We Are Watching Eliza Bright

by A.E. Osworth

Eliza Bright was living the dream as an elite video game coder at Fancy Dog Games when her private life suddenly became public. But is Eliza Bright a brilliant, self-taught coder bravely calling out the toxic masculinity and chauvinism that pervades her workplace and industry? Or, is Eliza Bright a woman who needs to be destroyed to protect "the sanctity of gaming culture"? It depends on who you ask...

When Eliza reports an incident of workplace harassment that is quickly dismissed, she's forced to take her frustrations to a journalist who blasts her story across the Internet. She's fired and doxed, and becomes a rallying figure for women across America. But she's also enraged the beast that is male gamers on 4Chan and Reddit, whose collective, unreliable voice narrates our story. Soon Eliza is in the cross-hairs of the gaming community, threatened and stalked as they monitor her every move online and across New York City.

As the violent power of an angry male collective descends upon everyone in Eliza's life, it becomes increasingly difficult to know who to trust, even when she's eventually taken in and protected by an under-the-radar Collective known as the Sixsterhood. The violence moves from cyberspace to the real world, as a vicious male super-fan known only as The Ghost is determined to exact his revenge on behalf of men everywhere. We watch alongside the Sixsterhood and subreddit incels as this dramatic cat-and-mouse game plays out to reach its violent and inevitable conclusion.

This is an extraordinary, unputdownable novel that explores the dark recesses of the Internet and male rage, and the fragile line between the online world and real life. It's a thrilling story of female resilience and survival, packed with a powerful feminist message.

Genres: Fiction, Mystery, Thriller, LGBT, Contemporary, Queer, Mystery Thriller

400 pages, Hardcover

First published April 13, 2021

Reviews

[Danielle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Note: I received a free copy of this book. In exchange here is my honest review:

This book took me time to get into. 🤓 Video game virtual reality hackers meet thriller stalker magnitude. Those who know me, know I’m not easily offended by language or adult content. But this book overuses the “C” word to an uncomfortable level. 😬 Just thought my wholesome friends should be warned.

Thank you @goodreads @aeosworth and @hachettebooks #goodreadsgiveaway

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyed this - which is weird to say since it also made me so very angry.

This is a cat and mouse suspense novel inspired by the events of #GamerGate that took place a few years back. It couldn’t be more relevant with everything that’s going on at Blizzard right now, which I read about while also wanting to puke, since there were members of those teams that spoke out against #GamerGate.

For those not familiar, women who worked in the gaming industry have stepped forward with claims of rampant sexual harassment within their industry. They proceeded to be doxxed and harassed by the gamer community for ruining games. Not all gamers are like this (including myself within the gamer community)- but it’s scary how many members of the community have no issue actively speaking out against progressivism in games.

Anyway, for this book we have Eliza Bright, fresh and new to the development team, where she is the only woman. She immediately experiences fairly toxic sexual harassment from her coworkers, and is then told by her boss it’s “just a joke” and “no big deal” and that she was being too emotional about it and she should have just had a Conversation with her coworkers about their sexual harassment, instead of bringing it to the CEO since that makes her look bad. After being dismissed by her boss, she decides to leak the story to the local news, thereby violating the terms of an NDA she signed upon accepting her promotion. One thing leads to another, Eliza is doxxed, and someone in the city begins stalking her.

I think this was very cleverly written. It’s told in first person plural (“We”). The We in this instance is the gamer, Reddit, Twitter community. They are unreliable - since they are not actually witnessing everything happening, but being forced to imagine some of what happens beyond closed doors. I could see how that might be a frustration for some, but I thought it was brilliant, and did an effective job of putting you in the mind of the community. There are times when other voices peek through toxicity of what could be considered the majority that brought layers to the story.

The harassment of Eliza continues to escalate until she is essentially forced into hiding and decides she must take matters into her own hands. This part dragged a bit for me as I think it just slowed down the pacing of a book that otherwise moves at breakneck speeds.

I think in the wrong hands this story could have been a disaster and instead was expertly handled. Highly recommend for anyone who games (though be warned you will need a Power Anger Community Circle by the end of it.)

CW: misogyny, sexual harassment, threats of rape, violence, violence against animals.

[exorcismemily · Rating 5 out of 5]

We Are Watching Eliza Bright is my favorite book I've read in 2021 so far! It has such an interesting and creative setup, and I really enjoyed reading it. I was confused at the beginning, but once you get into the rhythm of it, it's fascinating. This book stressed me out, and sometimes it hurt to read because it felt so real and personal. There's an unreliable narrator / hive mind, and it was a really intriguing choice for this story. It worked well, and I highly recommend checking this one out.

CW - misogyny, sexual harassment, doxxing, animal cruelty, racism, suicide, homophobia, transphobia

[Stacy40pages · Rating 3 out of 5]

We Are Watching Eliza Bright by A.E. Osworth. Thanks to @netgalley and @grandcentral for the e-Arc ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Eliza is excited to code as a new employee at a popular gaming company. When she experiences sexual harassment and complains, her personal file is released to the public and the harassment is immense.

I was really into the story in the beginning. Around 50-60% in, it got more abstract and a little weird for me. Some of it got too techy. I think that true gamers and fans of the internet social world will enjoy this. There were a lot of conversations through text. Sites like Reddit and Tumblr take a major role in the story. For me it just warped a little too heavy on that side. I loved the main story. It was difficult reading what Eliza was going through but I know this was based on experiences that truly happen in the industry.

“We live in a time where almost everyone has at least two bodies, and the second life is far more thrilling than the first.”

We Are Watching You Eliza Bright comes out 4/13.

[Alex · Rating 2 out of 5]

Have you ever put down a book and not known what to think?

Thank you to @grandcentralpub for gifting me a copy of We Are Watching Eliza Bright✨🖥

Remember GamerGate? We Are Watching Eliza Bright is a fictionalized version of that very real story told mostly from the perspective of a chorus comprised of an angry male collective. After seeing the real life (or “meatspace”) version of this story play out, I was looking forward to seeing a feminist take on it. While reading, however, I lost the forest for the trees. The narration is a fascinating device, but I found myself repeatedly having to set the book down and take a breath. I wondered while reading, who is this story for? The gamers it satirizes likely won’t read it, and the text may be triggering for anyone who has been online but doesn’t identify as a straight cis white male. Part of me loved this story for the riveting characters, vibrant cityscape (both real and virtual), and the Sixsterhood, and another part of me felt like I needed a cleanse. Have you read this book? What did you think?

CW: assault, bodily harm, racism, sexism, online threats, doxxing, animal cruelty

Follow me on Instagram @whatalexreads for more book reviews!

[Heather McCabe · Rating 5 out of 5]

reddit is as scary as I have long suspected, maybe more

[Sharon :) · Rating 5 out of 5]

It had a cool Ready Gamer One vibe but an excellent and different storyline

[Ally Young · Rating 3 out of 5]

A special thanks to @grandcentalpublishing for sending me a gifted copy!

The message was powerful. I really enjoyed the friendships Eliza had and seeing them come together when everything goes bad. Love a book with women in gaming!! I also loved seeing how determined Eliza was throughout the story, she never gave up even though everything in her life was just crumbling down.

Overall, I really enjoyed the topic A.E. Osworth is trying to tell the audience. I think the challenges women face in a male dominated field is real and it is something that we all need to work towards to make all work environments for everyone equal and comfortable.

Star Rating: I am rating it 3 out of 5 stars because I liked the book, but I wasn’t obsessed. I would read more from Osworth in the future!

[Jill · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was super crazy and different in the best possible way!

Eliza Bright is living her dream. She’s a brilliant, self-taught video game coder who has just been promoted to an elite (formerly) all-male team as at Fancy Dog Games.

Eliza’s on the team for only a few days when she experiences subtle and then overt workplace harassment. Even though her company considers itself “progressive,” they’re in the middle of a pre-holiday launch and so her concerns are quickly dismissed. (“He was just joking,” “Can’t you let it go this once,” etc., etc.) Frustrated, Eliza shares her story with a journalist who blasts it across the Internet. She's fired and instantly becomes a rallying figure for feminists and female gamers across America. But she's also enraged the beast. Soon Eliza is in the crosshairs of the male gaming community -- doxxed, threatened and stalked -- as they monitor her every move online and across New York City.

And it’s this collective, toxic, angry voice that narrates our story. We watch Eliza through the eyes of the anonymous subculture, which is what gives this novel its very original and fresh voice. (When they can’t account for her whereabouts, they speculate – she’s sleeping with the boss, because how else did she get that promotion?; or she’s crying and using her feminine wiles to threaten and manipulate others; etc.) It was so effective and literally sent chills down my spine.

If I had one quibble about the book, it would be the use of two collective narrators (the anonymous “we”). One was the male gaming community discussed above, and the other was from the “Sixsterhood,” who ends up protecting and helping Eliza stay off the grid. Although these are clearly two very different voices, it sometimes got confusing.

Thank you @novelsuspects @grandcentralpub for the #gifted #arc of this book. I truly enjoyed this fresh new voice in fiction!

[Amy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This dark thriller was as satisfying as any horror film and won all the stars for plot originality. 

Eliza is one of only two women who are hired as a programmer at a gaming company. Unfortunately, her presence isn't welcomed, particularly in the programming department, where Eliza becomes a source of ridicule and is harassed.

When the incident is reported, her boss doesn't take the necessary next steps and goes along with the "boys will be boys" toxic dialogue instead of addressing the issue correctly. 

When Eliza takes the incident to a journalist, all hell breaks loose as people begin to demonize, target, and dangerously harass her. One user, in particular, has made it his mission to destroy Eliza for her actions.

The narration is told through users of 4chan & Reddit, which is highly original and can be agonizingly brutal as they discuss Eliza's motives and destroy her character. Osworth uniquely explores this story through speculation and the viewpoint of tainted lenses.

It's masterful and darkly entertaining. 

This one won't be for the highly sensitive reader, but I would recommend it if you like darker themes that aren't afraid to go into the awful corners of the internet.

Looking for your next great read? Check out all my book reviews on MomAdvice and join our Patreon community for loads of bookish fun.

[Lauren Huff · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow. I loved this book so much. The world in the story felt so real and true to life, and the use of chorus-narrators really added to the drama and tension. I highly recommend it to anyone that likes gaming or stereotypically nerdy interests.

[Angelina · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love love LOVE "We Are Watching Eliza Bright." I never imagined I'd be hooked by a thriller/dark comedy narrated by a chorus of incels, but here we are! This is one of the most unique novels I've ever read, and it's SO queer and imaginative. I'm going to think about this book forever.

[jo · Rating 5 out of 5]

So brilliant.

[alexis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Contemporary fiction about #gamergate is probably the last thing I’d ever choose to read, but I just really, really enjoyed this.

[Jessica Mae Stover]

Quick notes at page 110 in case I don't get to post more later: Watching becomes a page turner somewhere around page 70ish. It has a narrative viewpoint that's motivated and works very well once its consistency starts to gel, taking on the voice of a collective of gaming/tech user-voyeurs. It's like the narrative voice is a group of people responding while reading something like Cat Person. A summarized Internet hivemind interested in a specific story, devouring all the details and commentary and judging where the fault lay. The book is all at once "lol Gamers rise up!" and serious and damning. The "we" hates the protagonist, but the reader may like her (so far I do). What a needle to thread!

[Kara · Rating 5 out of 5]

We Are Watching Eliza Bright is somehow systematic and slippery at once. It follows the titular character through a hard-fought promotion as a developer at primarily male-staffed Fancy Dog Games, where she is instantly met with demeaning misogynistic attacks from her coworkers and faced with the struggle of whether to speak up. Will anything change? Will it be worse after? Does she owe it to all the uncelebrated, hardworking women in games to call it out? Unfortunately for Eliza, she chose to find out.

Told from two opposing perspectives, Osworth cloaks the reader in anonymity so we too are watching Eliza Bright. We are not quite her, but not quite them either. We're first submerged in an obsessive, incel troll echo chamber that felt realistic enough to make reading difficult early in the text. We're subject to their pervasive assumptions and outright lies spreading like wildfire to fit their narrative and keep their world under (their) control. We get the small breath of relief of temporary shelter within a queer art commune, doting on Eliza with unquestioning love and community support. We eavesdrop on perspectives from both the antagonist(s) and protagonist(s). We are allowed to choose (though, if you truly see a choice, you've perhaps missed the message here).

Osworth's writing was thoughtful and detailed. I was not surprised to read that they worked on this text for half a decade. The care showed. There was a surprising mix of tender and analytical. Humor and disgust. Cyberspace and meatspace. Ambiguity and clarity. Several of the secondary characters received enough detail and story arcs that they felt fulfilled instead of an untied thread. Most importantly, the story moved along and maintained its suspense while providing enough detail to created a virtual reality not completely unlike that which got Eliza into this situation in the first place. All in all, a very fun and thought-provoking read from a promising voice.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC.

[Thieryn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Woah boy. Where do I start with this one?

I think the best way to summarize this book is shared with us pretty early on, when the "Collective" talks about our heroine Eliza: "She is determined. She is cocky. That spitfire. That cunt."

I have long ago decided that misogyny is a mental illness, for how can you harbor so much hatred for what you desire and pursue? This book was hard to read, and what made it difficult was, in my mind, a dual issue:
1) the first plural didn't sit well with me, but for the wrong reason. It absolutely achieved its purpose of bringing the plot close to heart, and showing the voices of us, the audience, and our hypocritical reactions to women's issues. But I never ever want to feel like "one of us" (i.e. the incel trolls of the internet). No matter how I admired this narrative, it made me so goddamn uncomfortable.
2) the fact that it did, in fact, make me so damn uncomfortable by how real it felt. I have been on the receiving end of this mentality, stalkers and all, and it hits way too close to home for comfort.

That being said, I enjoyed this hard slap of realism. I could relate to so much of it, from the actions of our kick-ass heroines (yes, Suzanne is a true hero as well), to the reactions of not only the male allies (shoutout to Devonte and, surprisingly, JP and Preston in the end) but the main/male adversaries, Lewis and primarily, the masses.

So an absolute bravo to A.E. Osworth for creating an incredibly powerful book, but man I should have been way more prepared to read it.

[Summer · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was very unique from any other book I’ve ever read. We are Watching Eliza Bright is very timely with it's subject matter. It shows the struggles women go through when working in a male dominant environment and how women can easily be put in a vulnerable position in the workplace when we speak out against sexual advances.

We are Watching Eliza Bright did get a little too ‘techy’ for my limited knowledge. This book would be a hit with the “gamer’s” or techy people but for me, I did struggle some with these parts. But, I powered through and I was happy I did because I ended up loving the book.

Overall this was a satisfying novel with a very memorable cast of characters and story. The writing, character development, and plot was excellent. I will definitely be reading the next book A.E. Osworth publishes.

[oohlalabooks · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow this is a crazy cat and mouse mystery! Just when Eliza Bright’s life is on a high it soon comes crumbling down! Eliza is a game coder at Fancy Dog Games. She’s the first woman to ascend this high in ranks and it ruffles the feathers in a male dominated industry. Eliza’s career and life changes after she reports a workplace harassment; she’s fired! Terrible things begins to happen to Eliza’s avatar and it’s now overlapping into her real life. Her identity is revealed, people watching her, and creating a hostile environment; it’s quite intense and at times maddening! A wonderful debut from author A.E. Osworth! Thank you so much to the publisher and author for a gifted copy!

[Jess · Rating 5 out of 5]

7/7. Easiest five stars I've given in a while. A.E. Osworth has SUCH a unique writing style and method of storytelling. The two different narrations? The almost choose-your-own-adventure interpretations of different scenes? Incorporating the CREEPIEST song on the planet to Eliza's harassment? I've truly never read anything like this — I'm obsessed and will read anything they publish from here on out.

Also how the FUCK does this only have 503 ratings/131 reviews on here? This book deserves infinitely more exposure and discussion so I'm making it my mission to force everyone I know to read it.

[Bekkir Barbier · Rating 5 out of 5]

Since the point of view of the book is so unique, I had trouble listening to it in an audio format. Once I started reading it in print, I couldn't put it down.

[Dominic Piacentini · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found the first half of this book to be a bit of a page-turner — no doubt in part due to the short chapters and web dialogue — but as the book progressed through the second half, I found its grip on my attention to be waning. Initially, I was confused by the narrative style. (Who are these people? And how are they "watching" this?) The stylistic choice grew on me for the first couple hundred pages, but eventually, the incel, groupthink perspective wore me down. Especially so as their hold on the narrative became so loose that they had to imagine multiple different scenarios for the same scene in their tellings. A fun gimmick until you've read dozens of scenes three times over. It's not a bad book. But is it a great book? idk. Three stars.

[Ric · Rating 3 out of 5]

I finished this book last night and I’m still unsure how I feel about it. It was good and I think the way the author talked about gamergate and that whole gaming culture was interesting (and sadly correct), but the writing style just didn’t work for me. I didn’t love the Sixterhood and a collective of misogynistic gamers being the two main narrators for the book. Everything started with “we” or “our”, which explains the title of course, but it just made it slightly hard to read.

I think the book was a great representation of the subject matter and I wish a certain group of people would read it to realize they’re the villains and not misunderstood, but I’m not sure I can rate it higher than 3.5 stars. I didn’t love the writing style and the book was a little too long in my opinion, but that’s not to say I didn’t like it. I just didn’t love it unfortunately.

[Olivia · Rating 3 out of 5]

The narration style in this book made the reading experience super unique - I was constantly reminding myself that the way they described Eliza wasn’t necessarily true. However I think the Reddit-style narrators also prevented me from getting to know or getting attached to the characters, which is one of my favorite things about reading, so three stars.

CW: sexual assault, suicide

[Camryn · Rating 4 out of 5]

First book I borrowed w my new library card!!!! So exciting

[Leanne · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you are over 40 and don't have a Millenial (not a GenZ- they have no history in this struggle even though they are affected by it) to help you through it, this book might be Sanskrit for many.

But if you are a gamer (not PacMan or Candy Crush-but MMORPGs) of any age, a girl gamer, or the parent of a boy gamer, this is a good read.

Times have changed in the last decade or so, but there are plenty of trolls in their mom's basements still out there claiming that females (and to a lesser extent POC) don't belong in their 'Kingdoms'. This book is a look into that world.

The writing style is a little gimmicky (the author had to find a way to include the strangers who can and do follow us all on our various technologies, from Reddit to Twitter to open chats and came up with a "we" character that is difficult to get used to but necessary to exist) in places, but overall the book is engaging, realistic and hard to put down.

[Jessica · Rating 3 out of 5]

To be honest, I'm not entirely sure how I feel about this one.

"'But like--games. They're never just games. Just like they're never just memes or just a joke. It's all the culture, you know? Like all this, it's the fabric of our lives. It's all a reflection of everything we do, everything we believe. It's how we communicate what we value to other people. It's the way we socialize, the things we talk about. You know it's not just games.'"

There were a lot of good things in here--about sexism and racism and stereotypes and how dangerous some mindsets can be. But this was also too long and there were times when the narration was confusing.

Overall, this is worth reading if you have the time, but if you miss it I wouldn't worry about it.

[Sana]

The key selling points be like 'important, timely commentary on the danger of the male gaze, the ways in which women are routinely harmed and subjugated, and the systems that help perpetuate this', inspired by #Gamergate, written by a trans (!) journalist who covered #Gamergate and 'the narrators of We Are Watching Eliza Bright are the unreliable collective voice of a subreddit of incels stalking Eliza and warm, comforting voice of the Sixsterhood collective'

I'M HELLA SOLD

[Marissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

"I'm going to push back on calling it the real world because the virtual world is just as 'real.' The consequences of it are still very real, though its virtuality attempts to convince us otherwise...." (p. 401)

I overall enjoyed this! I'll start with the good, which is that I really liked the decision to tell the story in first person plural, "We" did this "we" did that, where the "we" is the villain. It's a fun exploration of the Greek chorus. The narrators are a nameless, faceless, mob of folks from 4chan/reddit/dark web who *hate*. They just hate. Women, mostly. Women in video games spaces, women criticizing their spaces, women who laugh at them, women who succeed, women who exist. And I enjoyed it when the clearly unreliable group narrator tells us they're making it up. They don't know what happened in real life in a conversation between Eliza and Preston so they say: "well maybe she lured him with her sexual wiles" OR "maybe he pitied her because she's so pathetic" OR "maybe they just passed out drunk." They/we don't know, they only know what's online, so we don't really know....

The story is basically a retelling of Gamergate (Eliza calls out sexism at her video game workplace, and as a result an online mob attacks her). If that description appeals to you, you'll probably like it.

The meh....

It did take me a while to get into it, I'll admit. The beginning felt very "inside baseball" except for video games, which is a sphere I'm so untethered to that I sometimes forget video games exist at all (not because they're BAD, because I interact with them so rarely). So there was a LOT of video game speak at the beginning and I felt lost. If you're like me, it's ok, the book will move along and you don't need a background, just power through.

I also really, really did not enjoy the second first person plural POV, which was the Sixsterhood who... hide Eliza when she gets doxxed, and that POV I felt added not much. I guess necessary to move the narrative along but I think other techniques would have been more effective. As a foil, I didn't glean much... except groupthink is troubling? A faceless mob is... dangerous? We knew that already.

All that said, it's a good techno-thriller, it's engaging, easy to read, and inventive in a way I enjoyed. And it also really, really made me never want to be famous and scrub myself off the internet.

[Addie BookCrazyBlogger · Rating 5 out of 5]

Eliza Bright is working for one of the hottest start-ups, Fancy Dog, producing one of the world’s most sought over video games. Being a woman in a male-dominated field, she has to work twice as hard and twice as long (as anyone whose a woman knows!) to get to the top where the men are waiting to gleefully push her back down. Fancy Dog Games has only one game but it’s in rivalry to World of Warcraft, called Guilds and is essentially WOW with superheroes and supervillains. When Eliza is promoted, she works on a handful of coding to impress her boss and her colleagues Lewis/JP sabotage her code by making a sexist piece of code. When Eliza makes a formal complain, she enters the world of complete and utter male misogyny. What will follow is a male versus woman surrounding the gaming field-and someone will get hurt. I will never be able to understand the extraordinary lengths that human beings will go too in order to punish other humans for being who they are. This book is mostly told in second perspective which consists of incels who happen to game. Seriously, to all white men who whine and complain about how hard their lives are...who raised you? Talk about a victim complex. I wanted to simultaneously throw up, scratch these peoples eyes out and cry with Eliza-and I’m not even into games. This book draws you in brilliantly, pulling you into the story and making you feel the emotions that come with what is happening. This is a must read when it comes to understanding gamer culture and how a good deal of young white men are being radicalized through gaming. All of these white nationalists? They grew up on Call of Duty. They had sex with hookers on Grand Theft Auto. And they get no female companionship because they don’t understand how women work or how women could possibly match their superiority.