The Fountainhead
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Her first major literary success, Ayn Rand's The Fountainhead is an exalted view of her Objectivist...
John Lasseter recommended Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936) in Movies (curated)
City of Gangs: Glasgow and the Rise of the British Gangster
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'A new type of criminal is in our midst - a dangerous, ruthless, well-armed man, who will stick at...
The Beast Side: Living (and Dying) While Black in America
9.0
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A New York Times Best Seller! To many, the past 8 years under President Obama were meant to...
politics social issues
AllSubway HD
Travel and Navigation
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The FIRST and the CHEAPEST database application of the most important world cities subway maps in...
The Answers
6.0
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Mary Parsons is broke. Dead broke, really: between an onslaught of medical bills and a mountain of...
Literary Fiction
Detroit Stories by Alice Cooper
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Named for the city that launched the original Alice Cooper group on the road to success, “Detroit...
The first word I can think of to describe this book is "menacing." It's definitely creepy at times, but it mostly projects a sinister feel, as Audrey's stalker--who tells bits and pieces of his side in a POV entitled "Him"--moves closer and closer into her private world. Our other two POVs are Audrey herself and her friend Cat, her socially inept lawyer friend, who begs Audrey to move in with her as Audrey's own apartment becomes increasingly unsafe.
"But the internet can reveal just as much as it can obfuscate."
It's hard not to compare this book to Caroline Kepnes' YOU. But the portions from "Him" are slim, and I just didn't find the narration as creepy and engaging as Joe's. When I read YOU, I literally felt watched, the book was so convincing. This book feels more like a cautionary tale about oversharing on social media.
And in that facet, it does a great job. Our friend Audrey: she shares it all. Instagram stories, photos, and more. Audrey getting her daily coffee? On insta. Her latest exercise class? Shared. And, of course, her move from New York City to Washington, DC is carefully catalogued. It's easy, we realize, to track Audrey's precise location and schedules. But Audrey seems blissfully unaware, living for the adoration the internet provides her. And it gets you thinking, wondering how much we all share across social media. And why...
"Comments from my followers were hands down my favorite part of living my life on the internet... With a million friends at the palm of your hand, how could anyone ever feel truly alone?"
Audrey goes through a lot in this book, but she's not always easy to like. There are no real likeable characters here. The power is in the escalating narrative. As incidents pile up against Audrey (remember: menacing!), you are kept guessing. There's a handful of characters who could be "Him," and Barber does a good job of letting you wonder who it could be. I would settle on someone and then something would happen, and I'd start to waver, changing my mind.
I really liked the commentary on social media and oversharing, combined with the need to be liked, even if virtually. And while the character of "Him" didn't have the personality I really wanted in his sections, they did capture his desperation and his seeming lack of understanding that what he was doing was wrong.
The ending for this one was rather bizarre and bit tough to swallow. I saw some of it coming and it all happened a little quickly after all the buildup. It was definitely twisty, though! Overall, this was a very captivating thriller--perhaps not as deep as I had hoped, but definitely worth a read. 3.5 stars, rounded up here.
Bus Simulator 2017 *
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***** Best Simulator Candidate of 2017. Realistic Bus Driving Game. ***** Completely realistic...