I want to give this book 0 stars. Here is my biggest issue with geek culture: gatekeepers. You know who the gatekeepers are. They're the guys who tell I want to give this book 0 stars. Here is my biggest issue with geek culture: gatekeepers. You know who the gatekeepers are. They're the guys who tell you you're not a *true* fan of the thing unless you know this-this-and-this obscure fact. Unless you've seen every permutation of this thing. Unless you've seen every episode of this show or every film this director made. You can't call yourself a fan unless you've read every book in the series. Multiple times. The gatekeepers are the guys who think they're special because they like things. The guys who think they're elite because they like things, and don't want other people into their super special nerd club. The guys who drill you to name non-singles by a band if you are wearing a t-shirt. Those guys. Here is my biggest issue with this book: it's one gigantic metaphor for the gatekeepers of geek culture. Complete with actual gates! Gates you can only open if you Get The Reference! It takes winking and nudging nerds to a point where it stops being cute. There is a literal 2-page spread dedicated to name dropping all of the hippest possible geeky pop-culture references from between 1975-2010. The author of this book desperately wishes for you to pat him on the back for liking things. In return for liking all of the same things he likes, you can wade through the clunky references to unlock the otherwise decently clever plot underneath. We get it. Ernest Cline likes Firefly. The number of lampshades he hangs on the fact that he likes Firefly/Kurt Vonnegut/Monty Python/80s movies/pick a thing is exhausting. I shouldn't have to be as immersed in geek culture as he is to get all of these jokes (unluckily for me I sortof am). It's a lazy, amateur crutch. The story can depend on silly references without forcing the reader to. The references should be a bonus to those who get it, not the entire point. I wish there was something meta in the story, which forces all of these characters into being obsessed with everything geeky this video game creator had been obsessed with in order to unlock his puzzles. There's not. You have to also be obsessed with everything geeky this author is obsessed with in order to unlock the plot. I think, as a geek, I'm supposed to feel catered to? I sortof just feel insulted....more
**spoiler alert** Okay so I finished reading this book roughly 19 seconds ago and I need to hash this out while it's fresh, ya feel me, Goodreads.com?**spoiler alert** Okay so I finished reading this book roughly 19 seconds ago and I need to hash this out while it's fresh, ya feel me, Goodreads.com?
I read this book because Tumblr.com peer-pressured me into it. And I had read The Fault in Our Stars and it's just lovely, so why not.
Let me tell you this, Goodreads.com. Let me tell you.
This book. Is terrible. It's awful. It's horrible. It's so bad I am angry I made myself finish it.
The story is populated entirely by pretentious, pseudo-intellectual 16-year-old super special snowflakes. It is written in pretentious, pseudo-intellectual prose. Everyone is in love with the manic pixie dream girl with the quirky name who has no real personality whatsoever other than being sooo mysterious and unpredictable omgggg. Also, boobs and booze. Boobs, booze, and mystery! She serves no purpose other than to be the protag's wet dream, and it's pathetic.
And then she dies only I don't care and neither does our narrator who is mostly upset because he didn't get to bang her before she died.
This book just tries so very very hard to be deep and meaningful and labyrinths and just the biggest load of crap I have ever had to try to make sense out of. The character development is bull. The moral of the story is bull. This feels like it was posted in serialized form on Livejournal before being picked up by a publisher.
John Green, I'm sorry, but we can't be friends anymore....more
This is very possibly the worst book I have ever read. The author clearly knows nothing about 16 year olds aside from what she's seen in horrible teleThis is very possibly the worst book I have ever read. The author clearly knows nothing about 16 year olds aside from what she's seen in horrible television shows (all the ones just like the show this series spawned). The characters are all 2 dimensional and predictable - all super hot, super trendy, super rich, super popular and few if any have any redeeming qualities. Even the kids who are supposed to be 'different' are cookie-cutter 'artsy kids' who spend all their time sitting in corners brooding and trying to look mysterious while writing terrible poetry and reading Russian literature.
The narrative itself is absolutely horrible. I feel like I could have written this book when I was 12 years old, only I actually was able to create character development at that age - and I'm not a writer! Lines like "Dan wasn't into being healthy. He liked to live on the edge." made me feel like I was reading bad fan fiction on the internet 7 years ago.
I find it incredibly disturbing that something this awful was even published, nevermind the fact that it's aimed toward young girls. The characters' behaviour are terrible, and it's glamourized to the point of being pathetic. And this series is marketed toward young girls. Ignore the '15 and older' warning on the back, 11 year olds are reading this and emulating this behaviour. Because books and tv shows like this tell them it's totally cool.
This book filled me with such untold rage I couldn't even bring myself to finish it, even though it only took me an hour to get through the first half.
If you love your braincells, you'll stay away....more