Hate is a Strong Word

To be honest I hate I Hate the Internet. Jarett Kobek’s novel, I Hate the Internet, is not any less random than my thoughts. I Hate the Internet isn’t a book about, like, how unimportant constant web searches are. The novel is Kobek’s rant on the topics of politics and culture; dealing with power and morality in a new global era. 

Adeline is a middle-aged comic book writer who lives in San Francisco. She went to a lecture where she did the biggest mistake of the 21st century, tell her opinion. Well unfortunately, she was recorded and posted across media. Some of her opinions included why women should be cautious of working for tech companies and became popular throughout Youtube. “All these crazy young ones are lining up to burn in their very own Shirtwaist Factories, screaming that they’re empowered by the very technology that’s set them aflame,” Adeline says. She also expressed opinions about how Beyoncé and Rihanna were seen as inspirations rather than vultures. Big mistake Adeline. All of the web did not respond well to her unpopular opinions causing her to receive death threats and hate. No surprise there, considering media is where people can comment whatever they choose anonymously. Kobek also covers the topic of a younger woman, Ellen, whose life took a turn after an old boyfriend’s pictures of her, taken during sex, were exposed across the web. Even onside of these characters’ stories, the overall, I Hate the Internet is simply the author’s view on social criticism.

This novel is quite hard to follow. Kobek created the story to showcase his very unstructured viewpoints on the world of media and Internet. It did not quite flow how a novel should. Topics like racism in society and pornographic material were mentioned in the story but the topics were often shifted from one thing to the next. When reading a story, I like it to flow from one event to the next in the order of occurrence. This story was just like Kobek’s brain exploding on paper. I’m not much of a big reader but this story kept me in utter disappointment and confusion. No thanks.