Ready Player One

          Ready Player One by Ernest Cline is one of the best books I have ever read and I have hardly even dented it. After just five chapters I love everything about this book, it is well written with lots of captivating descriptions of intense situations that have kept me consistently interested and entertained. Even though the book is written about years into the future it is still extremely realistic through the author’s use of detail and imagery.  I liked how it started out explaining the setting of the story and the hardships people faced in the future such as a massive fuel shortage and widespread poverty. It explains how people do almost all of their daily activities in the OASIS, a virtual world that everyone can access through the internet. People use it because it is so much better than the actual world they lived in. The creator of this alternate simulated universe, James Halliday, was remarkably similar to Steve Jobs, an icon and celebrity for his enhancements in technology. When he died he released a contest for the users of his virtual world to try to obtain his massive fortune. The main character Wade, who is dirt poor, makes it his mission to win this challenge which could completely change his life since he was born in a bad neighborhood and had almost nothing to his name.

            The story hooked me immediately by starting in the middle and then explaining what led up to everything that had happened. Plus I find it interesting that even though this book is written about the future, the creator of the OASIS who was raised in the 1980s sparked a rebirth of 80s culture and it’s thrilling that I understand a lot of the references made in the story. This story is excellent and factors in the struggles of school which nearly all students can identify themselves with, as well as teenage friendship and love which apparently hasn’t changed that much 40 years from now except that you meet and interact with everyone online. The plot is constantly twisting and it’s exhilarating because I never know what’s going to happen next! As a senior in high school, I rarely enjoy reading for pleasure anymore and when I have the time I find it very difficult to find books I enjoy. However, I am absolutely addicted to this story and am eager to find more time to read it. 

Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?

       Joyce Carol Oates' short story, Where are you Going, Where Have you Been? is possibly the strangest thing I have ever read. At the beginning, Connie seems like any other rebellious teenager. Then on one of these nights a guy just like tells her that she's his and she pretty much blows it off. Then later in the story her parents leave to go to a family cookout and the same creepy guy shows up at her house. As if it is not weird enough that he knows where she lives without ever really speaking to him, he knows literally everything about her. He says he got all of his information from sources like her friends, which is pretty disturbing too. And it must have been a long time since she saw him originally because she has to think back hard before she even remembers him. Plus she doesn't even know his name. He shows up with his friend randomly and asks her to come with them. He is flirting with her in extreme excess. He basically begs her to come and then tries to force her and threaten her. He has like a fancy car and acts all super cool at first, but then she realizes that he's super old and she starts to get weirded out. She tries to run inside her house and threatens to call the police and he threatens her that he wont come into her house unless she calls. 

        Personally, I think if Arthur is real, he has serious issues and might be a pedophile. If he's a figment of her imagination I think she's crazy and even if Arthur is real i still think she's nuts because she goes out to him and goes with him. If he's a person she just created in her mind, she probably has serious issues, like conflicting traits in her personality or maybe she has schizophrenia. This story was disturbing in multiple ways, but I think its even more so for three reasons. The reader never finds out if Arthur is real or not, there is evidence for both sides and none of it confirms anything, and if he is a hallucination, the reader is left wondering why Connie would ever imagine something as extravagant and deranged as this. Then she decides to go... and it is already odd that she can literally picture herself walking over to him. Which confirms my opinion that if he's fake she's insane and if he's real and she still went with this creepy dude who she doesn't know, is much older, and was willing to threaten her to get her to come with him; then she is still obviously a lunatic.