I should start out by saying I’m not much of a geek. A lot of this book was lost on me in terms of the references to arcane 70s and 80s TV shows and videogames. I wouldn’t say it diminished my enjoyment of it too much, either. Perhaps I might have enjoyed it more if I did have the background knowledge of a bonafide geek born c. 1970 but there was still lots to like without such specialist knowledge. This might seem a little strange at first. The book is a geek classic and contains an absolutely huge amount of fairly specific information and discussion of videogames, movies and TV series that you’d think would be boring if you didn’t know what was being talked about. That wasn’t the case for me and I was pleasantly surprised. What was it that made this book enjoyable despite the vast majority of the subject matter being too esoteric for me as a reader?
The prose is nothing special and reminded me of something a bit like Dan Brown or Harry Potter. There’s the occasional clanger, like “a lump of runny mashed potatoes” on p280, which sounds like a physical impossibility. It’s not stellar stuff but it certainly is page turning and it definitely isn’t so bad that it inhibits your enjoyment of the narrative. However, looking back on it after finishing, it isn’t really the narrative that makes this book fun either. There’s a love story that isn’t very interesting but does involve some great snarky geek dialogue, which is a staple throughout the book. There’s the fight against the evil and powerful corporate enemy IOI, which reminded me a lot of The Matrix and was fairly formulaic. The narrative can be highly inventive in places and, like the prose, isn’t notably bad but nor is it very original or exceptional taken on its own. On the whole, it focuses on fairly traditional and mundane themes, and contains these themes within the OASIS, a virtual, world-within-a-world simulation, and offers little comment or reflection on what’s happening outside it. Occasionally, one of the protagonists will reflect on how lonely their physical lives have become but this is usually dismissed when the player remembers the significance of their actions and relationships within OASIS and their absolute infatuation with it.
A good example of this primacy of OASIS over the real world is the incident when IOI try to blow up Wade. In this episode, IOI believe Wade is inside his trailer, stacked on top of many others in a post-apocalyptic trailer park. I was amazed that Wade doesn’t think to mention to the IOI executive threatening him that he isn’t there in the hope of saving some of the hundreds of lives that are later lost! Granted, IOI might have blown up the stack anyway and Wade certainly doesn’t have much time to think about what he’s going to do either. However, he might have mentioned it on the way out to alleviate his conscience. He barely reflects on the incident at all and certainly never questions his own actions and involvement, which seems extraordinary to me. Maybe it is because he doesn’t really like anyone who lives in the stacks except for Mrs. Gilmore, for whom he does briefly mourn. Or perhaps it’s because he wants IOI to think he is dead. Either way he doesn’t seem to experience much regret over the death of his family and neighbours. In fairness, the only experience we have of his family is them stealing from him and being horrible to him. His relationship with Mrs Gilmore is better though and he genuinely doesn’t seem that perturbed by her death or his role in it. Perhaps the simplest explanation is that the world he inhabits is dangerous and violent and the currency of life has become devalued in this nightmare. This all takes place around p145 and I think the incident does a good job of highlighting where the focus on the book lies; OASIS. OASIS is preferable to the real world and, at least for the protagonists, has actually become the real world. As such, the book concentrates on the 80s, pop culture, geek-fest egg hunt taking place in OASIS and the associated action-movie narrative rather than philosophizing about the condition of the humans on earth or the impact being involved in the death of 100s of them might have on a person!
The book is a high-tech, high-geek, adventure romp and not a meditation on society like 1984. The author’s love for the main subject matter and his ability to deliver it to you with some of this enthusiasm still attached is what really make this book for me. It’s as if the author has tried to imagine his perfect world and then described it for you. It’s a world in which everyone loves what he loves, computer games and OASIS, and this has made his otherwise niche knowledge highly valued and essential to the survival of the ‘world’ as he knows it. It’s like a geek dream world where, as opposed to being a marginalised sub-culture, all things cherished by geeks have become of central importance for society as a whole. The world he creates is fantastic too. There are characters and buildings borrowed from all sorts of sci-fi movies and video games, both explicitly and implicitly, fantasy houses, vehicles, challenges and battles all play their part in this homage to the 1980s. Some of the details are really excellent and the overall effect is captivating. The orgy of geek sensibilities and relics engenders your enthusiasm as a reader precisely because it’s so enthusiastically expressed. I felt like the author’s enjoyment and love of the subject had really been captured in his story. You have to love the way he revels in his own geekiness and it is infectious, like listening to a child breathlessly recount some imagined adventure. It’s enjoyable to see someone derive so much pleasure from self expression!
Of course, I’m sure there are some problems with the rules and structure of the world he has created. However, this is surely a problem for all but the very simplest of imagined worlds and I think it is reasonable to expect a reader to suspend their disbelief. I sometimes struggle with this but this novel was so fast-paced there weren’t too many examples that really annoyed me. The most gratuitous example was that it’s unrealistic that Wade has to get a job to pay his bills in the real world in Part 2. If the online game was anywhere near as popular as it is depicted as being there would presumably be a way of converting some of his huge OASIS earnings into real world cash to pay his bills, which don’t seem hugely lavish. There even seems to be one method described on p220!
On the whole, I enjoyed this book and thought it really stood out for the passion and enthusiasm the author conveys through it. It’s not a deep, philosophically reflective piece and shouldn’t be read as such. It’s a high octane, action packed love letter to 1980s culture written by a totally smitten, seriously dedicated and single-minded suitor! I didn’t think the prose or the narrative were wonderful taken alone but the overall effect was great and highly enjoyable. Even for a n00b like me!
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