The Computer Room

by Emma Ensley

In this unforgettable debut, Emma Ensley cracks open a time capsule of adolescence and young adulthood at the turn of the millennium, when internet chatrooms and youth group missions collided, when fanfiction forums pulsed with drama, and when girls learned to code-switch between AOL screen names and church pews. These linked stories hum with the strange holiness of babysitting jobs and Bible verses, slap bracelets and slut-shaming, cheerleading chants and Cabbage Patch births. Told with tenderness and precision, The Computer Room captures what it means to grow up longing-for closeness, for clarity, for someone to tell you what to name the baby. Ensley's characters are forever on the cusp of first love, of self-invention, of figuring out how to live in the body and in the South.



Through 13 stories, Ensley brings to life the joys, fears, and complexities of adolescence and early adulthood-where first loves, friendships, and the search for identity collide with messy bedrooms, teenage rebellion, and the quiet hum of the family computer. Ensley's sharp, heartfelt writing makes you laugh, reflect, and feel connected to those fleeting moments of youth when everything seemed both endlessly possible and impossibly confusing.

Genres: Short Stories

109 pages, Kindle Edition

Published September 4, 2025

Reviews

[Kaleigh · Rating 5 out of 5]

audio zine: https://emmaensley.gumroad.com/l/thecomputerroom

[Anwen Hayward · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really enjoyed these stories and the nostalgia for a simpler time. Big lols at the stories about kids pretending to be adults on chat forums. Pretty sure I once pretended to be 25 when I was about 13 on a DigitalSpy forum so that I could have an in depth conversation about the soap opera Casualty. The folly of youth!

My only gripe is borne of a dire - nay, grievous! - misrepresentation of The Sims. In a story set in 2000, the narrator becomes obsessed with her pregnant Sim and mentions that the Sim baby will soon become a toddler. However! True Sims fans will know that pregnancy and toddlers did not enter the Sims universe until the release of The Sims 2 in 2004! I shall find it within myself to overlook this catastrophic error, but I was truly shaken to my core.

[Sadie Gronigan · Rating 5 out of 5]

one of my favorite reads this year

[Nora · Rating 5 out of 5]

Each story made me change my mind about which of my childhood friends to send this book to. It encapsulates parts of girlhood and dipping your toes into indie alternative culture but being so rooted in pop culture in the 90s and 00s with the internet as an ever present background.

[Annie V. · Rating 5 out of 5]

FUN

[Wes · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun callback to the days when the internet was almost more of a "physical place" than the all-pervasive presence it is now.