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auteaandtales 's review for:
This Is How You Remember It
by Catherine Prasifka
dark
emotional
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Wow, what a brilliant book! I feel like this will resonate with you, especially if you are a Millennial/elder Gen-Z.
The main theme of this book is how unmonitored internet access shapes you as you grow up, especially when it comes to your body image and sense of self. It starts off as very innocent, with computer games that I’m pretty sure was Neopets (the nostalgia!) but was never officially named, and morphs into something more sinister. It completely changes how our unnamed main character perceives the world. You watch, and go through it, with her as she learns human experiences like shame, grief and emotional (or lack of) connection. Even things like the politics of the Internet and how disconnected that is compared to the offline world.
The writing choices were all so good. Choosing the main character to be unnamed and using second person adding a personal touch to it, like they were your thoughts and your experiences. In many ways, they were. As well as that, we didn’t know the passage of time through anything else other than through the evolution of social media and technology. Other than context clues, it was rarely obvious how old the characters were supposed to be or what year we were in. I loved that choice.
Finally, the little love story that felt like the backbone of the book was lovely to follow. Their relationship remained distant and somewhat shallow until the main character changed her relationship with social media. Once she saw it more as an addition to her life instead of something that *is* her life. only then did her relationship become something different.
Please read it!
The main theme of this book is how unmonitored internet access shapes you as you grow up, especially when it comes to your body image and sense of self. It starts off as very innocent, with computer games that I’m pretty sure was Neopets (the nostalgia!) but was never officially named, and morphs into something more sinister. It completely changes how our unnamed main character perceives the world. You watch, and go through it, with her as she learns human experiences like shame, grief and emotional (or lack of) connection. Even things like the politics of the Internet and how disconnected that is compared to the offline world.
The writing choices were all so good. Choosing the main character to be unnamed and using second person adding a personal touch to it, like they were your thoughts and your experiences. In many ways, they were. As well as that, we didn’t know the passage of time through anything else other than through the evolution of social media and technology. Other than context clues, it was rarely obvious how old the characters were supposed to be or what year we were in. I loved that choice.
Finally, the little love story that felt like the backbone of the book was lovely to follow. Their relationship remained distant and somewhat shallow until the main character changed her relationship with social media. Once she saw it more as an addition to her life instead of something that *is* her life. only then did her relationship become something different.
Please read it!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body shaming, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Sexual harassment
Minor: Fatphobia, Grief