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ellieavery's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
4.5
sidharthvardhan's review against another edition
4.0
"Our mothers could not stop using horny emojis. They used the winking one with its tongue out on our birthdays, they sent us long rows of the spurting three droplets when it rained. We had told them a thousand times, but they never listened—as long as they lived and loved us, as long as they had split themselves open to have us, they would send us the peach in peach season.
NEVER SEND ME THE EGGPLANT AGAIN, MOM! she texted. I DON’T CARE WHAT YOU’RE COOKING FOR DINNER!"
"Previously these communities were imposed on us, along with their mental weather. Now we chose them—or believed that we did. A person might join a site to look at pictures of her nephew and five years later believe in a flat earth."
The first half of this book tries to encompass the modern life in so fat as it involves excessive use of internet and social media. The continuous change in very universe we move around in - from real life to internet chats to some article to some article; not to mention the short attention span issues it causes. Its as well the book is written in vignettes. There is something to be said about how little literature has, as yet, explored the impact of literature on how we perceive reality.
"Previously these communities were imposed on us, along with their mental weather. Now we chose them—or believed that we did. A person might join a site to look at pictures of her nephew and five years later believe in a flat earth"
"Every day we were seeing new evidence that suggested it was the portal that had allowed the dictator to rise to power. This was humiliating. It would be like discovering that the Vietnam War was secretly caused by ham radios, or that Napoleon was operating exclusively on the advice of a parrot named Brian."
The author touches a number of these elements of internet life - trends, gifs, emojis, images etc. While the theme is original enough in among my personal reading experience; the treatment it received was somewhat amateurish except for a few brilliant moments. The vignettes start like a random collection and it is only slowly that a story arc appears - this was very well done I think.
The second theme - caring after a dying baby and dealing with its death.
*
"Lol, her little sister texted. Think if your body changes 1-2 degrees . . . it’s called a fever and you can die if you have one for a week. Think if the ocean has a fever for years . . . Lol."
NEVER SEND ME THE EGGPLANT AGAIN, MOM! she texted. I DON’T CARE WHAT YOU’RE COOKING FOR DINNER!"
"Previously these communities were imposed on us, along with their mental weather. Now we chose them—or believed that we did. A person might join a site to look at pictures of her nephew and five years later believe in a flat earth."
The first half of this book tries to encompass the modern life in so fat as it involves excessive use of internet and social media. The continuous change in very universe we move around in - from real life to internet chats to some article to some article; not to mention the short attention span issues it causes. Its as well the book is written in vignettes. There is something to be said about how little literature has, as yet, explored the impact of literature on how we perceive reality.
"Previously these communities were imposed on us, along with their mental weather. Now we chose them—or believed that we did. A person might join a site to look at pictures of her nephew and five years later believe in a flat earth"
"Every day we were seeing new evidence that suggested it was the portal that had allowed the dictator to rise to power. This was humiliating. It would be like discovering that the Vietnam War was secretly caused by ham radios, or that Napoleon was operating exclusively on the advice of a parrot named Brian."
The author touches a number of these elements of internet life - trends, gifs, emojis, images etc. While the theme is original enough in among my personal reading experience; the treatment it received was somewhat amateurish except for a few brilliant moments. The vignettes start like a random collection and it is only slowly that a story arc appears - this was very well done I think.
The second theme - caring after a dying baby and dealing with its death.
*
"Lol, her little sister texted. Think if your body changes 1-2 degrees . . . it’s called a fever and you can die if you have one for a week. Think if the ocean has a fever for years . . . Lol."
bhnmt61's review against another edition
5.0
“This did not feel like real life exactly, but nowadays what did.”
“It was a mistake to believe that other people were not living as deeply as you were. Besides, you were not even living that deeply.”
“Still in every airport she visited, there was a small nameless brown bird flying end to end, dipping and gliding through the tree trunks of passengers…”
This is a novel about being online, and how vital that can be to who you are, and yet at the same time, the people you love in real life are your real life. It is a) the first novel of b) a poet, and you can tell both a) and b) in ways that are good and not so good. It is brilliant and poignant and moving, crass and hilarious and transcendent. You never know quite what is coming next. It’s not very long, so you could probably sit down and read it in an afternoon, but I took it more slowly. I think it percolates through your brain better that way if you can manage it.
I’d tell you more about what happens, because things do eventually happen, but I went into it not knowing anything other than it was getting a lot of buzz and I’m glad I read it that way. (TW for death of a family member.) I read another review that said “this novel isn’t as profound as she thinks it is,” but it was profound enough for me. I loved it.
“It was a mistake to believe that other people were not living as deeply as you were. Besides, you were not even living that deeply.”
“Still in every airport she visited, there was a small nameless brown bird flying end to end, dipping and gliding through the tree trunks of passengers…”
This is a novel about being online, and how vital that can be to who you are, and yet at the same time, the people you love in real life are your real life. It is a) the first novel of b) a poet, and you can tell both a) and b) in ways that are good and not so good. It is brilliant and poignant and moving, crass and hilarious and transcendent. You never know quite what is coming next. It’s not very long, so you could probably sit down and read it in an afternoon, but I took it more slowly. I think it percolates through your brain better that way if you can manage it.
I’d tell you more about what happens, because things do eventually happen, but I went into it not knowing anything other than it was getting a lot of buzz and I’m glad I read it that way. (TW for death of a family member.) I read another review that said “this novel isn’t as profound as she thinks it is,” but it was profound enough for me. I loved it.
buntatamilis's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death and Medical content
dolanite's review against another edition
dark
emotional
funny
sad
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Funny and heart wrenching. Read the acknowledgements that’s what finally had me in tears. A wonderful tome to grief.
youngthespian42's review against another edition
5.0
This book makes the sublime perfect trilogy of our modern times. This novel, Bo Burnham's Inside, and Don't look Up capture the dread of the times we are living in. The thing that surprises me about Lockwood's book is for all of its nihilism and irony that only internet culture can capture the ending message of the novel is one of hope. Hope for the human race. Love for this crazy world and culture we have built. Love for the preciousness and sacredness of life. I will become an evangelist for this novel. it is that good.
rmpsenica's review against another edition
Found it a little hard to flow with due to the fact it reads like it's from tweet to tweet vs like a story.
katiegilley's review against another edition
2.0
“Previously these communities were imposed on us, along with their mental weather. Now we chose them—or believed that we did. A person might join a site to look at pictures of her nephew and five years later believe in a flat earth.”
I’m going to preface this by saying that I only finished this because 1) reviews on Goodreads said the second half of the book got better, and 2) it was shortlisted for the Women’s Prize. I agree that the second half was better, but am not convinced that it made up for the first half!
This book is about a young woman who is famous on the internet thanks to a viral tweet. The first 54% of the novel takes us through all of the Twitter memes from the last few years, with a few paragraphs about her own life sprinkled throughout. In the second half, her family experiences a tragedy that changes her life and she begins to think more about life outside of the internet. For me, the whole book read like a Twitter feed, which I found off-putting. I left Twitter for a reason! I know she was trying to show that there’s more to life than the internet and there are profound and painful experiences that teach us about true joy and deep heartbreak that we can’t adequately share in 280 characters or less. My response is to leave Twitter and dust off your blog. Harsh, I know – this book evoked an emotional response from me, which is probably a good thing!
I gave this book 2 stars – I considered 3 when I learned it was based on the experiences of her family. I just wish she would have couched those experiences in a fuller narrative and ditched the Twitter-speak earlier in the book.
I’m going to preface this by saying that I only finished this because 1) reviews on Goodreads said the second half of the book got better, and 2) it was shortlisted for the Women’s Prize. I agree that the second half was better, but am not convinced that it made up for the first half!
This book is about a young woman who is famous on the internet thanks to a viral tweet. The first 54% of the novel takes us through all of the Twitter memes from the last few years, with a few paragraphs about her own life sprinkled throughout. In the second half, her family experiences a tragedy that changes her life and she begins to think more about life outside of the internet. For me, the whole book read like a Twitter feed, which I found off-putting. I left Twitter for a reason! I know she was trying to show that there’s more to life than the internet and there are profound and painful experiences that teach us about true joy and deep heartbreak that we can’t adequately share in 280 characters or less. My response is to leave Twitter and dust off your blog. Harsh, I know – this book evoked an emotional response from me, which is probably a good thing!
I gave this book 2 stars – I considered 3 when I learned it was based on the experiences of her family. I just wish she would have couched those experiences in a fuller narrative and ditched the Twitter-speak earlier in the book.
beanmilkcantread's review against another edition
emotional
funny
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
mlovesbooks's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Imagine my surprise when I finished another sad book and picked up this one to finish the second half of what I thought was a fun, goofy read.
Patricia Lockwood is so good at making you laugh and cry in the same sentence.
Patricia Lockwood is so good at making you laugh and cry in the same sentence.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Terminal illness and Child death