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A review by lattelibrarian
Alienation by Inés Estrada
5.0
This is probably my new favorite book. Ever. Filled with beautiful, weird, enchanting illustrations depicting various online virtual realities, Estrada tells the tale of two people trying to keep their romance alive. Elizabeth, an Inuit online exotic dancer, hates the real world, preferring to spend time online with her AI friends until she realizes that somebody's hacked into all of her information. Carlos, her boyfriend and recently unemployed engineer, prefers reality, questioning what it means to live in a world so embedded with technology, brands, and logos. Where does reality end and virtual reality begin?
And that's only one of the questions that Estrada tackles in this absolutely AMAZING graphic novel. What happens when corporations own everything? Do they own us, too? Can traditions be maintained in virtual reality? How human are we if everything we are is dependent on virtual reality and the internet? With today's quick-advancing technology, are we losing our humanity? What does it even mean to be human? And are we really ourselves if somebody's hacked into all of our spaces? If everybody is constantly watching us? Who are we if not NPCs in other people's lives?
Everything about this book is just so. Fucking. Good. There's even a little section where you can "choose your own adventure" alongside Elizabeth by choosing where she wants to go online--does she watch porn? Read Wikipedia? Something else? AND THAT ONLY FURTHERS THE QUESTION OF WHETHER WE ARE WHO WE ARE BECAUSE WE JUST CONTROLLED THE CHARACTER WHO'S CONCERNED ABOUT BEING CONTROLLED. Ines Estrada is a goddamn genius.
And to think I found this book by happenstance. I can't wait to see one of my close friends--I'm basically going to shove this book into her hands because the art style, the ethical, moral questions, the pondering of what it means to be human...it's so up her alley.
Really though, I've never seen a book that so intelligently and precisely predicts a future in which late-stage capitalism and robotics are so advanced, projects the concerns of a generation about how closely linked we are with technology and viewing corporations as not only friends but the arbiters of all meaning-making and information.
Read this book. Read this book. It is easily the best thing I've read all year, if not in a very, very long time.
Review cross-listed here!
And that's only one of the questions that Estrada tackles in this absolutely AMAZING graphic novel. What happens when corporations own everything? Do they own us, too? Can traditions be maintained in virtual reality? How human are we if everything we are is dependent on virtual reality and the internet? With today's quick-advancing technology, are we losing our humanity? What does it even mean to be human? And are we really ourselves if somebody's hacked into all of our spaces? If everybody is constantly watching us? Who are we if not NPCs in other people's lives?
Everything about this book is just so. Fucking. Good. There's even a little section where you can "choose your own adventure" alongside Elizabeth by choosing where she wants to go online--does she watch porn? Read Wikipedia? Something else? AND THAT ONLY FURTHERS THE QUESTION OF WHETHER WE ARE WHO WE ARE BECAUSE WE JUST CONTROLLED THE CHARACTER WHO'S CONCERNED ABOUT BEING CONTROLLED. Ines Estrada is a goddamn genius.
And to think I found this book by happenstance. I can't wait to see one of my close friends--I'm basically going to shove this book into her hands because the art style, the ethical, moral questions, the pondering of what it means to be human...it's so up her alley.
Really though, I've never seen a book that so intelligently and precisely predicts a future in which late-stage capitalism and robotics are so advanced, projects the concerns of a generation about how closely linked we are with technology and viewing corporations as not only friends but the arbiters of all meaning-making and information.
Read this book. Read this book. It is easily the best thing I've read all year, if not in a very, very long time.
Review cross-listed here!