Ready Player One

[Bruce Banner]

I enjoyed the book. It will be interesting to see how well Spielberg and Cline have managed to adapt it for the big screen.

[Makernaut]

I had a couple of days off this week and I picked up the paperback on Thursday Afternoon as an impulse buy. Started reading about 2PM and without staying up late that night, I finished about 9:30 AM on Friday. I blew through it because I found the story to be a lot of fun. Lots of 80s pop-culture references and a celebration of all things nerdy, of course, but I am at that stage of life where I enjoy consuming all those things in large quantity, so it felt like a perfect indulgence. Been a long time since I could sit and focus like that.

I wouldn't call it a great work of literature or anything close, but I did enjoy it. Definitely looking forward to watching the big screen version next weekend.

[EMCE Hammer]

THIS is a Spielberg film?!? This, IMHO, looks like utter visual trash rather than candy. It's like Spielberg decided to indulge not only his inner Michael Bay, but also his inner "I won't direct a comic book movie, but I'll come thisclose" persona with heaping helpings of Mad Max and Zack Snyder thrown in. I've never read the book, but, for a man with Spielberg's talents, this looks like he decided to slum it...

I've gotta ask, did you get all that from the trailer in the previous post? I didn't get a Mad Max vibe at all. It's hard to do a movie like this without a hint of Bay and Snyder at this point, but from the trailer alone I'm not turned off. FWIW I haven't read the book either.

[emeraldknight47]

THIS is a Spielberg film?!? This, IMHO, looks like utter visual trash rather than candy. It's like Spielberg decided to indulge not only his inner Michael Bay, but also his inner "I won't direct a comic book movie, but I'll come thisclose" persona with heaping helpings of Mad Max and Zack Snyder thrown in. I've never read the book, but, for a man with Spielberg's talents, this looks like he decided to slum it...

[Sideshow Spock]

Trailer!

I do not remember a car chase in the book.

[SKotK]

I read Ready Player One electronically when it was only available as an e-book (which was very fitting, really). It was my first ever e-book, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Of course, I'm just the right age and demographic for all the references in it, so it definitely resonated with me.

I do have to admit it really rode the edge of being way over the top in terms of pop culture references. If there was one thing that made it hard to suspend my disbelief, it was that anybody could absorb ALL of the pop culture that was referenced and know it well enough to repeat it back verbatim at will...as well as having seen ALL the shows, beaten ALL the video games, read ALL the books and played ALL the role-playing adventures. NO ONE has that much time in their lifetime, let alone a kid the age of the main character. I should know: I'm still digesting things from my childhood to this very day, and I definitely can't recall all of it very clearly.

Anyway, despite the pop culture overload, it was a very enjoyable dystopian-style novel. I am excited for the upcoming film, but I can't imagine how they could possibly clear all the copyright involved to have all that cultural detritus under one roof. Only LEGO has managed to get away with that successfully so far. But if they can pull it off, more power to them.

--SKot

[Allie Fox]

I have not read the book. Several friends have and recommended it. However, I've found that the friends who are about my age (pushing 50) are not as impressed with it as those who are younger (35-40). It seems the guys (and gal) who are younger enjoyed the references to the things they seemed to have just missed out on, age-wise; and the older folks just read it as enjoyable nostalgia-buff bait. Younger folks-Can't wait for the movie. Older folks-Not interested in Spielberg's take.

Some of what I have heard about RPO brings to mind The Goldbergs. The Goldbergs is a fun show but it always seems like the 80s references are being shoehorned in just for the sake of the reference.

[jimbutsu]

The most amazing thing about this thread is that the first two posters are Wee and DonkeyHoatie. TIME TRAVEL!

I love you guys.

[sprytel]

I think this book is overrated. It reads like an extended Chris Farley sketch: "Remember Mazinger Z? The big robot? Yeah... that was awesome..." Total geek wish fulfillment: it is Twilight for nerds.

[Sideshow Spock]

A friend emailed me a copy of this a few months ago, finally made myself crack it open, and am halfway through it.

Like many here, I'm a child of the '70s, but a teen of the '80s (and a D&D player), so of course I'm getting a kick out of the constant references to all this '80s pop culture. I don't think there's been a callback yet that wasn't also a part of my life (yes, even the TV show "Riptide" ).

The pop culture soup of it all far outweighed any dramatic narrative. It was a quest, but by the end, I sorta didn't care.

But I can see this is where I'm heading too. I've found myself rolling my eyes more and more at the dopey absurdity of it all. Initially I was devouring the pages but now I've slowed down considerably.

I gotta re-focus and get going again

[Bionicfanboy66]

Quick, fun read. IIRC, Cline started writing the screenplay for WB not long after the book was released. WB owns most of the properties mentioned in the book, so it probably won't be much of an issue. Safe bet some liberties will be taken for the feature film.

[Hedji]

The pop culture soup of it all far outweighed any dramatic narrative. It was a quest, but by the end, I sorta didn't care.

[YoungOnce]

It was a fun read, but it's been awhile now. Yeah... I would imagine licensing would be a logistical nightmare. It's got the kitchen sink in it.

[El Hombre Nuclear]

I tend to stay away from things like this, because I'm too much of a geek for historical chronology and minute detail when it comes to my nostalgia. I just end up picking the whole thing apart until it's not fun any more.

[Hedji]

Yeah, It's sort of like Ernest Kline tried to throw EVERYTHING into it to have at least something for everyone. Some of the time it works, sometimes not.

It's nice to see Spielberg sticking to a genre pic though. I couldn't make it through Lincoln, sadly.