Is the internet filled with necessary negative content? If so, is it worth it? Jarett Kobek’s novel, I Hate the Internet, thoroughly reiterates the cons of the internet in our society. The first chapter opens with an extreme derogative comment concerning the main character, Adeline. This quote read, “Dear slut, I hope that you are gang raped by syphilis infected illegal aliens.” Quiet the attention getter right off the bat, but I learned that I should buckle up and get used to this extreme dialoged. This novel consisted of many things, including Adeline’s endless experiences proving her hatred for the internet.
For example, around the end of chapter 29, one of the dilemmas was how a nude had surfaced. This particular nude was derived of revenge from a jealous girlfriend towards another girl. This jealous girl overreacted and didn’t even fully understand the situation that she was worked up over at the time. Ultimately, the fact that a person has the power to make other people’s private information go viral online, should be illegal. This capability should not even be something people have the option to do in the first place. This nude was considered “revenge porn”. When you think about it, this is something that could not be done, say, 100 years ago. This dilemma, like our society, has developed with technology. The fact that someone else’s nudes could be ‘revenge porn’ in the hands of someone else is a cultural phenomenon that has grown with our culture.
As the book progresses, Adeline experiences several scenarios where her life would be much better off if it hadn’t been for the internet. Adeline, and a couple of her peers including the character Jeremy, work in the comic book business. As the story progresses, Adeline gives a speech about the privacy on internet. Ironically, one of the people in the audience films Adeline giving the speech and posts’ it online. Inevitable, Adeline finds it surfacing around online and gets aggravated with the internet at new heights. The hate for the internet is obvious, but you can’t blame Adeline. As an artist myself, particularly music, I know how it feels when someone takes credit of something that is yours. It is an over-boundary stepping sense of aggression towards the lazy online thief’s and it is nearly impossible to prevent nowadays considering the amount of accessible technology.
I think overall, Kobek’s use of vulgar and nearly abusive dialoged was a poor choice to get his point across. From sounding like a blatantly racist author, to describing basketball as if it were rocket science to his slow audience, the entire novel could be considered “toxic” and an overall struggle to read. Many closed-minded people will most likely fail to receive the point of the book, much less experience the final chapters. However, one could argue to appreciate his boldness and enthusiasm for his hatred of the internet. Ultimately, as I struggled to listen to the audiobook version of Jarett Kobek’s I Hate the Internet on my phone, the vulgarity kept me intrigued, but not long enough to keep my interest peaked and enjoy novel. I would rate this book a solid 2/5. If you are interested in experiening such a lovely doaloge, please click here. After you log on using your amazon information, search for I Hate the Internet, and take notice of what others rated this novel, feel free to purchase and read this novel until the internet is hated!
Literature & the Internet 