Ready Player One

>the matrix
>>>/pol/

>>8781510
Because it is bad.

>>8781519
How so?

>>8781521
“I wish someone had just told me the truth right up front, as soon as I was old enough to understand it. I wish someone had just said: “Here’s the deal, Wade. You’re something called a ‘human being.’ That’s a really smart kind of animal. Like every other animal on this planet, we’re descended from a single-celled organism that lived millions of years ago. This happened by a process called evolution, and you’ll learn more about it But trust me, that’s really how we all got here. There’s proof of it everywhere, buried in the rocks. That story you heard? About how we were all created by a super-powerful dude named God who lives up in the sky? Total bullshit. The whole God thing is actually an ancient fairy tale that people have been telling one another for thousands of years. We made it all up. Like Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny. “Oh, and by the way … there’s no Santa Claus or Easter Bunny. Also bullshit. Sorry, kid Deal with it.”
― Ernest Cline, Ready Player One

>>8781521
Because why make a piece of art with passion and spirit when you can make wish fulfillment and lol XD 2geeky4u references?

>>8781529
Simple, well written, and concise.

>>8781534
And there was no passion and spirit in this book? It's chock full of it.

>>8781538
proof or gtfo. Give me one paragraph where you think the author spent more than 10 minutes on.

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>>8781535
>Simple, well written, and concise

>>8781548
So Cline doesn't spend 20 pages writing something that could be spoken in 1 sentence. I'm tired of wading through lengthy circumlocutions from authors who could get their ideas through in a fraction of the time.

>>8781510


I don't despise it cause I never read it, but I avoid it, it seems very Big Bang Theory to me.

>>8781565
It's not. If you want a novella that can effectively convey outstanding ideas in a simple, direct way, this is the book for you. It's not just pop fiction. It's not big bang theory

>>8781560
It's not about length, just give me a paragraph with decent prose and just a little subtlety.

>>8781529
if i didnt have my dad pressuring me into reading beyond those first few chapters this is probably where i would have stopped.

But after that I enjoyed the book

>>8781529
What? God isn't real? Holy shit I got duped. Thanks for showing me the light, Cline.

>>8781574
No, it *is* about length. The excerpt above, for example, summarizes the emptiness felt inwardly by a growing number of the populace. That's something it would have taken Camus an entire fucking book to do.

>>8781559
repose en paix, robby...

>>8781574
Brevity is the soul of wit

>>8781529
Holy... I want More.

>>8781510
a friend of mine wanted me to read it and let me borrow it. he's a redditor, but that's beside the point.

it's literally a 300-page nostalgia wank fest. the incessant name-dropping, references to cult classics and 90's era "inside jokes" was cringe inducing. when Cline wasn't fondling my balls or nudging me with his elbow, he was stumbling clumsily through a predictable wish-fulfillment plot with predictable wish-fulfillment characters. shit was so flat it never left the ground.
If you're the sort to get hard over someone mentioning a thing you like, then sure it's likeable. Beyond that scrap of superficiality there are no redeeming factors.

>>8781529
I don't remember this.
Maybe because of the translation.

>>8781594

thank you for that post.

>>8781594
I'll let you get back to your Hemingway. Youre obviously way too sophisticated for this book

>>8781603

its ok if you like it, just like its ok if people didnt.

>>8781583
He's literally saying what every teenage redditor thinks is super intelligent without actually challenging new ideas. People have been doubting Christ for millennia.

>>8781605
I just don't like it when people give facetious and middle brow reasons for their dismissal of books I cherish

>>8781607
It's written for people who already think this way! Do you honestly believe Camus changed any minds with his philosophical fiction? I doubt it! His work attracted people of the same mindset, much the same as Cline has done. He's not pretending to be deep; and the allusions to reddit are growing tiresome.

>>8781611
It's seriously shit for the reasons he listed.

Lets just stop here. This is obviously bait and we have fallen for it. Fuck off, OP

>>8781625
When he wasn't listing unfair criticisms he was talking out of his ass in worthless generalities. Either way I'm convinced he's full of himself

>>8781629
You sound an awful lot like a /pol/ack. Anyone disagrees with you and you begin to think bait. Fuck off.

>It's a thread with 85% ad hominem

>>8781644
Exactly

>>8781618
>Books can't change people's minds, so this book shouldn't either
How old are you OP?

>>8781654
That isn't what I said.

>>8781653
The remaining is strawman 2bh

>>8781630
Is it not wish fulfillment? Is it not over saturated with pop culture references? I think that is fair criticism.

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>>8781583
>>8781603
>>8781618
>>8781636
Why are you doing this, OP

>>8781662
Fulfillment implies that wade did no work to achieve his goals. Like he didn't risk his balls to achieve his lifelong goals.

And yes there is a lot of reference. If you don't know the source of a particular reference, what does it matter.

And thank you for trying to make an actual argument.

>>8781660
>It's written for people who already think this way! Do you honestly believe Camus changed any minds with his philosophical fiction?
So you're saying that we should only read books that fit in our politics and not be expected to be challenged by a good argument? Only liberals and losers think this way, fucko.

>>8781673
These arguments are fallacious and further prove my point. So what if I'm a liberal? My wife and her son love this book, so you should too.

>>8781673
Dumbass

That isn't what I said. At all. For fuck's sake.

There's a difference between a novel set out to change minds, and a novel intended to be amusement for people who already hold such views.

Is there a difference between books like Animal Farm, OFOTCN, or Invisible Man... And books like slaughterhouse 5 or Candide?

>>8781603
>Hemingway
>sophisticated
Hemingway is specifically known for his lack of sophistication.

anyway, I'm not seeing your point. you like the book, and that's fine, but enjoying a shit book doesn't magically imbue it with literary merit. I probably own more comics than I do novels, but I'm not going to run around pretending they're something they're not.
The book is flat out bad, it was specifically marketed towards millennial pseuds and hit its target demographic with remarkable accuracy. popsci and new atheism and gaming and classic movies and escapism and classic rock and all that self-indulgent trite has a huge audience, but anyone outside that circle isn't going to be affected by it and is more likely not to overlook the cheap plot and flat characters and shaky prose and edgy themes

>>8781510
Is Spielberg really gonna direct an adaptation. Sure would be neat!

>>8781677
Die hard conservative here. Nice try.

>>8781681
I'm saying there's more credit to give to the book than the people of /lit/ ever do. It doesn't merit such harsh criticisms. It's not a *shitty* book.

Just because you're not part of the target market (I myself don't fit into many, if any, of those things you listed) doesn't make it a shitty book. I'm not saying it's fantastic or a classic; this whole thread was asking the denizens of /lit/ why they go out of their way to hate on a book they don't find appealing

>>8781690
that's fair.
/lit/ hates it because it's an incredibly apt embodiment of reddit. it's the perfect validation of every reddit meme.

It's not the worst book I've read, it's not offensively bad, but it's charged with everything /lit/ hates and that sways any objectivity in the reaction. If not for the reddit memes this book would have flown completely under the radar as just another sci-fi/fantasy bestseller

>>8781682
I hope not. Good books make for shitty movies.

>>8781701
47 replies later and I finally got a straight answer. thank you.

I disagree with the comparisons to reddit, though, probably because I never go there.

I think the author was aiming for a target market that just happened to overlap with the kind of shit asses who love reddit. That doesn't detract from the book itself, though, and that certainly isn't his fault.

I can explain

It is likely that the average /lit/ poster often hears about the book in conversation with casual readers. They grow interest and look it up only to discover it is shallower and more broadly appealing than the books they read. Angry at being unable to find someone to discuss the books they actually want to talk about, the /lit/ posters search reviews by those same casual readers and make fun of them because they feel ostracized.

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I read this and loved every minute of it. For me it was the type of book I couldn't wait to read more of every chance I could (I'm busy and balance a lot of different geek priorities).

This is the same argument as with video games. Sometimes I don't give a SHIT how "fine art" it is. Am I having fun playing it? Am I enjoying myself?

If the answer to that is a resounding yes, AND it was the author's intent to have an enjoyable story, sounds like a success to me.

Granted not all writing is written to be enjoyable. Some is meant to scare, some is meant to instruct, etc.

I'm not mad, I have only pity for all the pedantic twats in this thread who have allowed themselves to grow this old without maturing along the way. We need something like this for the art of writing in general: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J7E-aoXLZGY

>>8781690
I'm not part of the target market for fast food but I still know that's shit.

>>8781753

bad distracting attempt at analogy

>>8781743
You summed up how I feel about it. I know it's not amazing, or even particularly good, but damn I enjoyed it. It's a stupid pleasure, but shit he had Leopardon in it.

>>8781714
>>8781738
I got the book because it sounded good and I like old games and references to them, I wasn't exactly expecting Camus or Hemingway. And then the references never stopped fucking coming. Instead of making the plot more accessible or contributing to the telling of the story, they took me out of it and made the book feel cheap and patronizing. It's hackish, and that's before you get into the fact that the plot is a basic cyberpunk story with a YA feel that sucks some of the tension out. The conversational writing keeps it moving though, which is good, and the action bits are fun in that way that over the top anime is. I'm sure the final box office take will be $250M, which is good because his other book had very mixed reviews.

>>8781743
>abloo bloo pedantic twats
Being sincere about liking schlock doesn't make your approach correct, nor does it make others immature, it just means you have different tastes and priorities (and apparently many of them).

>>8781848

Not saying my view is "correct", or even that there exists a "correct" view. Rather just pointing out that the wholesale discounting of others' views (on EITHER side of the argument), including but not limited to—

>>8781519
>>8781534
>>8781603

—is, yes, immature in my opinion.

What in christ is going on in this thread. How about you take your ebin vidya game book and fuck off Cline. It's a piece of shit, everyone knows it's a piece of shit and anyone who enjoys it is a. Piece. Of. Shit.
Stop wasting everyone's time here and go do an AMA or kys or something you absolute bazinga-cunt.

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>>8781529
ugh

>>8781701

>/lit/ hates it because it's an incredibly apt embodiment of reddit. it's the perfect validation of every reddit meme.

Making it a blight and a cancer on human culture as a whole.

>>8781535

Atrocious, nauseating and cringe.

>>8781677
>my wife and her son
>implying he's not yours as well
>shilling Big Bang Theory Star Wars because fantasy helps you cope with the fact your wife loves the result of another man cumming inside of her with no condom more than you

Welcome to the post-Reddit /lit/

I think /lit/ is just incredibly jealous of almost every published author

It's not good. My favorite author is B. S. Johnson. B. S. stands for Bull Shit Johnson. Whoever wrote Ready Player One doesn't have the Johnson.

>>8782031
It took you this long?

>>8781510
I understand appreciate what the author is going for but there are facets within the book that should have been explored. For instance, some autistic billionaire forces an entire generation to like thinks from the 80's. He effectively stole that generations culture. Write something about that. That is more interesting to me than some contest MMO.

>>8781529
Wtf where did you find my 9th grade english paper?

I read it when I was 14. I kinda liked it but still cringed.

Wouldn't recommend desu

>>8781587
tl:dr

>>8783226
This
Top Kek

>>8781529
*teleports behind you* *unsheathes katana*
nothing personnel, kid

>>8781529
Why are you lifting pages from my diary desu?

>>8781510
The author insert is almost off the charts. It feels like I'm reading his own jerk off material.

>>8781603
B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B- BAIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIITTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

>>8781510
You'd know if you read it. I am someone that gives books a lot of leeway, but that one is incredibly bad.

>>8781510
I thought it was fun and enjoyably sentimental. Sometimes books are just entertainment and not much more.

>video game reference as the title

Why would you even bother? Video games are pure cancer to everything they touch

>>8781594
Too fun for you.

This board is spooked beyond reason. It's like a highschool jock calling others fags when all the secretly wants is to suck some cock, but with you retards and reddit.

>>8786058
Anyone who posts on both 4chan and Reddit should just fuck back off to Reddit. We don't want them here.

>>8786068
Who is "we"? When did "we" have the meeting and decide what "we" want?

>>8781510
>Why is this book so despised here?

essential redditcore

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>>8786109
You weren't invited because you go on reddit

>>8781587

Said by the character that talks like his monologues are Moby Dick

Him saying that is irony

>>8781510
because I saw someone read it while i was reading infinite jest

I for one am happy that people are pretending to like RPO now. Maybe these meme hate threads will stop and we can talk about literature again.

>>8781510
Just finished this a few days ago i'll give my opinion.

Parts of the book do actually work pretty well (I thought playing the lich in joust was pretty clever).

However that being said, there's way too much of the book where the author just wants to describe a reference and have it pass as good writing. References are better when they do not stop the story if you "get" or "don't get" them. Basically the author had to cover up his bad writing by making references which people might confuse with good writing. It was gratuitous and manipulative.

>>8786177
It's still good advice, even if we're meant to laugh at Polonius when he says it.

>>8781529
The message is 100% correct, all he has to do is write it better. The whole "sorry, kid. Deal with it" ending is bad.

Overall though there are worse passages. That's probably the high point of the book. Somebody should post the quotes where he rambles on and on about "nerd culture" for pages at a time.

>>8781743
You're smarter than 90% of /lit/ son. You actually understand that not everything is meant to be high art, that sometimes stories are simply meant to be stories.

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>>8786068
lmao faggot. Everyone here started browsing reddit around 2007ish. Only newfags that joined 2009-2013 care about website wars. The ones that joined after that are the nazi's that don't care about any of it.

>>8787847
Is your social life really so bad you cannot find someone outside of /lit/ to discuss the pleb shit with?

>>8787868
ad hominem

>>8781510
"One enemy remained, two if got Ready Player One"
-Ernest Cline "Ready Player One"

Wow its probably the single worst novel of the 21st century.

its shounen shit

>>8781570
>DIRECT DIRECT DIRECT
What are you trying to shill here?

>>8781510
Have you read it?

>>8781743
There's good and bad entertainment. Lord of the Rings, the Metro series, ASoIaF and Discworld are good entertainment, while this crap, Fifty Shades, and Twilight are bad.

Just admit you've got shit taste. Nothing wrong with it, unless you're proud of it.

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>Terrible prose
>Cliche, pretentious, with bad pacing
>Tryhard and childish
>LITERALLY "Muh 80's nostalgia" the book
>Loved by plebs and reddit for the above reason
>Best criticism I've seen was someone saying that the author wrote this to jerk himself off over his trivial knowledge of 80's entertainment
>The Matrix + Snow Crash + SAO in one badly written mess

If you like this you should end yourself

>>8788779

One problem with people like you is that you don't provide a definition of "good" or "bad". You just label two buckets and throw titles in either.

But the real problem with people like you is that you can't seem to understand that "good" or "bad" shouldn't be used in that way to begin with. It's a spectrum in the eye of the beholder.

Honest men admit this. Varying opinions are wonderful, especially when it comes to art appraisal. When you shut people down with the knee-jerk reaction of "he has shit taste" (whatever that's supposed to mean), you're no better than dogmatic religious apologists. "See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil" is your internal mantra, and you'll never learn anything that way.

In other words, grow up.

I thoroughly enjoyed this novel.

>>8789535
Nice try pleb, but ready player one isn't art.

>>8789535
>One problem with people like you is that you don't provide a definition of "good" or "bad".

neither do you. you just talk about "muh fun" and leave it at that.

I'll give you 5 minutes to defend this: >>8781529 because I'm certainly not having fun reading that.

>It's a spectrum in the eye of the beholder.

Yes, it's all subjective unless someone disagrees with you, then they're just being meany snobs.

You literally cannot get any more lumpen than this book. Glorifying consuming and worshipping cheap toy comercials.

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>>8789535
I feel the same way. Stuffy elitist will tell you that this is a bad painting, but honest men will admit that there is no such thing as "good" or "bad." In the eye of the beholder, this is just as "good" as anything by Rembrandt.

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>>8781510

best part is that all the bitching and whining by the haters in here is actually self defeating for them. only exposes this awesome book to more people on /lit/ which is great.

ppl on the fence about this book, love it or hate it things are usually worth at least checking out for yourself

> wannabe holier-than-thou critics who just can't stand the fact that this book is popular
> goes against their internal views of what is good
> muh prose
> muh pacing
> muh buzzwords
> afraid since they know they might be in the wrong but can't admit it
> damage control
> durr hurr everyone else has shit taste but meeeee
> pic related

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>>8789934
>guy writes so-so novel full of dated pop culture references
>people love it
>guy writes so-so second novel full of dated pop culture references that is nearly identical in theme and execution to the first except for where it blatantly rips off the plot of other novels, but it's okay because there's a metaplot where they existed in universe as part of a gov't conspiracy
>people do not love it

>>8789951

>people love it

Yes! Thank you!

>>8789934
I know this is bait, but I'll bite anyway. What's the point of making a book if you're not going to take advantage of its elements (e.g. narration, prose, imagery, etc.)? RPO feels like the shitty novelization of an already shitty film.

>>8781565

Trust me I fucking hate TBBT and IT Crowd. This book is nothing like that at all.

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>>8789973
>people love a so-so novel full of dated pop culture references

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>>8789995

And?

>>8789934
>wannabe holier-than-thou critics who just can't stand the fact that this book is popular

it is a problem: the fact that cline's jerk-off fantasies resonated with so many people.

>>8790005

Only a *perceived* problem for a *minority* of people like you. Sorry you don't like it dude.

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>>8790000
There is no and. It's a crummy but popular book. You admit it's so-so at best despite being incredibly popular. Therefore, the haters are about as valid as the fans. This thread is dumb and you are bad bait.

>>8789951
>>8789995
>>8790015
>>8790028
So so is an incredibly vague descriptor. The best thing I can say about the book is that it's functional. It has characters and a plot that make sense. This is the bare minimum for any work. It reminds me of the grading rubric for tests I took in school, where the lowest grade is "cannot be recognized as English." This isn't what you should be shooting for as a published author.

/lit/ sure seems triggered by this book...

Downloaded!

>>8790443
The board deserves to be trolled this much for circle-jerking about things they hate more than about things they like.

>>8789908
your painting is kitsch. it is objectively worse than anything rembrandt painted because it "offers instantaneous emotional gratification without intellectual effort, without the requirement of distance, without sublimation" your philosophy on aesthetics is a just a justification for your shit taste.

>>8790449
To be fair most people come here more for fun rather than dry discussion

/lit/ is still the nicest 4chan board I've lurked

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>>8787841

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>>8791735
>page almost exclusively contains sentences starting with "I"
This fag can't write to save his life.

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>>8791837
Found another one. Did you know this guy really likes mecha anime! He's so cool and interesting!

>>8791735
wait this is really a passage from the book? jesus fucking christ

>>8791936
He should've kept in with Evangelion exclusively and have the main character jack off to an unconscious femal deuteragonist. Now that would've made waves.

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http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/books/2015/07/armada_by_ernest_cline_follow_up_to_ready_player_one_reviewed.html
>Our fantasies can tell us a great deal about ourselves, and the fact that Cline's work has often been trumpeted as the ultimate “nerdgasm” or some sort of apotheosis of nerd culture should be troubling to anyone who identifies with the label. There's nothing wrong with nostalgia, on its own; our love for the media of our youth—and more importantly, for the qualities that made us love it in the first place—is not only worth remembering, but also capable of sparking new and wonderful creations, so long as we are able to distinguish inspiration from imitation.

>It's a valuable question for gaming culture—and “nerd culture” more generally—to ask itself: Do we want to tell stories that make sense of the things we used to love, that help us remember the reasons we were so drawn to them, and create new works that inspire that level of devotion? Or do we simply want to hear the litany of our childhood repeated back to us like an endless lullaby for the rest of our lives?

>>8791735
>and, of course, Kevin Smith

>127 posts
>69 ips
wow Ernest take a break on your shilling man

>>8781510
>Came out five years ago
Why are we still creating threads about a stupid, meaningless book that will be out of print by the turn of the decade?

>>8792281
Because we like to make big deals out of things that even slightly anger us.

>>8792281
Because one asshole made a thread and keeps bumping it with a contrary opinion whenever people stop taking the bait.

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>>8781529

>>8790457
Rekt

>>8791735
These were egregious.

>>8781510
A vapid regurgitation of 80's references shoved into a completely unoriginal and unimpressive plot, that exhibits absolutely no awareness by the author that he's just spouting out references with any deeper meaning. Truly a pathetic book, made even more depressing by the numerous people that enjoy it.

>>8791735
Is this just Easton-Ellis-tier satire?
Is he crafting the tone of the 21st century fedora?

>>8789988
The I.T crowd is alright

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>>8791735

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>>8791735

>>8791735
Is the book just one long reddit post?

>>8781529
It reads like a Reddit comment.

>>8787857
>unironically browsing redd*t

leave, my man

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>>8781529
>tips fedora
m'fuhrer

>>8781529

NUFFIN PERSONAL KID :^)

I listened to the audiobook narrated by Wil Wheton. He did a good job.

I was halfway through and trying to figure out why the book didn't work for me. It had the feeling of your standard YA adventure. It had a well-established setting, a villain, a goal for our hero, etc. But something didn't feel right. It wasn't until later that I realized that none of the characters had arcs. They were static and unchanging. Not that you can't have books without character growth, but for the kind of coming-of-age book the author thought he was writing it is needed. The main character is some kind of mastermind jerk throughout. Even after the big reveal his best pal was exactly the same. The reveal was superfluous because it didn't change anything about their relationship or about the character. The love interest was there to be a love interest. And so on.

I don't regret the time spent on this book. But this book feels strangely incomplete.

>>8781594
This

>>8781594
Pretty much

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>>8781529
>at first I think this is the narration of a character's stream of consciousness
>mfw I realize this is a quote from the author directly

>>8781671
Oh bullshit.

I'm sorry, there's nothing wrong with liking this book but I find it hard to believe you think that Wade is a reasonable character.

To me it reads like the Goonies got sucked into an Atari.

>>8781743
This. I don't like the book, but I have no beef with someone who can enjoy a fun book, provided they don't try to act like it's some masterpiece.

That being said the video you posted is retarded, I'd rather just watch the man speak then have ebin movey subititals.

>>8796379
It's fine to consider something fun, but people don't realize what that truly means. If you're talking about enjoyment of something based on your own subjective tastes instead of objective quality, recognize that this doesn't have a place in every discussion.

For example, saying "I liked Ready Player One because it had X, what are other books I might like that have this?" is a constructive use of subjective tastes. Non-constructive posts include insulting others because their tastes aren't the same as yours, or getting mad that other people bring up objective failings in a book because those failings don't matter to you.

This is why talking about objective quality is important. We can all agree about the objective qualities of a book, even if our tastes differ.

>>8794008
>he mentioned /lit/

ABSOLUTE MADMAN

>>8797991
No, its clearly a parody

>>8781560
Well that is essentially admitting that you don't care about prose, and you don't seem to realize that neurotic and intense terseness is a completely unnatural way of speaking, which is why authors who aren't the writers of The Big Bang TheoryTM tend to avoid it.

>>8781677
> My wife and her son
Guys for the love of god please stop falling for this stupid fucking bait.

>>8781529
Santa isn't real? wtf

>>Why is this book so despised here?

>reddit and the world loves the martian
>read the book
wtf i hate self-published authors now

and that's why i stopped reading anything that's popular on reddit and anything that's self-published

>>8781743
I agree one hundred percent. It's a really fun book and it gave me a list of fun 80s movies to watch. Sure, it's a bit cringey and telegraphed at times and the mystery could have been done better so that the reader felt more involved but overall it's a pretty good light read.

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>>8791735

Wow, cherrypicking a couple of passages to represent the entire work? Hey I can do that too!

Proof that /lit/ is full of shit. Here is an actual passage from American Psycho, rated #51 in /lit/'s top books of all time, above Hemingway, Homer, Faulkner and Goethe.

And believe me that's not the only passage I could pull from that book. So there you go! OBVIOUSLY Bret Easton Ellis just wrote it as a giant circlejerk to 70s/80s music amirite??

Sarcasm aside, I like both American Psycho and Genesis. The point is, the haters/trolls in this thread have no merit to their argument. In fact they don't have an argument at all, other than to latch on to the 80's nostalgia bit and somehow construe that as proof that it's a bad novel.

The funny part is, that passage isn't even that bad. It's written from Wade's POV, and it's interesting to see him ramp up, bragging more and more proudly about all the stuff he's read/watched/played. Do you know any supergeeks in real life? This is EXACTLY HOW THEY ACT once you give 'em an inch! The book is written by geeks for geeks, get over it.

>>8789988
How can you hate the IT crowd? Implying it has any similarity to the fucking Big Bang Theory

>>8799643
Wrong. That passage is sarcastic, not a circlejerk. The fact that your an idiot who actually likes Genesis is why you don't get it. If Ready Player One was making fun of the whole nostalgic mindset it might be better but instead it's mired in unironic fanboy bullshit

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>>8799643
>Preferring 80s Genesis to 70s Genesis

>Reddit Player One

HAHA ME MAKE VIDEO GAME REFERENCE XD ME NERD!

>>8799643
>he didn't get the joke

Was the classic "Do you like Huey Lewis and The News?" scene in the movie not enough for you to understand the humour here?

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>>8791735

>>8799845

Reddit misses you, go back

>>8781743
This

>>8791735

There is something profoundly undignified about this.

>there are people who unironically enjoyed Ready Player One
I heard so much praise for it, I sat down and read the ENTIRE fucking thing, expecting it to get better, but it was literally an ENTIRE goddamn book banking on nostalgia and cultural references.

Jesus Christ, you'd have to be a complete retard to eke any joy from this novel.

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>>8781529
>“I wish someone had just told me the truth right up front, as soon as I was old enough to understand it. I wish someone had just said: “Here’s the deal, Wade. You’re something called a ‘human being.’ That’s a really smart kind of steward. Like every other human on this planet, you’re descended from Adam and Eve who lived thousands of years ago. This happened by a process called creation, and you’ll learn more about it But trust me, that’s really how we all got here. There’s proof of it everywhere, just look at sin. That story you heard? About how we were all created by mystical process called evolution? Total bullshit. The whole evolution thing is actually an new age fairy tale that people have been telling one another for hundreds of years. We made it all up. Like entropy and the quantum mechanics. “Oh, and by the way … there’s no such thing as logical positivism or that there's a completely rational way to examine the world around you. Also bullshit. Sorry, kid Deal with it.”
>― My Diary by Tee. B. Hayjuh

>>8799643

>ranked #51
Those lists are indicative of absolutely nothing but memes. Nobody on /lit/ would actually argue BEE is a better author than Goethe, unless they were someone new that reads slop like you. On one of the most popular lists fucking Camus is ranked at the top.

>the book is written by geeks, for geeks
The book was written, edited, and marketed to SELL to geeks. Reddit is being milked because of their blind love for anything that mentions nerd culture shit.

>>8799742
>>8799765

What? Genesis is awesome. And I never said I preferred 80s Genesis to 70s Genesis, you completely made that up out of nowhere. Foxtrot is my fav album.

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>>8799742
>>8799829
>>8800432

Wow, the butthurt is palpable. Checkmate you elitist cucks.

>>8799697

IT Crowd is better than TBBT, and worse than Community

all three are truly shit-tier sitcoms outside of a couple scenes.

>>8800762
Shut the fuck up about genesis, you missed the entire point of American Psycho. It uses that satirically for a thematic purpose. Ready Player One implemented autistic lists because it wanted to sell to redditors who will buy anything praising Zelda.

>>8800145
That's the best way to put the entire book, really

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>>8800792

No that's wrong. The list in question is a swelling of Wade's internal nerdcred, to show the true breadth and depth of knowledge that true gunters go through. It's a testament to dedication and geekdom, and makes perfect sense within the context it was ripped from.

Your knee-jerk "redditors" comment proves you have no real argument. "Reddit" is the quintessential strawman all /lit/ards use when they want to troll but have no argumentative merit.

And Genesis is great. Hands down one of the paragons of seminal progrock. Right up there with Yes, Jethro Tull, Pink Floyd, King Crimson, etc. I'm so sorry you can't appreciate them, I pity you.

>>8799643
>The book is written by geeks for geeks, get over it.
I was sure throughout most of the thread, but this comment proves that you're trolling. There's literally no way you can be serious

>>8800831
Ready Player One is the Big Bang Theory of literature. It was specifically written to praise things "nerd culture" already praises in a formulaic, uninteresting, uncreative YA template that could sell as many copies as possible. You fell for the bait, and fell for it so hard that you're still arguing about Genesis because of nerd cred and geekdom and other buzzwords.
Much of /lit/ overuses the reddit bogeyman but this book specifically exemplifies it. It is objectively trash and an affront to literature.

>>8800861
Will you stop buying into his shitty bait? You're the reason the thread's not dead yet.

>>8800861

Genesis is unironically awesome dude. Gabriel > Collins tho

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>>8799643
>>8799643
>>8799643
>>8799643

Wow, /lit/ BTFO

>>8789934
this guy had it right the whole time

If /lit/ is this vocally 50/50 on a book fuck it, gotta go read it.

It's the other threads where everyone is circlejerking some dry, boring, but somehow good book. Those are the threads I'm wary of. You idiots are no better than reddit.

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>>8799643

Holy shit. Actually fapping over how rekt the elitist snobs are in this thread.

If you want to be a pedantic faggot, fine, there is nothing """objectively""" wrong with like this book in a metaphysical, projected divine-mind sense. You can feel reassured that the universe isn't going to reach out its hand and crush you for being such a god damn faggot. Just know that no one has any reason to respect you - especially when instead of just reading a shitty novel and enjoying it as a shitty novel your insecurity compels you to actually defend the book and the act of reading it as some kind of revolutionary, enlightened act. Just suck my fuckin' ass you cretin, there is no reason you shouldn't since clearly you don't have any respect for yourself in the first place. Yeah, bend down bitch, come on.

>>8801885
will you stop biting the bait you ridiculous coon?

>>8800762
I was more referring to the passage from the book.
Clearly satirical, nobody likes 80s Genesis.

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This is amazing and needs a screencap. /lit/ elitists BTFO, and now they're in damage control trying to discourage others from dumping the thread

Is this real life?

>>8781743
This

>>8802644
*bumping

>>8801923

The passage from RPO was also clearly satirical. Taking your typical nerdgasm and dialing it to 11 in an almost comical fashion.

>>8802644
>I like thing
>it's bad
>I still like it
>WOW BTFO

Bump

Almost all contemporary literature is deemed as "poor taste" by anal-retentive self-proclaimed elitists. This has happened throughout history. Reading does not make you special. Stop acting like your shithole is some ivory tower and stop complaining about people who actually read stuff

>>8799643

This is the most glorious thing I've seen all year on /lit/.

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Came for the RPO discussion, stayed for the /lit/ wars.

I liked this book

>>8803033
Why would you bump a thread to complian about it?

>>8791837
>get self-conscious whenever I use more than one I sentence in a paragraph
>meanwhile in the YA section

"I" sentences are fine. There's really nothing wrong with it. Okay if the entire book is exclusively sentences that start with "I", that would be a challenge to do well. But sometimes it's perfectly fine with the tone of the passage.

>>8797997
It is in fact a madlib.

Ready Player One is the greatest US novel. Hands down. It devotes itself to every aspect of the current generation, and suffers no illusion of what it sets out to do, and without question, it covers it flawlessly. There is never a moment in the novel where one questions the nature of the work, the philosophy of the author, nor the path one must take to understand its intricacies. It rewards read after read, and not only teaches one the essential and brilliant potential of the human mind, but the generational incline of said potential. The peerless state to which the author ascended to is and forever will be a testament to the will of those who cannot but succumb to their own crushing genius. I dearly love this masterpiece, this blade wrought with god's own hand, and desperately desire all to forsake just a few moments to devour a page, and then another, and then another, until they too reach the heights of ecstasy I still enjoy to this day.

never read it btw. i'm sure it's good tho.

UGH REDDUH PLAYERT UN

BORE CITY
SNOOZEVILLE
BOGUS ISLES

I have it in my ebook, is it worth reading?

>>8791735
This seems like the distilled essence of every highschool nerd who was to focused on fiction instead of studying.

My 15 y/o self can relate.

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>>8805124

Go for it. It's actually quite enjoyable. If you're into D&D, Rush, arcade games, etc. you'll get a thrill from it, no doubt about it. I'm 27 now, but I have no shame in admitting that when I read this just a year ago or so it felt like the first time I read Harry Potter as a kid. Bewildering, exciting, unbridled adventure.

>>8781529
>that guy that thinks hes smart for knowing santa clause isnt real
Third grade was over 15 years ago.

>>8791735
>phasers locked on target
please make it stop

>>8781529
Thank you for giving this example. It was precisely here when I stopped reading this utter piece of shit.

Guys, if any of you unironically think this is in the slightest acceptable, let alone decent or in any way good, and you are above the age of twelve, then you are an inferior human being. I would not go so far as to say kill yourself, but just stop reading and devote yourself to manual labor. We're not all cut out to read, it's okay. However we all need plumbers and electricians so maybe you can still be useful to someone. You were born with a deficient brain and an inept mind, it's not your fault. Would a man born without a hand strive to become a pianist? Again, if you are twelve or younger, it's okay, just continue reading and you will look back in and few years and cringe at your opinion. But if you are older than twelve, you are simply incapable of discerning objective garbage just as a blind man is incapable of seeing what's beside him. Do not try to be something you are not. If you started with the Greeks like we told you, you'd know that nothing is more important than to know yourself first. If you did not overlook this, you would have known long ago that you're simply not cut out for this.

>>8781529
Why do all exerts of bad books on this board sound like John Green?

>>8787841
>(you)

>>8799643
The difference is that the passage in American Psycho is this weird ironic deconstruction of Genesis that goes in an uncomfortably great amount of detail, while Ready Player One is just constant name-drops.

I never was huge on Genesis, but this passage makes me want to either ironically or unironically listen to them. BEE writes entertaining prose that's self-aware and offers an ironic deeper dive into the the oeuvre of a band. Being a pastiche of pop-culture references isn't necessarily a bad thing - it just has to be with a purpose and it has to be represented well. BEE purpose was to critique society's shallowness and he does it in laugh-out-loud prose. That's why it works and has literary value.

/lit/ meme David fuccboi Wallace made a 1069 book out of pop-culture references. But it works. The MASH section of the book for example apprioriately MASH to make a point about entertainment. Not only that - but the situation is so absurdly hilarious and Wallace's prose addictive and humorous, that what happens is intertextuality works to improve the quality of the textual.

In Ready Player One, intertextuality becomes the end in it of itself. Constant references that only serve for the sake of reference. Not only that, but the references are devoid of actual style to make them appealing vis-a-vis form. It's just boring prose (or the same quirky voice which has become so incredibly irrating to read) with content that references things because it can't stand on its own.

Can anyone recommend a similar book?

I just want a comfy, easy read for Christmas

Why is /lit/ so easy to troll? This thread is like 60% bait

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>>8791735
this can't be real

>>8805806
It's genius for padding.
>Nerds like lists right?

>>8805809
>writing my next hit YA novel
>make up the main characters
>despondent male teen and quirky, upbeat female teen, done
>time to come up with the plot
>go to Google
>search for clickbait lists relating to the subject of the book
>get a few, rearrange the list and write a couple sentences of banter between the main characters about each point
>the book is 75% done
>mfw

>>8806395
Just add a dash of cancer and you're all done

>>8805783
That prose isn't any more "boring" than the AP passage. But hey that's just like, my opinion man.

>>8805799
Ikr

It's a reference joyride, that's all it is.

>>8787847
Every day I deliberately shit. No matter how much conviction I pour into every shit, it is still shit.
>>8787872
>implying

>>8808157
ad hominem

>>8781529
What the fuck, I love this book now.

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>>8805739
>

>>8781529
>There is no god
When will this meme die?

So definitely worth reading?

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>>8794013

>didn't mention EVA

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>>8812829
Eva was in 95.

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>>8812847
but Rose of Versailles was in the 80s

>>8812877
>The faggot who wrote RPO
>Knowing the greatness of Rose of Versailles
kek

>>8799742
Go back to /o/ Hammond

>>8781583
Your problem is that you believe that something you get immediately it's better than something you gotta work for it. You need to challenge yourself and you'll find pleasure reading and comprehending hardcore books like Adorno or Hegel or Frederic Jameson's.

>>8813846

This is as snobby as it gets.

>>8781529
Even if you're an actual atheist this is just awful writing right here. Reads like it was written by a 15-year-old who's pissed off that Mom made him go to church instead of staying home and watching Yu-Gi-Oh.

>>8781603
Even within the realm of YA fiction, there are far better books than Ready Player One.

>>8781529
The edge. Thanks for giving me a good reason to avoid this book. Atheists need to grow up.

>>8794013
>every comic title /lit/ collected
What.
>>8813846
Difficulty isn't good. This is a very pseud perspective. "Ah, it is difficult; I must press on, because of course it will be better, all good things are difficult, right?". You're not reading because it's actually good, you're reading because it makes you feel special.

Literature isn't inherently difficult. Compared to shitfic, it is exhausting, yes, but not difficult. It engages the thoughts, which shit stuff doesn't, and that takes more effort than sludging about with a YA novel. But that is both what makes it """difficult""" and good.

It's not a case of "immediately gratifying" vs. "gratifying at some point in the future". It's a case of "lazily gratifying" and "exhaustingly gratifying".
>>8794120
Ironically Reddit hates it about as much as we do, although the omnipresent "well I ENJOYED it so it's good to me" faggots remain.

Dunno, I found it to be really great. Wish I could turn back time to read it for the first time again.

>>8807085
and?

>>8805789
neil gaymen books

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>>8781529
>Sorry, kid. Deal with it.

>>8791735
>the other Indiana Jones films from the Crystal Skull on
Crystal Skull is the last one. There aren't any more.

>>8781510

It's a 21st century pulp novel

Not sure why people can't wrap their heads around the idea that something can be wildly popular and also mediocrely written

>>8816285
nice try
Disney has the rights from Lucasfilm or whatever the fuck
Star Wars and Blade Runner are passing the torch as well.
what is Ford going to do with all his money?

>>8781559
Wait a minute....

>>8816365
.....is the same fucking thread still going on?

>>8790066
Joyce?

RPO is a terrible book
RPO is an amazing script

This is what you're all trying to say. When the book says "There was mechagodzilla. Oh shit. We should fight that. So we did." That's terrible writing, but it's great direction for a producing company.

RPO will be a much better movie than it ever was a book

It's fun and has heavy use of nostalgia. I like the story, it's dumb, but sometimes that's nice.
As far as actual evaluating the content, it's shit. Nothing life changing, this book won't be talked about for years to come—hopefully— and it's reliance on nostalgia is to much. If this how the author wants to write he'll probably never have another hit, or very many more books.

>>8816350
There may be an unshot one stuck in production hell but hr shouldn't have assumed there will be another one. Also if they did they would probably center it on Shia Le Bouf.

>>8815733
and what

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>>8816522
It's a better book than Harry Potter's Stone, and that's rated #54 on our list of all-time top books. Fucking Check Mate.

>>8816350
It's Disney. Mark my words there will be another. And another.

>>8781510
It's one of the few books that I couldn't even finish it was so bad. It just...tried too hard.

> sister gave me this book among others as a Christmas present
> I left it on the plane and maybe some other kid or low IQ stewardess found it

It's perfectly fine to enjoy this book if you haven't graduated Middle School

>>8781529

It's the inner monologue of a kid. Sounds spot on to me.

Do you faggots really expect Joyce/Woolf-level complicated prose here?

Also, >>8799643
This.
This is why /lit/ is full of shit. This is just /pol/ talking about books.

>>8820082

That's what you think children sound like?

You grow up in a combination orphanage-asylum?

>>8820627
Well I said "kid" just as a relative term. He's actually like 18 in the book.

And yes, 18 year olds sound like that.

>>8781510
I just finished the book and it felt very rushed in the last third of the book. First third was good, and second third was too drawn out.

>>8821000

I experienced the opposite actually. All the name dropping and "what we do as gunters" stuff came first, and it only started to pick up in the latter half. That's when things really spun into motion.

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Why is this thread nine days old?

Such a great book. Guess 4chan kids are too busy trying to look cool to admit that RPO is one of the best books of 21st century.

>>8824440
/lit/ snobs endlessly triggered

>>8781529
Finally, only one enemy remains.

>>8820969
No, they don't

>>8824475
I mean, if only they took time to read this masterpiece...

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>>8824502
actually yeah, they do

>>8787757

I know. I try to live my life by it, honestly. Trying to do things in a terse manner and still write is suffering.

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>>8822846