/lit/ - Literature

>>6815620
I didn't enjoy it.

>>6815626

Why?

I loved it while i was reading it, but after i'd finished it i realised that it was just '80s pandering and the main character was the biggest Mary-Sue in the world.
I hoped for a modern-day gaming Neuromancer, i got a fun read that i don't regret but won't repeat.

>>6815620
I don't know if you heard, but Pao resigned; you can leave now.

>>6815644
UpReddited

>>6815620
It is bad. It is a collection of cliches and 80s references masquerading as a book, completely lacking in characters, any type of depth, and originality.

>>6815620
Reddit-tier shit. You should go back there.

>>6815648
Thanks for Gold Kind Stranger :D :D

>>6815654
*their

FTFY

>>6815655

DAE really like 1984? Kurt Vonnegut is like the best writer ever. It changed my life, and i'm a nihilist so it takes a lot to do that

>>6815660
Reddine be cry.

Poorly written
Bad prose
Poor characterization of literally every character, all of whom were 1-dimensional
Uninteresting world founded on a flat-out stupid premise
The worst SF book I've ever read

The greatest philosophical treatise of the century

Why do you think this is a reddit book?

>>6815722

>>6815723
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=LkF7nYSgORc

For some reason I get triggered when someone refers to characters in shit books by their proper names rather than by the titles of their roles in the story. OP triggered me.

It should be noted that a large number of the people who frequent this board weren't even born in the 80's, let alone born in the 70's (like the author)which you'd have to be to have a the emotional attachment to the "era gone by" subject matter that earnest cline dotes on so heavily. It's not a matter of "we had it better" as much as its a matter of "you had to be there". Having said that, please continue

>>6816085
Don't you think that's kind of a weak argument? I like 80's culture but the book was poorly written and painfully gimmicky without any interesting characters. It's Necromancer for infants.

>>6815620
Are you going to read this next?

>>6816085
If he's in his 40s or late 30s and writing shit like this that's even worse. At least a teenager would have an excuse for being this awful.

>>6816104
Neuromancer*

>>6816085
>>6816119
tfw not mature enough to appreciate this masterful writing

>>6815620
Le wrong generation: the novel.

>>6816105

Probably.

>>6816141
One of my biggest problems with the book, outside of the plain terrible writing and unoriginal plot, is that to the extent that the book takes a position on whether this obsession with 80s culture and perpetually living in the past is a good thing or a bad thing, it seems to come down on the side of it being a good thing. This position is incorrect.

>>6816141
>mfw he namedrops all his stylistic influences at once and confirms that he's an absolute hack

>>6816119
>>6816085
>>6816104
See this review for basically what you are saying:
http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/books/2015/07/armada_by_ernest_cline_follow_up_to_ready_player_one_reviewed.single.html

He can't think, he can't write...there's no discernible talent.

>>6816219
The novel talks out of both sides of its mouth on that point. It's wishy-washy so as to appease everyone.

The ending is pretty much a big, cliched, lazy "j/k fuck you" to the celebration of nostalgia and escapism that was the rest of the novel.


Halliday:
>"You won! Here's a big red button you can use to destroy the entire Oasis, kid."
>"Oh, did I mention that I regret everything and just wish I'd gotten laid?"

Parzival
>*licks Art3mis's tonsils*
>"And at that moment I realized I thought video games were for nerds."
THE END

The real world consequences of his actions felt thin and insignificant. Even when he gets captured and forced to work for the company he still escapes as if there was nothing to it.

>>6815661
I've seen stuff like this posted so many times, and while I agree redditors like OP shoild go away, is that really the type of content they get on r/books?
Asking if anyone liked argueably one of the best dystopian novels ever, and talking about vonnegut and nihilism in that way?

>>6816367
Sure is summer.

>>6816572
hi /r9k/

Nostalgia pandering for a capitalism cucked generation of grown children.

>>6816141
sickening

The book was a piece of shit I read in one sitting and felt ashamed about afterwards.

I don't quite get the target audience, unless it's written specifically to pander to r/books. The prose and plot would be bad even for your average YA, but the book references lots almost exclusively games that are too old for todays young adults to get.

Its not that great but its "fun" if thats what you want to experience.

>>6816569
The 1984 circlejerk is real.

>>6815661
Vonnegut is great, don't throw him under the bus with redditors when shit like dune gets praised to hell and back here

>>6818002
Dune is the greatest work of SF of the 20th century. Vonnegut is stylistically decent, but he's not even great PoMo.

>>6815620
It was a handjob for a certain kind of nerd.

>>6818021
>Dune is the greatest work of SF of the 20th century.
That is not BoTNS fagget.

>>6818021
Dune has one of the most poorly constructed and cliché ridden plots I've ever experienced

>>6816257
Doesn't count. It was written by a woman that wasn't Connie Willis

>>6818049
I admit that I haven't read BotNS but I've wanted to for years and feel bad about it.

>>6818138
Nice opinion. Herbert was the first SF writer to elevate the medium above the shit it had been swimming in for decades.

>>6819560
you shouldn't. it's crap trying to be memed by autists

>>6819565
I've actually heard a lot of great things about it, it certainly doesn't seem like a meme to me. It was well-recieved by critics and SF fans before /lit/ existed.

>>6815688
I agree the book lacks depth and is half baked but when you say the character is one dimensional I laugh and think about characters in second life. Also in a dystopia perhaps the 80's is amazing and a time that people think should be immortalised compared to what is around them although probably why they are in the situation to begin with. It's also funny that the obsession is almost forced by the OASIS and not somthing that has happened naturally

>>6819732
What do you mean with your point about Second Life? The difference between this book and people playing MMOs is that people playing MMOs necessarily have subjectivity and the depth that comes with being-Dasein, while these characters can't have subjectivity, and the author fails to provide the appearance of subjectivity or depth in most of the characters. The main character is nothing more than a walking pop culture encyclopedia. His love interest is nothing more than his love I terest. The dead billionaire is nothing more than a dead billionaire.

>>6816141

> study time

he literally just consumed easy pop-culture entertainment

yeah good studying mane

>>6816141
LE

GEEK

CULTURE

XD

some of the worst writing I've ever seen acclaimed by critics.

Genuinely Twilight-level shit

>>6816222
This is legit one of my least favorite gifs

worst book i've ever read no hyperbole

>>6818021
>>6818049

>>6820418

this guy knows what's up

>>6815620

haha this novel is awful

what was up with the wizard rave where she turned into the mermaid or whatever
that was some gay ass shit

>>6815620
Great trip down memory lane. Of course, you probably had to first have those memories in order to enjoy the book.

Protip: there was a real easter egg in the print version of the book, and a guy won a Delaurean by setting a high score in a video game.

>>6815722
A jarring tangent that meant nothing to the story, and really took one out of the flow of the text. Author confirmed as emo evolutionist.

>>6816141

In 30 or so years, I want to make a sci-fi book nostalgic about our era. It's going to reference pop figures like Kanye West and Chris Pratt and Superhero movies and HBO shows and viral videos and memes and reddit and 4chan.

People are going to love it and any of the haters are just going to be told that you had to have grown up back then.

>>6816141
I heard the audiobook instead of reading the book. Didn't notice things were so ridiculous. It is like he didn't construct a single sentence. All he did was spit out the first thing which came to his head and namedrop his favorite stuff.

I gave up about 40 pages in. Mostly just glad I didn't pay for it and got it at the library.

>>6820565
kek

poorfag is poor

>>6815722
>>6815760
Christ! I know we throw the word 'Reddit' around a lot to the point where it has almost lost its meaning, but this is truly reddit-tier garbage

when new sincerity has no self awareness

>>6820727
I'm glad when I don't pay for things that suck too. It's not really an issue of money so much as the principle of not financially supporting shit books and hack authors.

It was mediocre. It will make a better movie than book

>>6820418
нeт

>>6820361
it's worse tbh

>>6819560
>BotNS
u wot m8?

>>6820418
The movie was better so it doesn't count

>>6816141
>and of course, Kevin Smith

>>6816141
god that's awful

what kind of person writes an entire page dedicated entirely to making on-the-nose pop culture references

>>6822158
Reddit

>>6822158
A vapid twat. I heard he started out doing slam poetry on the topic of being a nerd.

it's nice the way movie theatre candy is nice: a sweet treat but i'd puke everywhere if i had to eat it all the time

>>6822134
the movie and novel were so separate that it's not really valid to compare them as if they are the same thing in different media

>>6819744
You see, he didn't go to college, he went to books. And it shows Ernest, it shows.

>>6824463
Thanks, Gertrude.

The guy spoke at my college class' keynote address my freshman year. We had to read the book over the summer. His speech was really cliché.

I've thought about listening to the audiobook, but after reading some excerpts online I'm not very excited. Goddamn I hate that prose. That's the worst part. I'm not even sure what the plot is all about but every time I read a part of the book it just bores the hell out of me. Chintzy might be the word. Chintzypunk.

And now, after reading that page filled with 80's references, I might just skip it altogether.

>>6824493
Where the fuck do you go? DeVry?

>>6824497
UMass Amherst. Big state school.

>>6824550
The American education system is just fucked then.

>>6824576
I agree.

the only part about the book I remember vividly was when he played joust with the lich. thought that was pretty creative and funny.

as far as the rest of the book it was really eh and uninspired. main dude is a complete mary sue and i could have given two shits about him, same for artemis. the entire book just felt like 80s encyclopedia filler, and when actual plot did come into play there were no consequences or stakes because the main character knew everything. even if i was 14 id probably have found it pretty meh next to some of the other shitty YA books I read at that period of my life.

On the other hand, the book is quite inspiring in how successful it was for its mediocrity. I still can't fathom how this got a movie deal with Spielberg.

It's telling how this thread is one of the more active ones compared to other single book/author threads. All the /lit/erati have read this book kek.

>>6824645
Not at all. Who says you have to read something to post in a thread about it?

>>6824652
Lol

>>6824495
>Chintzypunk
Yeah that about does it

>>6824495
>>6824778
That's it, then: chintzypunk is the new term.

>>6816572

>>6825047
Traffic can remain constant if the userbase changes, a minor initial influx of summerposters causing regular posters to leave, only to be replaced by a second wave of summerposters.

>>6825059
that literally makes zero fucking sense
you're implying that there's a mass exodus of frequent posters out of the website. if there is, i certainly haven't seen it considering all the fucking "goddamn summerfags ruining the board" posts

>>6816105
This book has the literal plot to Enders Game

>>6825547
or The Last Starfighter

>>6825079
the regulars take turns going on summer holidays so that there is always someone present to call out the fags

>>6825079
>"goddamn summerfags ruining the board"
posters are actually summerfags disguising as oldfigs

t.qualified summerfag

Looks sure cool

How does it compare to books like Snow Crash and The Martian?

>>6826968
It's Snow Crash for retards. No idea what The Martian is.

>>6826968
I would say Ready Player One and The Martian are both aimed towards the same kind of people, it's a very similar style - the meme spouting, the childish tone, the complete lack of self-awareness

>>6826974
>>6826987

Thanks. I had fun with both Snow Crash and The Martian, but the first is clearly superior.
RPO seems like a script of a Family Guy episode, so I'm not keen on reading it.

>>6824778
Ok, this is a perfect example of Cline's ability to blow it even when he stumbles upon a clever idea. The notion that people live in stacked-up mobile homes is smart in a way; the mobile home is synonymous with a certain sector of American culture. Mobile homes becoming the dominant dormancy of hte future subverts a lot of what we expect in the future, and presents a funny, satirical image of the direction America is going in.

But instead of leaving it at that, he goes on in two paragraphs of exposition on the most banal apocalyptic shit (energy crisis, over population, refugees in cities) regarding the background of the mobile home cities, stripping away layer-by-layer any sense of imagination of ingenuity at their use. After this written diarrhea of backstory, there is nothing left to explore in the concept of the mobile home stacks. They are just boring, failing to represent anything other than themselves.

Fuck Ernest Cline.

>>6826987
Agreed. I thought The Martian was better written - but not by a large margin.

>>6815620
probably one of the most cringeworthy books I have ever read. It's like a fan fic. The flow is terrible. Its like "Hey we did some 80s stuff while listening to 80s music, it was fun. I know a fat boy like me could never have friends but games are life!"

Jesus, I can't believe we're still talking about this trash after three days.