Fancave Fiction Club discussion
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Ready Player One
Ready Player One
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Corrigan
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rated it 4 stars
Jul 21, 2014 10:16PM
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It took me a good five minutes to figure out that the first book was called Ready Player One. I thought you had designated yourself as player one in some type of reading game :)I am clearly getting smarter the longer I am out of school
My fiance read this one months ago and LOVED it. I look forward to finally joining the club and reading it for myself.
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As a head's up, I may or may not participate in this one. We'll see how my checking account feels after I get paid at the end of the month (I spent too much money on books this week. Like, 35, 50 bucks.)
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I borrowed my copy today from the bookstore, so I'll try to crush it this week. Whee!
I'm in Chapter 16 (44% on my Kindle). Really enjoying what I've read so far. Is anybody else making progress?
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Glad to hear that more people are reading this now!
Corrigan wrote: "On a related note, I considered getting the audiobook of this. Saw it was narrated by Wil Wheaton. I love Wil, but let's be real: Not known for his smooth vocal tones. Listened to the sample... you..."That's depressing.
Finished it this morning! Woo! Now I get to go live in OASIS for the rest of forever, right?
What time is the meeting on Friday? I'd really like to join in, if I could. *pleasebeafter5:00pmpleasebeafter5:00pmpleasebeafter5:00pm* ;)
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I will be at the #NoFilter show in Boston, but if the book discussion goes long enough, I might just make it in at the end. Otherwise, I'll just post my thoughts here that day before I leave for Boston.
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AAAAAAAHHHHHH!!! Can't wait! :D
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Version of Dead Man's Party in my head https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iypUp...
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The Google Hangout = https://plus.google.com/events/c9uo07...
Or watch live (and later) on YouTube = http://youtu.be/DgSyiqeqFrY
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Great Hangout today! CoRri, you're a gracious host and a natural. It was really cool meeting all of you and I'm really looking forward to the next one!
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For anyone who wants to experience it again and again, here's the link: http://www.electricfeast.com/fancave-...
I'm so sorry I missed the G+ hangout! Made some family plans and kinda forgot all about it until it was too late. I'm really glad you posted the video, Corrigan. I'm watching now. I'm also glad to discover that some of you had some of the same disappointments I did. I enjoyed the book, overall—loved the quest, loved the nostalgia—but felt like the plot suffered from too much exposition and explanation at times. Whether that was in an attempt to appeal to the general public who might not "get" the references like us geeks, or what the deal was, I found the over-description of things I already knew about to be a bit off-putting from the story itself.
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The exposition was definitely a bit of a buzzkill, but perhaps a necessary evil? We were all at least KINDA there for the era this is hearkening back to. I wonder if the editor/publishing company were like, "Um, yeah, but we'd still like to be able to sell your book 20 years from now" and made him add all that. Hard to say. I'm gonna hafta track him down.
It's funny, because I'm just a baby (90s, whaaaat) so while I recognized some of the references by name, it was still helpful to have the explanations. I felt like I was learning!
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Well, that's depressing. I graduated HS in '96. Thanks a lot, CoRri. :p
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I didn't attend the Hangout (next one, hopefully) because I didn't read the book until the middle of this week (after finishing the new Murakami (really liked it)). I...didn't really like it all that much. I found being stuck in Wade's head suffocating. A break from his narration for the exposition digressions would've been a little bit appreciated, but they had the same sort of structured knowledgeable word vomit that even I've found myself doing and try not to now.
Other things just never clicked in for me. Didn't care for Wade as a figure: Oh, good, another white dude saves the Internet with the help of an Asian, a black lesbian, and a girl (why weren't Art3mis or Aech our protags?)
The ideas of OASIS sort of drove me nutty, but it was mainly from a media industries perspective and my overwhelming desire to know how the media products in the world were being licensed and used and how copyright functioned. All that pop culture seems to exist without any apparent corporate ownership, and given how into the history of OASIS Cline was, my brain wanted THAT information and how that worked out.
The ending was pretty 80s, though, in that affirms the power of love ("Change a hawk to a little white dove.") as an alternative to being jacked in and lonely...I just hope Wade and Samantha never break up...
EDIT: On the upside, I have been listening to Rush all day. So some good came out of it.
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Just a thought on the protagonist: Book's written by a white dude, right? So in writing the main character, there's obviously the write-what-you-know factor, but then there's also the danger of speaking for a group of which you're not a part. Say he writes as Aech and we're supposed to be inside a black, lesbian character's head as written by a straight, white guy... I feel like that opens up a whole new set of issues,not that they're insurmountable. But there'a part of me that likens it a bit to Jared Leto and Andrew Garfield playing trans and totally pissing off actual trans people. I'm by no means saying people can't write or play anything outside of what they are. That'd be silly. I just think it might have some bearing on why a book that takes place so largely in the protagonist's thought process shouldn't try to take on a marginalized voice. I dunno. What do you think?
Of course, let's be real: I'm also sure there's a lot of wish fulfillment for the author here. In writing it, I'm sure he seems himself as Wade, and is getting to live out a cool, '80s fantasy through him.
Certainly the "speaking for a group" concern may've been a factor, Corrigan...but I also kind of balk at that idea since Cline wrote Shoto as an East Asian guy obsessed with honor. It becomes this weird mash-up/quagmire of action adventure cliches and stereotypes that didn't think to critically engage the lousy parts of the 80s (another aspect of the book that irked, but I decided to ignore). So, yeah, not take on a marginalized voice, but could the book have been improved with a third person narration and alternating perspectives...?The entire book actually reminded me a lot of Tad Williams' Otherland series. Anyone else read this? Mammoth 4-novel series that basically takes epic fantasy structure and cyber-punks it up, complete with massive virtual reality stuff. Huge cast of characters, but the main character is a capable (but not too capable (everyone in the book is not-too-capable, something I liked about it)) black woman from South Africa. (Of course this gets balanced out by a mystical Bushman who serves as the group's wizard for want of a better role, so nothing is ideal; though Williams spends a lot of time talking about San culture; how accurate it is, I can't say)
Just wanted to chime in here about your thoughts, Corrigan, regarding Cline's difficulty with possibly writing from the perspective of someone who isn't a white male. I agree with you that the possibility is open for a Jared Leto-type situation where perhaps the author is careless in writing from a perspective with which they aren't familiar. However, I think authors in general are much more capable of being responsible in this regard than say, a casting director for a Hollywood movie. It seems like the pressures an author faces aren't the same as a casting director. Part of the writing process is doing great research and I think authors are able to get the perspectives required to write protagonists unlike themselves. Involving editors who aren't their race and gender is also a possibility, especially where giving credit is involved. Perhaps I'm naïve in thinking this way..it would certainly require extra work on the part of the writer. At the same time, the work that comes out of that process would be one-of-a-kind.
Wow, you guys are all WAY too smart for me. Valid and well-articulated critiques of the book. I'm going to have a tough time keeping up beyond providing the occasional "I liked it. It was good."
Gerry wrote: "Wow, you guys are all WAY too smart for me. Valid and well-articulated critiques of the book. I'm going to have a tough time keeping up beyond providing the occasional "I liked it. It was good.""I'm right there with ya. I liked it.
Yes, but how are we supposed to seek out books with more minorities if these books don't exist, or are the default approach from writers and/or publishers? Certainly with dollars, but also with critiques. As for nostalgia, it is, and that's why nostalgia is not always a great thing.
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I'm still a little wary, of course. I cringe at the thought of a white dude thinking he could research enough to understand what it's like to be me as a black chick, but obviously he's not trying to represent a WHOLE experience. Sydney, I like to think you're right that authors could at least theoretically treat representations with far more care and caution than Hollywood. I'd like to see more doing it, but more than anything, I'd rather see more people of color writing books with people of color -- and not just the "cultural" books like Life of Pi [edit: even LoP isn't written by POC! Good grief!] or House on Mango Street (which are fine and good and important), but even these fun, nostalgic books that are supposed to appeal to a broad audience. Publishers need to believe that you could have a book like Ready Player One still SELL if Aech or Art3mis is the main character. And as we can see from reactions to people of color in Hunger Games, they have reason to doubt that.
Where do we get our pitchforks? ;)
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I pale in comparison. However, I've been inspired to write a series of science fiction novels with Salvadorean protagonists. "Space pupusas" will be a thing, people. ;)
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The curtido can get a little messy in zero gravity. XD
I am almost done and am really enjoying it!!! Good pick Cor!! I will try to come up with a more eloquent comment when I am done but for now I am enjoying all of the 80s references
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