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Catfishing on Catnet (Kritzer)
May. 30th, 2020 10:06 pm4/5. Not-a-Hugo YA homework. I loved this book so so so so much. SO much. And I wasn't expecting to, as I only vaguely liked the short story it was based on. Partially it is clearly that it is just absolutely what I wanted and needed to read right now -- a cute book about people (teenagers, but who's counting) who form a deep friendship online that they tap into as Events Happen. And one of the characters in the book happens to be an AI, which is of course very important and relevant to the plot etc., but although perhaps that's the cerebral center of the book, so to speak, it's not actually the heart of the book, which for me very much was the online and real-life friendships (including the AI) and how they help and support the characters as they go through some tough things. Um. Not used to YA books being relevant to me any more, but this one... maybe kind of was :)
It reminded me of reading Rainbow Rowell's Fangirl and liking it but being a little dissatisfied with the way that fandom/online interactions were portrayed, or rather not portrayed -- this book gets it, where I felt like Fangirl didn't really.
The first... third?... of the book is fairly slow, which I didn't mind as to be honest I would totally love to read an entire book that was solely about regular high school shenanigans in a near-future -- there is an awesome and hilarious subplot about a robot that teaches sex ed (badly), for instance, and I'd definitely be up for the book that was only about How Steph And Rachel And Their Online Friends Get Better Sex Ed -- but then at some point the tension just starts ramping up and up and I was glued to the page.
I also thought the discussion of ( Implicit (fairly minor) spoilers. )
It's a YA book; none of the plot twists were very twisty to an adult reader. But the plot is not really the point, in the end.
I may have to vote for this to win, just because I loved it so much. But I guess I should read all the other Lodestar nominees first.
(Content note for abusive relationships. Really abusive relationships, not exclusively but including extreme physical abuse. I don't think any physical abuse is shown onscreen, and indeed much of the abuse is talked about second-hand, but there is at least one (short) scene of emotional abuse on-screen.)
It reminded me of reading Rainbow Rowell's Fangirl and liking it but being a little dissatisfied with the way that fandom/online interactions were portrayed, or rather not portrayed -- this book gets it, where I felt like Fangirl didn't really.
The first... third?... of the book is fairly slow, which I didn't mind as to be honest I would totally love to read an entire book that was solely about regular high school shenanigans in a near-future -- there is an awesome and hilarious subplot about a robot that teaches sex ed (badly), for instance, and I'd definitely be up for the book that was only about How Steph And Rachel And Their Online Friends Get Better Sex Ed -- but then at some point the tension just starts ramping up and up and I was glued to the page.
I also thought the discussion of ( Implicit (fairly minor) spoilers. )
It's a YA book; none of the plot twists were very twisty to an adult reader. But the plot is not really the point, in the end.
I may have to vote for this to win, just because I loved it so much. But I guess I should read all the other Lodestar nominees first.
(Content note for abusive relationships. Really abusive relationships, not exclusively but including extreme physical abuse. I don't think any physical abuse is shown onscreen, and indeed much of the abuse is talked about second-hand, but there is at least one (short) scene of emotional abuse on-screen.)
