Ready Player One
Published August 16, 2011
Broadway Paperbacks an imprint of Crown Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc.
By Ernest Cline

Started June 22, 2015
Finished June 26, 2015
Pages 372

Brief synopsis:
Ready Player One is a videogamers version of a dystopian society. WADE3 and OAISIS friends Aech and Art3mis are bound together to fight the proverbial “man” in an attempt to save all that is dear to them. Ready Player One is a blast from the past of all the things we loved about the 1980s, and perhaps a few glitchy things we didn’t.

Why this book and why now:
Ready Player One has been on my to-be-read list for a little over a year. As I was getting ready for our family fishing trip to Cass Lake, Minnesota, I wanted to pack plenty of fun vacation reads, especially because I wasn’t planning to fish. Quiet cabin in the middle of northern Minnesota sounded like the perfect setting to catch up on my reading. The tone and all that I had heard about this book seemed to fit the bill for this trip.

Ready Player One was strongly recommended to me by a computer programming consultant I was working with last year. She had recommended The Martian (review to come!) which is currently one of the best books I’ve read in 2015. Following her recommendation again seemed like a wise choice. I was not disappointed!

The day I chose to read this book, I had actually had what I believe was a legitimate nervous breakdown while on our vacation trip. I am very much a planner and my in-laws are much, much more a go-with-the-flow type. After five days of playing in the opposite Myers-Briggs category, I was pretty much a mess. Reading always helps me to regain my center, in the midst of joy, grief, boredom, you name it, I have yet to find that reading the right book at the right time doesn’t help me find myself again.

This book was the perfect fit for my situation right out of the gate. The whole premise of the book was being immersed in an alternative reality. Hello! Exactly what I was trying to do! From the beginning, we see Wade3 being surrounded by people, tons of them in the place he lives, in the whole neighborhood of stacks, everywhere, there are people, but he felt so alone and disconnected there. They didn’t share his interest or passion. It was only when he found a secluded place, by himself where he could focus on his passion did he come alive. That’s not to say his alternative reality in the OASIS wasn’t without its downsides. No real life human interaction, no positive human touches, everything was simulated. The further along I read, the more and more I saw how the OASIS is already being built: Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, Role Playing Games, Xbox. All of these things are distracting us from real human interaction. Myself included.

It has become part of our vernacular to say “my friend on facebook shared…”, but in all honesty, when is the last time you talked to most of the people you reference with that sentence? My husband and I, for a short while, set a curfew for electronic devices. We realized we were spending our limited time together glued to our devices, checking scores of games, checking status updates, pinterest, you know, very important marriage building activities. Those couple of weeks where we really focused on unplugging were markedly different. We felt more in synch, more connected, we were better partners and better parents.

As the adventure in Ready Player One progresses, WADE3 is forced to interact with people in real life to better his chances of winning the easter egg hunt. These moments of introduction were some of my favorite parts of the book. My favorite quote from the book came out of this collection of scenes: “I didn’t know how to connect with the people [in the real world]. I was afraid, for all of my life. Right up until I knew it was ending. That was when I realized, as terrifying and painful as reality can be, it’s also the only place where you can find true happiness.” Page 364

I think that’s one of the reasons we cling to some of our alternative reality. We want to capture and remember every moment of true happiness. Today, my facebook newsfeed is flooded with parents capturing the first day of school send offs. It’s so very exciting to watch the kids get on the bus, but it is terrifying and painful to let them go, to entrust them to a world we cannot control or always undo. One of my real life friends said it best “I guess this is what it’s really like to have your heart walk around outside of your body.” Terrifying, but absolutely amazing at the same time.

Recommended reading for:
If you’re looking for a realistic dystopian novel, this is not it. If you are looking for a fun, geeky/nerdy dystopian novel, this is the winner! Ready Player One has a heavy emphasis on 1980s pop culture. This book reminded me that I have never seen a Monty Python movie and must remedy that soon. I had a lot of fun talking about this book with my dad, remembering when we played Atari together and so many other videogames.

If you’re looking for a book to connect with when you are feeling lonely, a little adrift, or are up against something seemingly insurmountable, this book might be what you need. It’s also a great story to make you think about how you define what a true friend is and what friendship looks like to you.

This book would be appropriate for an older middle school student or above. I think anyone born before 1990 would benefit more from this book since so many of the pop culture references are very specific to the 1980s. The story line itself does not require a full understanding of this decade, but it greatly enhances the enjoyment of the book if you are able to pick up on the nuances.

The final word:
Ready Player One is a well written book that I will often recommend. I look forward to sharing this one with my son in a few years.

What’s your favorite video game, movie, book or song from the 1980s? If you were to create an easter egg hunt to find your fortune, what would the theme be? Let me know in the comments section!

New words learned:
If not directly defined in the book, definitions are obtained from Merriam-Webster.com
Anorak (Page 119): British slang term for an obsessive geek
Impecunious (Page 270): having little or no money

Selected quotes:
OASIS-Ontologically Anthropocentric Sensory Immersive Simulation

“It was a partnership destined to alter the course of human history.” Page 53
This quote is in reference to James Donovan Halliday and his business partner Ogden Morrow, the futuristic duo intended to emulate Steve Jobs and Wozniak.

“I watch a lot of YouTube videos of cute geeky girls playing ‘80s cover tunes on ukuleles. Technically, this wasn’t part of my research, but I had a serious cute-geeky-girls-playing-ukeleles fetish that I can neither explain nor defend.” Page 63

“OASIS had evolved into something horrible. It had become a self-imposed prison for humanity. A pleasant place for the world to hide from its problems while human civilization slowly collapses, primarily due to neglect.” Page 120

“I didn’t know how to connect with the people [in the real world]. I was afraid, for all of my life. Right up until I knew it was ending. That was when I realized, as terrifying and painful as reality can be, it’s also the only place where you can find true happiness.” Page 364

Other notes:
Agent: Yfat Reiss Gendell
Editor: Julian Pavia
Foundry Literary and Media: Hannah Brown Gordon, Cecilia Campbell-Westline, Stephanie Abou

What was your favorite video or arcade game growing up and why? Let me know in the comments section!