Jared

While there are certainly moments here that feel way too edgy for its own good, overall it’s a pretty stellar novella.

I low-key feel like this is just what the first Joker movie thought it was. Rage works better because it’s not an outright endorsement of Charlie Decker as a person.

The last moments are what’s really disturbing here. Over the course of the book, each character slowly starts to side with Charlie. Despite him being an incellian loser, they start to treat him like a hero. It all culminates in everyone violently beating on the popular kid.

Everyone supports Charlie because often people don’t really want change. People support violent causes because they find catharsis in violence.

The final chapter of the book is a letter that a student wrote to Charlie in his mental hospital. Everyone loves Charlie and their lives are all peachy.

Nothing ever happens.

Just watch the movie. I couldn’t finish this, Mickey was such a lame character.

Reggie is a pretty fascinating person. While I quickly realized that this book wasn’t going to apply to me since I’m not going to be going into any business management, I made myself stick through it. I think it was really worth it in the end.

There was a lot to learn here about leadership. I’ve always struggled with taking a leadership role directly. I’ve wanted to be a follower all of my life. But I know that I’m going to need to change that sometime. And who else to help me learn that then one of my favorite contemporary leaders: Reggie Fils-Aimé!

Reggie was very business minded here, but the reason a lot of the advice stuck with me is because he was always personal about it. Reggie understood good sales and business, but a lot of his add campaigns worked because he understood people.

Nintendo of America from the Wii to the early Nintendo Switch was objectively more personal. The company leaders were public, interacted with fans, and overall just cared. And that’s something you don’t see anymore in advertising.

I’ll miss people like Reggie. I’ve considered going into advertising, so this book might help a lot if I go into that. Thanks, Reggie!

(The only real issue I had with the book was that I wish he went more into his time at Nintendo. I would have loved a chapter or two explaining why him and Iwata and Miyamoto became quasi-mascots for the company and why that personal nature went away after the Switch era)

Wasn't at all shocked to find out the author was writing a YA dystopian after this because that's exactly how it read. Idk if this is anti-art to say but this concept would work so much better as a film.