Book Description Review “Wonderfully geeky and deeply compassionate, Don’t Read the Comments is a heartwarming tale of finding your community and following your dreams.”—Marieke Nijkamp, #1 New York Times bestselling author of This Is Where it Ends“Don’t Read the Comments is a modern-to-the-minute adventure about rising above expectations of family, class, and social media, to find your true destiny and grab it by the controller.”—Whitney Gardner, award-winning author of You’re Welcome, Universe“Don’t Read the Comments has so much heart: the kind that makes you fall in love, and the kind that makes your breath short. If you’re not already a gamer, you might be after this book. And if you need a little hope, Eric Smith delivers the sunshine.”—Olivia A. Cole, author of A Conspiracy of Stars“Smith’s (contributor: Color Outside the Lines, 2019, etc.) characters are achingly sincere, and his smooth and witty dialogue’s a pleasure to read. He artfully immerses the reader in the world of gaming, building characters and settings that are fun and compelling to read.”—Kirkus Reviews“Smith realistically juxtaposes the benefits of online relationships with the dangers of doxxing and other types of virtual harassment, underlining Divya’s strength and determination online and IRL.”—Publishers Weekly“A solid pick for fans of Ernest Cline’s Ready Player One looking for something a little more immediate to our times. A worthy purchase for communities where nerd and gaming culture thrive.”—School Library Journal“This novel offers a complex examination of racism, sexism, and toxic masculinity in gaming, as well as a celebration of friendship and family.”—Booklist Read more About the Author ERIC SMITH is an author and literary agent from Elizabeth, New Jersey. When he isn’t working on other people’s books, sometimes he tries to write his own. He can be found writing (and podcasting) for places like Book Riot and Paste magazine, and enjoys pop punk, video games and crying during every movie. He lives in Philadelphia with his wife and best friend, Nena; their son, Langston; and a corgi named Auggie.WWW.ERICSMITHROCKS.COM Read more Customers Review: If you follow Eric Smith on Twitter, the fact that this book is heartwarming and a ray of light in the technological gray comes as no surprise. But what really pulled me in was how invested I became in the characters. Divya’s strength is incredible, and Aaron is so pure it hurts. The “Say Anything” moments were pulled off with perfection, and I love everything about their relationship.But digging in a little deeper, we see the issue of rampant racism and sexism within the gaming community that mirrors what’s happening in the world around us. We see targeted harassment that crosses over into real life. We see misogyny and xenophobia fueling a movement. These things are dealt with in the book in a head-on, pull-no-punches way.Yet, somehow, I never descended into the dark place I usually do when thinking on these topics. That’s the real magic of this book. Despite addressing the horrors that haunt our daily lives, some more than others, Don’t Read the Comments leaves nothing but positivity behind. The simple joys that come from basic human connection can help to heal on an individual level. The book offers hope that maybe if enough people stand together, society can work toward that same healing. Of course, a little vindication doesn’t hurt.What I’m saying is that we desperately need more of this kind of book in the world.
On the surface, this book is about a boy and girl–Aaron and Divya–who find solace in each other’s company, in the online gaming community and eventually, IRL. But Don’t Read the Comments is so much more than that. This book has an incredible amount of heart, humor and depth. What’s more, it’s a hopeful blueprint for all of us. An ode to solidarity and community and creativity. An examination of the challenges young folks (and old folks) face, as they seek to reclaim their rightful place in the world.Yes, this book examines a lot. Deftly, it interrogates racism, sexism, assault, income inequality, toxic online culture, and much, much more. And all along the way, it keeps you turning pages and rooting for D1V and Aaron and their ragtag Armada of IRL and online friends, as they face down an all-too-realistic army of fragile, bigoted, trolls who relentlessly seek to hurt anyone outside their fragile, insecure bubble. And when the endgame–the IRL equivalent of a boss level showdown–finally comes, you’ll find yourself cheering and fist pumping.Do yourself a favor and pick this one up. I haven’t enjoyed a contemporary YA this much in a long, long time.
You don’t need to be a gamer to enjoy this book. It tackles the very serious issues of sexism and racism in the mostly male dominated gaming world. It certainly has a realistic feel to it while letting the characters and the reader escape into the digital world. The dialogue is realistic and has some truly witty moments. It builds in suspense up to a pretty satisfying climax where all the important threads are tied up nicely. I’m always a sucker for nerdy references and this book certainly delivers. I also appreciate how smart and strong the main character Divya is. She and Aaron we’re very likeable and easy to root for. It was a little slower in the beginning, but once it got going it sucked me in until I finished itI will say that I did want to see a lot more of the game than we did. I do also wish we got to meet a little bit more of the Angst Armada because we really only met one of them and the rest were nameless. However I can understand why the author didn’t give us too many characters to have to remember. Overall if you like a story that empowers women and people of color while being nerdy and entertaining this could be the book for you.
This is a new-to-me author so I wasn’t sure what to expect. And, to be quite honest, I don’t read an awful lot of male writers. That’s not intentional, it’s just that my most read genre (romance) is majority female writers. I wasn’t sure what to expect so I tried to go in with an open mind.While this story was a slow starter for me, it did end up hooking me about 1/3 of the way into the book. So hang in there! I felt as though both Divya and Aaron got lost in thought with inconsequential details a bit too much in the beginning. That is something that goes away as the story continues.There are actually a lot of things I love about this book. The first being that the main characters, who are potential love interests, have a small age gap where the woman is actually older than the man. That isn’t done often in YA unless an issue is made out of the ages. It’s not even addressed and I love that!As much as I wanted to know a bit more about Divya’s parents and what happened there, I soon found it didn’t matter. I enjoy her unity with her mom and the fact that she recognizes all the sacrifices her mom has made through the years. Her mom is a wonderful character that we don’t see quite enough of, but this story isn’t about her.Divya’s best friend, Rebekah, and Aaron’s best friend Ryan, are the perfect sidekicks (for lack of a better word) for these two. Compassionate and supportive, they also serve as each character’s Jiminy Cricket…their little conscience on their shoulders.I am not a gamer, but still found myself enjoying this story quite a bit. I couldn’t help but wonder what my (now grown) sons would think of the story. They are both avid gamers and I may get this one for my oldest, who also enjoys reading. Whether I can get him to read a YA book when he’s almost 26 is another question. Not quite his wheelhouse, but he is curious by nature so I may convince him.This story has more going on than gaming. With everything that is done online these days, trolls aren’t relegated to gaming only. There’s a bigger picture to be looked at here, and I believe this story alluded to that. Which makes it a good story for teens; it’s possibly a good guide to how to handle trolls. Rule number one…don’t keep trolling a secret from those who care about you and can help you. And Don’t Read the Comments! (Sorry not sorry.) |
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