Jake Justen’s Reviews > Empress Theresa > Status Update

Jake Justen
Jake Justen is 81% done
It's insane that you can be 80% through a book and have no idea how or why anything works, or why anything is happening. The philosophy of the book is easy enough to get, it's just generic early 2000s boomer conservatism. And this last section has sprinkled in a few more "Grandpa, no" moments.
Jul 10, 2026 05:46AM
Empress Theresa

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Jake Justen
Jake Justen is 62% done
18 chapters in and I have no clue what's going on or how HAL works. We're constantly told how perfect and virtuous Theresa is, but her actions show the opposite. This is clearly meant to be a manifesto, but the author's views aren't clear (except his contempt for cable news, which I'm sure he calls the lamestream media). The protagonist is still at someone's house, so maybe this is a genius 3rd Amendment manifesto?
Jun 05, 2026 12:30PM
Empress Theresa


Jake Justen
Jake Justen is 38% done
I honestly don't know what happened in this section of the "book." I cannot follow Norman/Theresa's theory about HAL being dark matter or how it works; it's just rambling, incoherent nonsense. There are several sentences stacking up at an alarming rate that I do not understand at all ("I would have needed to marry you to prove something instead of for yourself.") I've read Facebook rants that are more coherent.
May 09, 2026 07:57PM
Empress Theresa


Jake Justen
Jake Justen is 28% done
372 Pages We'll Never Get Back, reading assignment #1

Grandpa, no! Middle aged men, do (and I cannot stress this enough) not write first-person perspective for a teenage girl.

This book, aside from the "Grandpa, no" stuff, and the Mary Sue aspect of the main character, is a manifesto. Too bad Kindle doesn't have a Time New Manifesto font.
Apr 18, 2026 01:11PM
Empress Theresa


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Marc *Dark Reader with a Thousand Young! Iä!* This is what happens when an author has their head so far up their own butt their entire field of vision is consumed by their own shit.


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