GRM

This book is a disturbing powerhouse! A highly cynic, dystopic social study of a near future where xenophobia, misogyny, decision fatigue and algorithms have transformed society into a bigoted, lethargic, and addicted mass twiddling on their mobile phones. The world got simultaneously better (yes, less people live now in poverty!) and worse (but no one really cares anymore!). We follow 4 teenagers in England - Don, Karen, Hanna and Peter - who all are outcasts and grew up in violent family backgrounds. Kids who have never known what it means to feel happy and safe, and therefore don't know what to search for. They form a little supportive unit, move to London together, and start to form a plan to payback everyone who's ever hurt them. But this is no simple revenge plot, and this won't be easy or rewarding. The world Berg paints, is not far from our current reality. But her words are damning and unforgiving, and there are no silver linings. It's a harsh read, but there are also layers of dark humour, that take off some of the blow. Also, it's amazingly researched and grounded in all the sociopolitical and technological developments of today. Smart homes, 24/7 surveillance, gamification of everything, citizen ratings, algorithmic political parties, deep fakes, virtual reality saloons, Musk on mars. All tinted with heavy doses of sexism, racism and bigotry. I did this on audio (in German), and it turned out to be a good choice, as the narrative has a conversational quality to it. I'm gonna be very curious how the bigger world will welcome this book. In my mind it has all the qualities to become a classic. And I've seen some people mention it before, but yes, it's totally the book that [a:Michel Houellebecq 32878 Michel Houellebecq https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1405511632p2/32878.jpg] has been attempting to write for a while. 4.5