glenisck
In short, this was a frustrating read.
The premise of the story on the use of anominity and social media as a platform to enable witch hunts and the negative RL impacts of online pile ons, doxxing and the like, definitely has legs. An interesting, thought provoking story could have been told with these characters from multiple angles. However, centring a false SA allegations did not feel like the right vessel for this premise. Particularly as a female reader you are naturally drawn into the SA story line and the RL events of the characters, which draws away from the social media/impact of online trolls, which becomes a secondary issue in the story? I constantly felt like I was being made to give a lot of time and day to men who are falsely accused when from statistics we know that is only approximately 2% of cases in the UK. Surely we want to be giving platforms and books to the 98% of cases if this is the story being explored? It felt like the author tried to address this through some of the characters and scenes but it was under developed in my opinion, which was disappointing given the gravity of the subject. The ending was interesting and I was pleasantly surprised at the new angle and voice. Unfortunately, it felt rushed and, like other aspects of the book, under developed.
Overall, there was a lot to be excited about, from the premise, characters and the topics explored. However, I didn't feel like justice was done to any and walked away with feelings of frustration.
In short, this was a frustrating read.
The premise of the story on the use of anominity and social media as a platform to enable witch hunts and the negative RL impacts of online pile ons, doxxing and the like, definitely has legs. An interesting, thought provoking story could have been told with these characters from multiple angles. However, centring a false SA allegations did not feel like the right vessel for this premise. Particularly as a female reader you are naturally drawn into the SA story line and the RL events of the characters, which draws away from the social media/impact of online trolls, which becomes a secondary issue in the story? I constantly felt like I was being made to give a lot of time and day to men who are falsely accused when from statistics we know that is only approximately 2% of cases in the UK. Surely we want to be giving platforms and books to the 98% of cases if this is the story being explored? It felt like the author tried to address this through some of the characters and scenes but it was under developed in my opinion, which was disappointing given the gravity of the subject. The ending was interesting and I was pleasantly surprised at the new angle and voice. Unfortunately, it felt rushed and, like other aspects of the book, under developed.
Overall, there was a lot to be excited about, from the premise, characters and the topics explored. However, I didn't feel like justice was done to any and walked away with feelings of frustration.