Not Quite A Topless Robot Book Club discussion

First off, I'd just like to say this up front:

I would LOVE for this to be made into a movie, and according to my research, Ernest Cline has actually sold the movie rights.

BUT (and that's a big "but") I can't even fathom the licensing hell that any film-makers would need to go through in order to make a completely accurate film. What a nightmare! And yet as much as I would sympathize with the seemingly-impossible goal of making an accurate film, that is the ONLY way I would want to see it.

It's funny how a book can be so futuristic and yet so nostalgic at the same time. Let's face it: Cline wrote a 372-page love letter to the Eighties. The man did his homework, that's for damn sure.

I have to confess, however, that when I first started the book I was afraid that it was going to be yet another incarnation of a "type". I'm sure you know the one. It goes like this: Poor Young White Boy has Almost No Family but embarks on a Hero's Journey/Quest and Saves Everything. You see this type played out over and over: Harry Potter, Percy Jackson, Luke Skywalker, etc.

Now, I'm in no way saying that those kinds of stories can't be well done, but I was afraid that Ready Player One was going to be another one, two Gary Stus deep (Parzival and Halliday). It would be Gary Stu-ception, gag. But my worries were soon laid to rest, because the Hunt for Halliday's Egg was incredibly well done.

I was a little worried that the novel would play into the "There are no women on the Internet" or "Girls can't play video games" tropes, but Art3mis and Aech were extremely welcome surprises in that regard - Aech in particular, because her reveal toward the end really highlights the problems that women really face in life online.

The love story between Parzival and Art3mis was bittersweet for me, but mostly sweet. I admired Art3mis' focus and competency, especially in the face of distraction and danger.

My first exposure to Ready Player One was through my Audible membership. The audio version is narrated by Wil Wheaton, and he does a fantastic job (as I was listening, I was tickled to hear him mention himself). If you have access to it, I'd recommend that you give it a listen.

As for discussion questions, I don't even know where to begin, but here are some for starters:

1. What were your favorite references and/or Hunt challenges?

2. If this were to become a film, who would you cast?

Feel free to share your own discussion points in the reply!

Well, I was shocked looking at the trailer for "Wreck-it Ralph" and how many characters they got permission to use, so it's possible.

I'm actually rereading this right now because it's been so long and I want to remind myself of all the intricacies. Be back soon!

Cline was at the last Emerald City Comicon, and was supposed to be on a panel with Wil Wheaton to talk about the movie and the audio book. Wheaton got waylaid, and my husband and decided to hit a different panel. Anyhoo.

I picked this book up when it came out, read a chapter, and put it down. Growing up in a dystopian landscape? Watching as the ties that once bound us together unravel? Watching as corporations get more and more powerful as the Holocene ends? Having the most emotionally and intellectually meaningful events in your life happen in the geekoverse? I don’t need to read that, Martha. I lived it. But Wil Wheaton did the audio book, and I less than three Wil Wheaton, so I listened during pledge week. And whether it’s just that I’m slightly smitten with Wil Wheaton, or because the metatextualism of having the guy who played Gene Roddenbury’s own Mary Sue insert into Star Trek read a book IN WHICH HE IS ALSO A CHARACTER gets me where I live, I really liked it.

In my old age, I'm not really up on young actors (if they weren't in Buffy, Firefly, or Doctor Who, I probably don't know them) but I think it'd be HILARIOUS to have Patrick Stewart play Wil Wheaton and Leonard Nimoy play Cory Doctorow. Maybe Kevin Smith as Ogden.

OMG, WIL WHEATON AS THE BAD GUY, NOLAN SORRENTO. Yes. Internet, MAKE IT SO.

Maybe it's because I'm not the target audience---I didn't grow up in the 80's, just the second-hand modern nostalgia you see now---but I didn't really like the first half of the book. It felt like he was pulling the answers to these puzzles out of nowhere. "Oh yeah, that incredibly important pizza place I've never mentioned before! And of course this was a reference to the famous game blah, blah, blah..." But I liked it by the end. (I did feel pretty pleased about working out the Zork reference before Wade did. :3)

You know there's an easter egg contest hidden in the hard copies of the book itself? That's pretty meta, right there.

Agreed about Aech. Depressing because it's true. Also a nice bit of character development for Wade "MY GF CAN'T BE A MAN" Watts. Did anyone else see Aech's name for the first time and immediately think "Halliday"? Nice red herring there, Ernie.

Any thoughts on the ending? I thought it was hinting that Wade would press the big red button so everyone would have to work together on fixing the Real World, but that was a heck of an open ending.

Laura wrote: "I picked this book up when it came out, read a chapter, and put it down. Growing up in a dystopian landscape? Watching as the ties that once bound us together unravel? Watching as corporations get more and more powerful as the Holocene ends? Having the most emotionally and intellectually meaningful events in your life happen in the geekoverse? I don’t need to read that, Martha. I lived it. "

I completely agree, Laura. The beginning of the book makes it seem both predictable and formulaic, which is why I feared that it would fall into a ho-hum "type" and not be worth my time. But absorbing it as a whole makes me love it for its potential as a film.

"and I less than three Wil Wheaton"

I had to think about what you meant here, but then I got it. ;)

General Apathy wrote: "Maybe it's because I'm not the target audience---I didn't grow up in the 80's, just the second-hand modern nostalgia you see now---but I didn't really like the first half of the book. It felt like ..."

Yeah, Zoe, that's very true. I wasn't kidding when I said that I thought it was a 372-page love letter to the 1980s.

And the meta Easter Egg hunt in Cline's book is pretty awesome.

I completely thought the same when I saw how mysterious Aech's character was, and the whole time I was thinking "H is for Halliday", just like you were.

As far as the ending goes, I felt that the revolutionary part of it was Wade deciding that the real world, for once, was preferable to the OASIS. I think that in the future, especially if IOI ever managed to take control of it, Wade would completely erase it. But I don't think that was on the table at the end of the book as it is.

Switching gears for a moment:

One of the things that really bothered me about the book, and that doesn't get better with subsequent re-reading, is the idea that Only Men Did Anything Cool During The Eighties. Have you guys noticed this? All of the references, all of the clues, 99% of Anorak's Almanac focuses on books, movies, computer games, etc. written and developed by men.

For example, just glancing through Chapter 0006, we have the recommended Gunter reading list:

Douglas Adams, Kurt Vonnegut, Neal Stephenson, Richard K. Morgan, Stephen King, Orson Scott Card, Terry Pratchett, Terry Brooks, Alfred Bester, Ray Bradbury, Joe Haldeman, Robert A. Heinlein, J.R.R. Tolkien, Jack Vance, William Gibson, Neil Gaiman, Bruce Sterling, Michael Moorcock, John Scalzi, Roger Zelazny.

Seriously. Does that seem a little one-sided to anyone else?

Bri wrote: One of the things that really bothered me about the book, and that doesn't get better with subsequent re-reading, is the idea that Only Men Did Anything Cool During The Eighties. Have you guys noticed this? All of the references, all of the clues, 99% of Anorak's Almanac focuses on books, movies, computer games, etc. written and developed by men.
..."

That kinda thing always bothers me. I did think that Cline's framing narrative -- that it was the fantasy life of this socially maladjusted guy -- did make it seem more like just the background levels of social phallogocentrism rather than Cline's particularly.

So, I reread the book before commenting. I'm actually glad I read it a second time. My first read-through I was very put-off by the over-explaining. For example, you audience will either get what the big blue rectangular boxes used for transporting are without you saying they are like the Tardis, and then further saying they are from Doctor Who or they won't no matter if you go into the entire 50 year history of it. That comment still stands, but I understand some of it may be publisher direction.

I found that if I had the mindset of this being a YA novel, it flowed a lot better for me. I tried putting myself in the mindset of a teen who grew up with no positive role models, which made his obsession a little easier to take. Bri, looking at the reading list, most of those authors focus on male protagonists who pull themselves out of crap circumstances and become extraordinary, so I could see why, if this is the only viewpoint we have of Halliday, those are the books chosen for Z's reading list. But you still have a very valid point.

I did find Z's ability to remember things at the most opportune moment eyerolling, at best.

Okay, I do have positive things to say about the book, I swear! I did enjoy it, overall. The egg hunt was engaging. The supporting characters were really interesting. I loved Daito and Shoto. Art3mis was well-rounded and I loved that she was business first, personal relationships second. So often, girls are portrayed as becoming a complete idiot once they meet a boy.

Aech was my favorite. It took me a little bit to realize how to pronounce the handle and then I felt really, really stupid. But that was reader problem, not author problem. The reveal at the end made me so very happy. And agreed that it was a lovely surprise to see Wade understand that jack-all had changed in their friendship just because of gender, sexuality, and race.

I am looking forward to seeing what his next book will bring. Overall, it was a good read and I'm hoping a lot of the bumps were just from being a first-time novelist.

Jamie wrote: "I did find Z's ability to remember things at the most opportune moment eyerolling, at best."

Amazing, wasn't it? ;) My favorite is how the murder of his aunt and all the other people in the stacks didn't really bother Wade until and unless it was convenient for him.

And I can see your point about the reading list being from Halliday's point of view. It does make sense. And it's a fantastic reading list - it's almost identical to mine.

But the difference between that reading list and mine is that mine has female authors and female protagonists.

Come on! Not even one?

Bri wrote: "One of the things that really bothered me about the book, and that doesn't get better with subsequent re-reading, is the idea that Only Men Did Anything Cool During The Eighties. Have you guys noticed this? All of the references, all of the clues, 99% of Anorak's Almanac focuses on books, movies, computer games, etc. written and developed by men. "

On that note, it really bothered me that Wade was so upset that his imaginary girlfriend might be a man. Like, it kept coming up, to the point where he asks her if she's a real girl, "a human female who has never had a sex change." Geeeez. I don't know if it's meant to be foreshadowing for the Aech reveal, but it really made me dislike him as a protagonist.

Actually, early in the novel I had this vague idea that Art3mis would be his aunt. Yeah.

Oh, Daito and Shoto. Their relationship was pretty adorable, but the gratuitous Japanese was a bit tone-deaf (I don't claim to be fluent here, but why are two teenage boys on the internet using formal sentence structure? Is it because they're samurai?). Nitpicky, I know, but look at what book we're reading. He set himself up for it. >_>