A review by panda8882
Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

3.0

This is really more of a 3.5 stars ... I was a little skeptical about this book at first mostly because I'm pretty anti-video game based on a past relationship. But this is a book that I have continued to think about long after I put it down. I think other people would enjoy it more for all of the 80's pop culture and video game references, but that part didn't appeal to me. I didn't think it was particularly well written either, but the ideas were really fascinating. At first I was thinking how absurd it was that there would be this virtual world that people would plug into to escape the real world as it was falling apart. But then, as I started to look around and saw everyone playing on their phones, I realized that we are halfway there. And then I thought about how some of the friends I talk to most often live in other places and so are relationships are primarily based in text, phone, facebook and facetime conversations. It makes you realize that this Oasis in this book isn't so far from the virtual reality we create with technology every day. I'm bummed that I missed the book club discussion on this because I'm sure it made for some interesting conversation. I can't stop thinking about this one.