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A review by colourbandit
The Antisocial Network: The True Story of a Ragtag of Amateur Investors, Gamers, and Internet Trolls Who Brought Wall Street to Its Knees by Ben Mezrich
informative
slow-paced
2.0
The Antisocial Network was an interesting read. I think almost everyone online heard about the GameStop stock drama when it happened, and having seen that a book was now there to read all about it, I jumped at the chance to learn more about something I really didn’t have much knowledge about going in. And I was right in some ways, I definitely know more now about the stock market and what happened with GameStop specifically, but the book itself was really quite a let down for me, which was disappointing.
If we start at the beginning, the book just had such a long introduction to the characters, making up literally 25% of the book. It was written in the style of a fictional novel, but even so, most fictional novels don’t entirely focus on introducing characters so solidly without really getting into any kind of story (maybe because all in all there wasn’t much story to tell?). Even as we got further into the book, it ended up being that there was a huge amount of repetition about the same things from the perspectives of different characters, but not really in an interesting way.
If we start at the beginning, the book just had such a long introduction to the characters, making up literally 25% of the book. It was written in the style of a fictional novel, but even so, most fictional novels don’t entirely focus on introducing characters so solidly without really getting into any kind of story (maybe because all in all there wasn’t much story to tell?). Even as we got further into the book, it ended up being that there was a huge amount of repetition about the same things from the perspectives of different characters, but not really in an interesting way.
I will say that the book was unique as you were able to see all the decisions made by people, whilst knowing the ending of the story and their outcomes at the same time given that it was based on the real story. It made me quite invested, more so than if I hadn’t known the outcome, so I was engaged. There was also an odd and unexpected chapter from the perspective of Elon Musk, which was a surprise.
Overall, the book felt a little rushed into production just to still be relevant when it was released. Even just with little things, for example there were a number of very long sentences, sometimes a whole page long on my kindle, and it took a lot of brain power at times to figure out what was being said. I was interested enough in the story to keep reading to the end, but I did find myself a little bored at times and it became a bit of a chore to pick up unfortunately. I really did want to love this story but it just wasn’t right for me. 2.5 stars.
Thank you to NetGalley for very kindly sending me an advance copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.
Overall, the book felt a little rushed into production just to still be relevant when it was released. Even just with little things, for example there were a number of very long sentences, sometimes a whole page long on my kindle, and it took a lot of brain power at times to figure out what was being said. I was interested enough in the story to keep reading to the end, but I did find myself a little bored at times and it became a bit of a chore to pick up unfortunately. I really did want to love this story but it just wasn’t right for me. 2.5 stars.
Thank you to NetGalley for very kindly sending me an advance copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.