I Hate the Internet by Jarett Kobek is a book that follows a woman named Adeline and the abusive that she faces on the internet as a public figure. It is also a book that tries to milk everything that could derive attention from a reader but also pushes the reader away in the same way.
I feel as though Kobek undermines not only the reader with all the long winded explanation of well known things, but also the sensitive topics such as revenge porn and racism. He brings up SO many topics that are very important in such a short book that he makes it seem as though he finds them very unimportant. He also goes in depth into unnecessary topics that do not have any bearing on the story and just leads to further undermining of the more important topics.
The “disclaimer” at the beginning of the book is especially worrisome. Mentions of rape and death do come up in the book, even if just in passing. Even brief mentions of these words can trigger people who are sensitive to these topics and Kobek mocks them by putting the “disclaimer” (though it is not really a disclaimer) before the book starts.
The book covers so many topics that it is hard to decipher the point that it is trying to make. It appears as though he is trying to seem relatable to anyone that could possibly read this story, but fails because he hardly scratches the surface on each of the topics. In short, the book seems overworked and leaves the reader uneasy.
Literature & the Internet 