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Users
Marrying the philosophical absurdities of life, technology, start-up culture, and family, Users is for readers of Ling Ma, Dave Eggers’s The Circle, and viewers of the hit Apple TV+ original series Severance
Miles, a lead creative at a midsize virtual reality company known for its “original experiences,” has engineered a new product called The Ghost Lover. The “game” is simple: a user’s simulated life is almost identical to their reality, except they're haunted by the ghost of an ex-lover. Responding to and manipulating the user's mind and body in perfect, dystopian harmony, The Ghost Lover becomes wildly popular—and wildly controversial—in the VR world.
When Miles receives a series of anonymous death threats—typed notes sealed in envelopes with no postage or return address—paranoid panic begins blurring his own sense of reality, catalyzing the collapse of his career, his marriage, and his relationship with his children.
The once-promising road to success becomes a narrow set of choices for Miles, who, in a last ditch effort to save his job, pitches his masterpiece, a revolutionary device code-named the Egg, which will transform the company. The consequences for Miles seal him inside the walls of his life as what was once anxiety explodes into devastating absoluteness.
In a world rife with the unchecked power and ambition of tech, Users investigates—with both humor and creeping dread—how interpersonal experiences and private decisions influence the hasty developments that have the power to permanently alter the landscape of human experience.
Miles, a lead creative at a midsize virtual reality company known for its “original experiences,” has engineered a new product called The Ghost Lover. The “game” is simple: a user’s simulated life is almost identical to their reality, except they're haunted by the ghost of an ex-lover. Responding to and manipulating the user's mind and body in perfect, dystopian harmony, The Ghost Lover becomes wildly popular—and wildly controversial—in the VR world.
When Miles receives a series of anonymous death threats—typed notes sealed in envelopes with no postage or return address—paranoid panic begins blurring his own sense of reality, catalyzing the collapse of his career, his marriage, and his relationship with his children.
The once-promising road to success becomes a narrow set of choices for Miles, who, in a last ditch effort to save his job, pitches his masterpiece, a revolutionary device code-named the Egg, which will transform the company. The consequences for Miles seal him inside the walls of his life as what was once anxiety explodes into devastating absoluteness.
In a world rife with the unchecked power and ambition of tech, Users investigates—with both humor and creeping dread—how interpersonal experiences and private decisions influence the hasty developments that have the power to permanently alter the landscape of human experience.
288 pages, Hardcover
First published February 21, 2023
106 people are currently reading
8067 people want to read
About the author
Colin Winnette
20 books151 followersColin Winnette is an American novelist, short story writer, and poet. He is the author of several works of fiction: Revelation (Mutable Sound 2011), Animal Collection (Spork Press 2012), Fondly (Atticus Books 2013), Coyote (Les Figues Press 2015), and Haints Stay (Two Dollar Radio 2015). His writing has appeared in numerous publications, including Playboy, Lucky Peach, The American Reader, The Believer, Gulf Coast Magazine, and 9th Letter. He was the winner of Les Figues Press's 2013 NOS Book Contest, for his novel Coyote.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 292 reviews
March 21, 2024
…plugged in, navigating their vast library of original experiences and user – generated contact, his company could now map the reactions, decisions, even lingering, emotional responses of anyone who stuck around long enough to let their imagination build on the pre-existing foundation of an original experience – from what made a user crush to what made them cry out in pain, and reject the virtual experience altogether. It was a deep well. More than what made people tick, they were beginning to understand what those text amounted to. The way person would call might act. Even why.--------------------------------------
…she had a weirdness about her that bordered on hostility.A maven of the imagined, but largely a stranger to the real world, Miles works in virtual reality (VR). He stands in here for the tech companies that accept intellectual product from their users (you know who you are), while claiming the financial benefits for themselves, and then blaming users when things go wrong. (Not that users are never at fault) It is pretty clear that Miles is indifferent to any moral issues regarding blame-shifting. Neither does he lose a lot of sleep when he screws his partner, Lily, out of her fair share of recognition. He is also a pretty bright guy who comes up with three great ideas over the course of the book.
Colin Winnette - image from The LA Review of Books
When the users of his company’s primary game platform fail to generate enough content of interest to other users, and thus ramp up on-line time, the company adds “Original Experiences” into the mix, pre-packaged prompts for the dreamverse the users may be unable to create on their own. Called Ghost Lover, Miles’s brainstorm OE brings into play a former lover. The company does boffo business with this until some people find ways to do dodgy things in the virtual world, and it becomes a potential crisis when the company tries to pare that back. So, time for Miles to come up with something else, which he does. But one must constantly feed the beast, so Miles comes up, eventually, with an ultimate, immersive experience, joining software and hardware. (no, not the holodeck) It is called The Egg.
So, what happens when people share their most intimate memories, experiences, and reactions with a software company? What if your dreams could be made (VR) reality? What if your experiences were accessible by others? Complications ensue. While hardly one of the suits who rule tech companies, Miles is one of the people who define the tech experience for vast portions of the planet. Really? This guy? Maybe that is the point. Maybe the people who create our experiences of the world (of the tech sort, anyway) are people we might prefer taking on other careers.
There are two streams to consider in Users, the sci-fi, if-this-goes-on, critique of the software industry, and the personal challenges faced by Miles.
His home life is not exactly wonderful. It seems pretty clear from the git-go that his marriage should end ASAP. Miles is too wrapped up in his work life. His wife has alternate interests, and their interactions tilt far too heavily, with a few exceptions, on the side of that deadliest of marital interaction descriptives, scorn. He does not relate particularly well with his two daughters. The older one, Maya, ten for most of the book, should be checked out for sociopathy. Mia, the younger, has some issues as well. But Miles is mostly MIA as a parent.
He is so wrapped up in his own head that he fails to read the signals the real world is throwing at him. It takes some effort, too. Both on the family front and on the work front. He fends off benign advice that he should probably take. Instead of the Me Generation, Miles may be representative of the ME-ME-ME-ME Generation. He is not a bad guy, per se, not overtly hostile. But his reckless disregard for the people using his product, and his unwillingness to do the right thing by his partner, makes his moral crimes ones of passivity. If there were a doll made of Miles it would have to be called an in-action figure.
Oh, and then there are the death threats, on fancy stationery. These appear in his mail, sometimes even inside his home, offering cryptic portents. Generates a wee bit of stress, as one might presume. “Soon”. Then “Your Heart Will Stop.” They continue, keeping Miles in a state of chronic existential crisis.
But it is actually more compelling to wonder who is sending these things and why than it is to empathize with Miles. As Miles does not really feel much for others, it can be tough for the reader to feel much for Miles, beyond some eye-rolling at some of his decisions, and a desire to grab him by the shoulders and shake him. “Dude! Pay attention. How can you not be dealing with what is going on in right in front of your eyes?“ Again, maybe that is the point. But it makes for an unsatisfying read. We do not have to match our lead character in gender, age, career, nationality, religion, politics, education, or any of the many other descriptives applicable to humans, but we NEED TO FEEL SOME CONNECTION. And Users did not provide that.
I applaud Winnette for an interesting, dark take on tech. There is much to admire there. But the downside of a main character one never really cares about, or much relates to, combined with secondary characters who were mostly of the cardboard sort, made this an unsatisfactory read.
…he’d made an awful thing. An awful place where you could never be alone. Where other people could climb in, touch everything. Turned you against yourself. Turn what you loved into something reprehensible. You could turn it back, but what happened to you once you’d seen it? once someone else had seen you see it?
Publication dates
----------Hardcover - 2/21/23
----------Trade paperback - 3/19/24
Review posted – 4/7/23
I received an copy of Users from Softskull Press in return for an actual, not a virtual review. Thanks, folks.
This review will soon be cross-posted on my site, Coot’s Reviews. Stop by and say Hi!
=============================EXTRA STUFF
Links to Winnette’s personal, LinkedIn, and Twitter pages
Profile
Here is the beginning of Winnette’s Linked In profile:
I’m a Narrative Designer with a literary career. In addition to years of experience as a writer and designer for interactive games, I'm an experienced screenwriter and the author of seven books, published internationally and translated into multiple languages. My writing has also appeared in numerous publications, including Playboy Magazine, Los Angeles Review of Books, and McSweeney's, and it has been praised in numerous high profile venues, including the NY Times, New Yorker Magazine, LA Times, the Washington Post, Rolling Stone (France), Le Monde, and others. I'm a prolific writer and a confident collaborator with experience working across departments.Interviews
-----Zyzzyva - Q&A with Colin Winnette: ‘Users’ and the Underbelly of Tech by Charlie Barton
-----Our Culture - Author Spotlight: Colin Winnette, ‘Users’ by Sam Franzini
-----Weird Era Podcast - Episode 48: Weird Era feat. Colin Winnette
Item of Interest from the author
-----The Wayback Machine - An old list of stories by Winnette
Song
-----Rocky Horror - Don’t Dream It, Be It
February 7, 2023
Like listening to a coworker describe his really fucked up dream
February 19, 2023
I didn’t get it, and I shouldn’t have kept listening. However, I listened to every second of this audiobook about the self-obsessed Miles. Troubles at work, troubles at home, it’s always about Miles. And I hated him. The people who loved this book must have been reading a different book. I received a free copy of this audiobook from the publisher.
March 5, 2023
This book had been on my radar for a while and see how the reviews weren’t great sort of scared me - and maybe lowered my expectations? - but, regardless, I thought it was a fun read. I read it in one seating and was not bored at any point, I could not put it down.
I picked it up looking for some sort of dystopian-ish book about social media and tech interacting with social life and I was pleasantly surprised to see this was more of a character study. The focus of this ‘character study’ is Miles, a dude who makes virtual reality stuff and is receiving strange, threatening letters. He is navigating work (past and new projects), family problems, and the threats. And, at the end of the day, he’s a self-centered dude. His thoughts are very much ‘me, me, me,’ and I guess it can be annoying for some characters, but I was okay with it. Like, some other characters - like his weird ass older daughter - were interesting because Miles focuses on the eccentric stuff they do. If, instead of the strange things, we had seen everything or the book had just veered in their direction, I don’t think I would have liked it as much. So, while I see why some reviews mention the main character being unlikable and selfish, I don't think it was a bad choice by the author to make him this way and you do see how he grows from his interactions with co-workers and even his weird daughter (whom I am sure has a name but I have forgotten).
Something else that I really enjoyed was the discussion about virtual reality products and why they work, but also the idea of consent. There are so many books (i.e., Ted Chiang) and TV shows (hello, Black Mirror) adding the idea of uploading our memories to computers and so forth, but the idea of consent is not explored - should you remember your ex-husband's naked body? Should a rapist remember his victims? I thought it was brilliant that Winnette added it. Same as why some platforms delete some things but keep some others due to who is funding the company.
Four stars. Fun read if you like character studies and virtual reality stuff (and don’t mind self-centered, unlikable main characters).
I picked it up looking for some sort of dystopian-ish book about social media and tech interacting with social life and I was pleasantly surprised to see this was more of a character study. The focus of this ‘character study’ is Miles, a dude who makes virtual reality stuff and is receiving strange, threatening letters. He is navigating work (past and new projects), family problems, and the threats. And, at the end of the day, he’s a self-centered dude. His thoughts are very much ‘me, me, me,’ and I guess it can be annoying for some characters, but I was okay with it. Like, some other characters - like his weird ass older daughter - were interesting because Miles focuses on the eccentric stuff they do. If, instead of the strange things, we had seen everything or the book had just veered in their direction, I don’t think I would have liked it as much. So, while I see why some reviews mention the main character being unlikable and selfish, I don't think it was a bad choice by the author to make him this way and you do see how he grows from his interactions with co-workers and even his weird daughter (whom I am sure has a name but I have forgotten).
Something else that I really enjoyed was the discussion about virtual reality products and why they work, but also the idea of consent. There are so many books (i.e., Ted Chiang) and TV shows (hello, Black Mirror) adding the idea of uploading our memories to computers and so forth, but the idea of consent is not explored - should you remember your ex-husband's naked body? Should a rapist remember his victims? I thought it was brilliant that Winnette added it. Same as why some platforms delete some things but keep some others due to who is funding the company.
Four stars. Fun read if you like character studies and virtual reality stuff (and don’t mind self-centered, unlikable main characters).
January 24, 2024
This idea here is interesting and the book starts out in an engaging way.
Unfortunately, it quickly derails and just becomes both weird and slow-paced.
There is a lot of content about a marriage, mostly in name only and for financial security for both parties involved.
The eldest daughter is possibly a serial killer in the making and tortures her younger sister in weird ways. While this makes Miles uneasy, he never really does anything about it, and a lot of time shows that he simply can't be bothered.
Miles is a bit of a tool; you can see it in his treatment of others and her selfishness in only caring about his financial security.
The company is also in this same boat, which is why they work together so well.
The user experience, while somewhat described, is the most exciting idea of the novel, and yet, while always in the background, for the most part, it is the smallest part of the novel, which ends up being the downfall.
This book feels like it was unprofessionally published and in dire need of a thorough content edit. For example the dialogue and tags feel very amateurish: In less than 300 pages,"he said" "she said" is used almost 100 times.
Ultimately I was just glad that this was ont he shorter end of things.
2 stars.
Unfortunately, it quickly derails and just becomes both weird and slow-paced.
There is a lot of content about a marriage, mostly in name only and for financial security for both parties involved.
The eldest daughter is possibly a serial killer in the making and tortures her younger sister in weird ways. While this makes Miles uneasy, he never really does anything about it, and a lot of time shows that he simply can't be bothered.
Miles is a bit of a tool; you can see it in his treatment of others and her selfishness in only caring about his financial security.
The company is also in this same boat, which is why they work together so well.
The user experience, while somewhat described, is the most exciting idea of the novel, and yet, while always in the background, for the most part, it is the smallest part of the novel, which ends up being the downfall.
This book feels like it was unprofessionally published and in dire need of a thorough content edit. For example the dialogue and tags feel very amateurish: In less than 300 pages,"he said" "she said" is used almost 100 times.
Ultimately I was just glad that this was ont he shorter end of things.
2 stars.
dnf
May 7, 2023DNF at 14%, cool concept boring execution
Read
February 20, 2023couldn’t finish this one. thank you to the publisher for the gifted copy
February 18, 2023
Upon learning about this book in LitHub’s Most Anticipated Books for 2023 I was stupidly excited for to read it, sharing it with friends, getting on the library hold list, before ultimately obtaining an ARC on NetGalley (thank you!). I loved the premise of weaving the main character’s VR work project and his struggles in his personal life. I expected to be engaged on the level of the TV series “Severence” as promoted, but to my great disappointment the book didn’t bring me close. The VR work storyline and and Miles’s personal challenges were so loosely connected that I felt like I was reading two different stories and neither came through as anything special.
July 13, 2025
I think the low ratings on this one are a little unfair. This is an enjoyably sad bit of sci-fi magical realism. It's the story of a man who is successful in the world of virtual reality software development. He developed a life experience, a simulation where everything in a person's life is the same, except that there is a ghost that haunts them. Miraculously, this becomes a runaway bestseller, and people want to be virtually haunted. But the inspiration is not so easy, as it becomes clear the project is a metaphor for the man's relationship with his mercurial wife and two daughters. As things become increasingly frantic, he is afraid of being unable to understand them. Anyone expecting anything close to hard sci-fi is bound to be disappointed. But there's something honest about it, it's one of those "is this really all about divorce?" books. Kind of reminded me of My Murder by Katie Williams.
May 28, 2023
I really enjoyed Winnette's last novel The Job of the Wasp, especially what he did with the narrator's voice and unreliable nature. I can't say I find the narrator of Users very compelling. There are some interesting ideas, but I do get a bit tired of slogging through the dysfunctional relationship exchanges.
(Maybe I was just distracted because I had pleasant memories of Amelia Gray's Threats, another novel that started with ominous threatening notes.)
(Maybe I was just distracted because I had pleasant memories of Amelia Gray's Threats, another novel that started with ominous threatening notes.)
March 21, 2023
Imagine how you would feel if you one day started receiving cryptic typed death threats at your home without any idea of the source — this is where we find Miles.
‘Users’ by Colin Winnette follows Miles who is the lead creative at a virtual reality company that has created a new product called The Ghost Lover that rises in popularity and controversy in the VR world. We see how Miles navigates the growing demand of his work while balancing the mental toll of the death threats and his contentious relationship with his wife and coworker. Oh and his elder daughters extremely concerning personality and behavior.
The first half of the book I enjoyed a lot! I was excited to find out who was sending the death threats and how Miles' family and work drama would play out. His daughter's strange behavior provided comic relief and the storyline around the gaming world reminded me a lot of ‘Tomorrow Tomorrow and Tomorrow’ in how their game weaved into the plot of the story and character development.
However, the second half did confuse me and I felt a bit underwhelmed with how we ended things, especially with his wife and his coworker… I wanted to love it and thought the concept was promising but the second half of the story really took a darker turn than I was expecting.
If anyone else has read it, please let me know what you thought about the ending!
Thank you soft skull press for the copy! I love the cover
‘Users’ by Colin Winnette follows Miles who is the lead creative at a virtual reality company that has created a new product called The Ghost Lover that rises in popularity and controversy in the VR world. We see how Miles navigates the growing demand of his work while balancing the mental toll of the death threats and his contentious relationship with his wife and coworker. Oh and his elder daughters extremely concerning personality and behavior.
The first half of the book I enjoyed a lot! I was excited to find out who was sending the death threats and how Miles' family and work drama would play out. His daughter's strange behavior provided comic relief and the storyline around the gaming world reminded me a lot of ‘Tomorrow Tomorrow and Tomorrow’ in how their game weaved into the plot of the story and character development.
However, the second half did confuse me and I felt a bit underwhelmed with how we ended things, especially with his wife and his coworker… I wanted to love it and thought the concept was promising but the second half of the story really took a darker turn than I was expecting.
If anyone else has read it, please let me know what you thought about the ending!
Thank you soft skull press for the copy! I love the cover
June 29, 2023
I dont want to sound mean because a person took the time to write these words, and publishers and marketing put these words out into the world, but I did not like any aspect of this book. I did not enjoy the writing. I swear I read "he said" or "she said" after nearly every single sentence, many sentences like , "what he said," "nothing, she said", "fine then, he said." It was too much. On top of that, I have no clue what happened? Im not sure there was a cohesive plot and i couldn't even begin to piece together some kind of time line of events. I was lost from page 1. I finished the book out of this asanine compulsion that I have to complete anything I start. If you enjoyed this book or know what it was about, please enlighten me. I really am curious about the why's and the hows of it all. Maybe I missed something/everything?
April 2, 2023
I should have just skipped this after reading reviews but I still went ahead and listened to the audiobook. It’s basically just the main character, Miles, rambling about things at his job (which I assume the author thought would just make sense to the reader and they DO NOT) and his crumbling family. Both the protagonist and his wife are unbearably unlikeable. They have such serious conversations in a nonchalant way with no emotion. I finished this book and I still have no idea what was actually happening.
Read
May 1, 2024The architect subplot was pretty funny but sadly underexplored. I wanted the whole book to be about that.
March 21, 2023
I really enjoyed USERS by Colin Winnette! This novel is about Miles, who works at a virtual reality company, and his unraveling world as he receives death threats, tries to save his job and his relationship with his family. I loved the fun journey of finding out if Miles will end up okay at the end. It was just one thing after another that made me think it couldn’t get any worse for him. I loved the blend of science fiction and humour. The ease to this writing made this book so inviting to read. I couldn’t put it down once I started it. I liked this book so much I got one of Winnette’s previous books to read next!
Thank you to Soft Skull Press for my advance review copy!
Thank you to Soft Skull Press for my advance review copy!
February 14, 2023
This is not a book I would normally read but the cover initially drew me in, then I read the summary and it gave me a “Severance” vibe. Penguin Randomhouse also said this was for viewers of “Severance”, so I decided to take a chance. Well you could say this is like a poor man’s Severance meets an incredibly disturbing acid trip where your inner most intrusive thoughts win. Let this be a lesson that not every single thought should be shared with others.
This story somehow had too much going on and nothing going on. I should’ve dnf’d but the mystery, if you can call it that, of who was sending the “death threats” kept me going. Unfortunately it was a disappointing and predictable reveal. I personally didn’t find this humorous but I do have an affinity for satire and that’s why it’s getting a two star rating instead of one.
Thank you NetGalley, HighBridge audio, and Colin Winnette for this arc.
This story somehow had too much going on and nothing going on. I should’ve dnf’d but the mystery, if you can call it that, of who was sending the “death threats” kept me going. Unfortunately it was a disappointing and predictable reveal. I personally didn’t find this humorous but I do have an affinity for satire and that’s why it’s getting a two star rating instead of one.
Thank you NetGalley, HighBridge audio, and Colin Winnette for this arc.
August 21, 2022
I really, really enjoyed this novel. It's hard for me to get into books that don't dominantly feature LGBTQ people but this one really sucked me in regardless. It's smart, original, well-paced, funny, and also deeply sad. The comp to the TV show Severance is right on, imo, though this book also feels similar to me as other recent releases like A Touch of Jen and Our Wives Under the Sea, as they both feel like a blend of speculative fiction/sci-fi and literary fiction. I was intrigued by the narrator's daughter and his relationship to her meanness and violence, and it made me think of the parent-child relationship in With Teeth. In truth, I didn't always understand what precisely was happening in terms of the virtual realities and the intricacies of the work storyline but I didn't mind. This is a unique, compelling book and I read it in two sittings. Highly recommend!
November 30, 2024
I love me a book that plays with the existential and surreal.
March 31, 2023
I was promised a cutting edge dystopian story, I got a story about a self absorbed man that has anxiety around communication and an inability to make real decisions feeling bad for himself while he lets his life fall appart …. Not it
April 12, 2023
A really interesting premise and some haunting scenes rushed and bogged down by excessive and meandering thoughts
December 25, 2023
so maybe judging books by their covers doesn’t always work.
August 12, 2023
This book… this book was so boring. Miles, the protagonist, is so mind-numbingly uninteresting that the most “interesting” thing about him is that by the end of the book, I couldn’t decide whether he is a wet noodle or a wet napkin.
Because he’s so beige, I could have cared less about his spineless qualms. There was potential for a weird, mind-twist of a tech plot that causes the reader to question their morals as they dance the fine line of boon or burden to society that technology straddles. But instead of leaning into it, Winnette dashed it against a stone wall and left it out there to die in the heat of the California sun, choke-holding the reader into suffering through the philosophical wanderings of the literary world’s most clueless and plain character.
Maybe the whole purpose was lost to me - heavens, the winner of the 2018 Pulitzer Prize for literature said “reader, I loved it” in a review on the jacket - but I felt like I had to finish this book for the sake of finishing it, which is the antithesis of enjoyment and enlightenment. Andrew Sean Greer lied to me and I will never recover from that breach of trust.
If you want to read fantastic books that fall into the “sci-fi tech” category, don’t bother with this and go instead to Candy House and Tomorrow, Tomorrow, Tomorrow. I hope this review saves souls.
Because he’s so beige, I could have cared less about his spineless qualms. There was potential for a weird, mind-twist of a tech plot that causes the reader to question their morals as they dance the fine line of boon or burden to society that technology straddles. But instead of leaning into it, Winnette dashed it against a stone wall and left it out there to die in the heat of the California sun, choke-holding the reader into suffering through the philosophical wanderings of the literary world’s most clueless and plain character.
Maybe the whole purpose was lost to me - heavens, the winner of the 2018 Pulitzer Prize for literature said “reader, I loved it” in a review on the jacket - but I felt like I had to finish this book for the sake of finishing it, which is the antithesis of enjoyment and enlightenment. Andrew Sean Greer lied to me and I will never recover from that breach of trust.
If you want to read fantastic books that fall into the “sci-fi tech” category, don’t bother with this and go instead to Candy House and Tomorrow, Tomorrow, Tomorrow. I hope this review saves souls.
February 1, 2023
USERS |
[Thank you @softskullpress for the #gifted copy. This comes out 2/21]
The Creative director at a cutting edge VR company is constantly looking for a new spin to keep customer engagement up. Meanwhile, he's been getting death threats at home and having some family issues with his wife and 2 daughters.
I think this book teeters very well on the three pulls between work, family, and danger/threats in a super engaging, thrilling way. Sometimes you'll flip between different sections of a book and wish we'd spend more time at the MC's home or with their partner or more time at work because usually one part is more interesting than the other. I felt equally intrigued in all sections that we explored.
For someone who works at a company that positions itself as exploring new realms and connecting with others in new, life-altering ways, it seems our MC fails at so many simple, basic communication skills in his personal life. We see this play out with his marital troubles and with his work wife whom he apparently isn't listening to if he doesn't know even basic things about her life. He becomes more and more removed from his own reality, devolving deeper and deeper into an abyss that he at first welcomes but that becomes terrifying.
[Thank you @softskullpress for the #gifted copy. This comes out 2/21]
The Creative director at a cutting edge VR company is constantly looking for a new spin to keep customer engagement up. Meanwhile, he's been getting death threats at home and having some family issues with his wife and 2 daughters.
I think this book teeters very well on the three pulls between work, family, and danger/threats in a super engaging, thrilling way. Sometimes you'll flip between different sections of a book and wish we'd spend more time at the MC's home or with their partner or more time at work because usually one part is more interesting than the other. I felt equally intrigued in all sections that we explored.
For someone who works at a company that positions itself as exploring new realms and connecting with others in new, life-altering ways, it seems our MC fails at so many simple, basic communication skills in his personal life. We see this play out with his marital troubles and with his work wife whom he apparently isn't listening to if he doesn't know even basic things about her life. He becomes more and more removed from his own reality, devolving deeper and deeper into an abyss that he at first welcomes but that becomes terrifying.
February 17, 2023
This ends up being a neat, slowly unspooling horror that combines the obliviousness of one man in tech of the affect he has on his wife and daughters, colleagues, and just about everyone around him, how that plays out in a company that makes virtual reality experiences and what he makes, and the slow unraveling of his life via anonymous death threats. I get the sense that we're supposed to be horrified by what happens to Miles, but really, it's actually kind of cathartic to see a white man NOT fail continually upward and actually experience something resembling consequences. Solid, definitely worth a quick read through.
April 1, 2023
An intriguing premise, but a lackluster book. Though the writing is not bad, the story is unmemorable. However, I must give props where props are due - Colin Winnette sure does know how to write an unbearable married couple.
April 7, 2023
Maybe I’m too dumb for this book but I really didn’t get it and also the main character is extremely pathetic
July 28, 2024
i wish the death threats killed miles in chapter one so i wouldn’t have had to waste so much time reading this boring ass book
February 14, 2023
4.5
I rarely request arcs for books that I haven’t already been interested in, but after seeing this cover and reading the little synopsis it just sounded like the kind of book I’d enjoy. It definitely was. A big thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an audio arc. On that note, I highly recommend the audiobook. The narrator, Justin Price, is wonderful and I couldn’t stop listening.
On the surface this is about a man, who has a central role at a virtual reality company. Following some scandal he begins receiving death threats. We get a look into his life, his work and his relationships. But there is quite a lot more going on. He’s having strange dreams, and having encounters with a ghost (?). Colin Winnette touches on so many things; technology, scandal and being held accountable in an evolving political climate, life and it’s meaning, dreams and what they can mean, and the troubles in our most intimate relationships.
The book has some “out there” happenings, and yet the writing is so easy and flows so comfortably that it is grounded in something recognizable while also being unputdownable. I read this in one go, and was hooked. There was something propulsive, like a thriller, but a quietness as well. I really loved that balance and I think it takes a very skilled author to do so. I only wish I’d have had my own copy to annotate as it was FULL of wonderful and poignant lines. Not to mention, it’s also humorous. It’s not “trying to be funny”, which can often fall flat or be cringey. Instead it has a sense of humor and lightness to cut through the dark (and there are some dark things).
Absolutely recommend and will be reading more from Colin Winnette in the future. Such a treat!
I rarely request arcs for books that I haven’t already been interested in, but after seeing this cover and reading the little synopsis it just sounded like the kind of book I’d enjoy. It definitely was. A big thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an audio arc. On that note, I highly recommend the audiobook. The narrator, Justin Price, is wonderful and I couldn’t stop listening.
On the surface this is about a man, who has a central role at a virtual reality company. Following some scandal he begins receiving death threats. We get a look into his life, his work and his relationships. But there is quite a lot more going on. He’s having strange dreams, and having encounters with a ghost (?). Colin Winnette touches on so many things; technology, scandal and being held accountable in an evolving political climate, life and it’s meaning, dreams and what they can mean, and the troubles in our most intimate relationships.
The book has some “out there” happenings, and yet the writing is so easy and flows so comfortably that it is grounded in something recognizable while also being unputdownable. I read this in one go, and was hooked. There was something propulsive, like a thriller, but a quietness as well. I really loved that balance and I think it takes a very skilled author to do so. I only wish I’d have had my own copy to annotate as it was FULL of wonderful and poignant lines. Not to mention, it’s also humorous. It’s not “trying to be funny”, which can often fall flat or be cringey. Instead it has a sense of humor and lightness to cut through the dark (and there are some dark things).
Absolutely recommend and will be reading more from Colin Winnette in the future. Such a treat!
December 8, 2023
I’m back with a group favorite: human versus the void. It’s not often I pickup a story with absolutely 0 recommendations preceding it.
In this book, we follow Miles, a developer at a tech start-up that makes most of their money off of selling data. Miles also happens to be a father.
For 98% of the book we only see into Miles’s head. He’s neurotic and cranky and paranoid. While I usually find this perspective fascinating, I didn’t find it profound here.
There’s nearly 0 dialogue, you barely see anything actively happen, and many characters go the whole book without being named. I found these to be clever stylistic choices given the content …. but to be honest, I really couldn’t tell if these were intentional.
Not sure I’d recommend this one, but I don’t regret reading.
In this book, we follow Miles, a developer at a tech start-up that makes most of their money off of selling data. Miles also happens to be a father.
For 98% of the book we only see into Miles’s head. He’s neurotic and cranky and paranoid. While I usually find this perspective fascinating, I didn’t find it profound here.
There’s nearly 0 dialogue, you barely see anything actively happen, and many characters go the whole book without being named. I found these to be clever stylistic choices given the content …. but to be honest, I really couldn’t tell if these were intentional.
Not sure I’d recommend this one, but I don’t regret reading.
February 23, 2023
Users by Colin Winnette is a thought-provoking novel that explores the dark side of the tech industry. The story centers around Miles, a name to know in the virtual reality field who creates a new product called The Ghost Lover. While the premise of the novel is interesting and the exploration of interpersonal experiences and private decisions in relation to virtual reality is thought-provoking, the main character, Miles, was challenging to connect with. His motivations and actions were often difficult to understand and I felt really disconnected from him.
One of my major issues with the book was the difficulty in believing some of the situations. Miles is married with children, yet he seems to have little knowledge of his family's lives, including not knowing anything at all about his wife of 15+ years' childhood (truly, this man knows absolutely nothing about his wife- I was really curious about how their marriage even came to be) or the layout of his home... that he lives in... all the time. This level of ambivalence and separation seems unlikely in a long-term relationship with children, or at least impossible to fathom for me personally, and that made it hard for me to fully buy into the story.
On the other hand, there are merits to the book. The exploration of the impact of tech on people's lives is thought-provoking, and the book raises important questions about the role of tech companies in society. While Miles may be difficult to connect with, his story is still an interesting one that provides a glimpse into the world of virtual reality and the people behind it. I would have lovAed more of that in this novel, especially more about Ghost Lover itself. So that leaves me to rate this an A for premise, but a solid C for execution.
Thanks so much to Soft Skull Press for the opportunity to listen to an advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest thoughts.
One of my major issues with the book was the difficulty in believing some of the situations. Miles is married with children, yet he seems to have little knowledge of his family's lives, including not knowing anything at all about his wife of 15+ years' childhood (truly, this man knows absolutely nothing about his wife- I was really curious about how their marriage even came to be) or the layout of his home... that he lives in... all the time. This level of ambivalence and separation seems unlikely in a long-term relationship with children, or at least impossible to fathom for me personally, and that made it hard for me to fully buy into the story.
On the other hand, there are merits to the book. The exploration of the impact of tech on people's lives is thought-provoking, and the book raises important questions about the role of tech companies in society. While Miles may be difficult to connect with, his story is still an interesting one that provides a glimpse into the world of virtual reality and the people behind it. I would have lovAed more of that in this novel, especially more about Ghost Lover itself. So that leaves me to rate this an A for premise, but a solid C for execution.
Thanks so much to Soft Skull Press for the opportunity to listen to an advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest thoughts.
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