being explained so thoroughly within a single, pretty much one-sided, conversation. It was almost as if Kluwe had a fear that the ideas behind the subject matter weren't going to come across as intended, so they had the characters over explain everything. Due to the fact that there were so many narrative themes within Otaku; virtual vs. real, censorship, the complications of a public vs. private persona, doxxing, misogyny… (the list goes on); the book then became a pop culture textbook on how all of these things affect people individually. This led to a wide array of over clarification that filled the narrative, leaving very little room to round out the characters or the actual plot.
Truthfully, I DNF’d this book so I can’t recommend it. Better luck next time.
I believe having a few different intentions while presenting a narrative can be a good thing. However, it becomes messy when you have too many, and then attempt to push them at the reader through awkward dialogue. In the case of Otaku, different elements of this dystopian world were presented successfully, but then the characters would discuss or argue about them in a way that made me question why something that was an aspect of everyday life was being explained so thoroughly within a single, pretty much one-sided, conversation. It was almost as if Kluwe had a fear that the ideas behind the subject matter weren't going to come across as intended, so they had the characters over explain everything. Due to the fact that there were so many narrative themes within Otaku; virtual vs. real, censorship, the complications of a public vs. private persona, doxxing, misogyny… (the list goes on); the book then became a pop culture textbook on how all of these things affect people individually. This led to a wide array of over clarification that filled the narrative, leaving very little room to round out the characters or the actual plot.
Truthfully, I DNF’d this book so I can’t recommend it. Better luck next time.