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A review by cartridgepink
Break the Internet by Olivia Yallop
lighthearted
medium-paced
2.0
Too surface level to really dig into online culture in any meaningful way. Sadly this suffers from the author's background in marketing; there isn't much meaningful interrogation into online celebrity beyond financials and engagement measurements (which are still interesting, at least). There's a bit of political insight but nothing new if you're at all engaged with this topic already. I'm not sure who this book is really for.
The tone of the first-person segments are likewise quite simplistic – whether the intent was to humanise a supposedly dry nonfiction read, inject attempted humour or add #relatable moments, none of them have any positive effect on the text. It just makes the author seem naive and out of her depth in every new situation she finds herself in. You can't write "authority" without "author"; stand up and show us some!
With the obvious caveat that any book about the internet would demand a fast turnaround so it isn't woefully out of date, and therefore a faster edit, there are also a couple of factual error clangers. One Direction definitely had more than four members on their debut! This may be the only mistake in the book but it led me to read the rest with scepticism.
Frustrating, simplistic, awkward, and worst of all – not online enough.
The tone of the first-person segments are likewise quite simplistic – whether the intent was to humanise a supposedly dry nonfiction read, inject attempted humour or add #relatable moments, none of them have any positive effect on the text. It just makes the author seem naive and out of her depth in every new situation she finds herself in. You can't write "authority" without "author"; stand up and show us some!
With the obvious caveat that any book about the internet would demand a fast turnaround so it isn't woefully out of date, and therefore a faster edit, there are also a couple of factual error clangers. One Direction definitely had more than four members on their debut! This may be the only mistake in the book but it led me to read the rest with scepticism.
Frustrating, simplistic, awkward, and worst of all – not online enough.