Ready Player One book review

Ready Player One book review

Introduction

The Book ‘Ready Player One’ by Ernest Cline is a science-fiction novel based on the future. The story is based largely on a virtual world video game where people can be anything they want to. The real drama unfolds when the owner and founder of the game makes it public that he will leave his entire fortune to the person who will discover his Halliday Easter Egg which he has hidden in the vast virtual world. the task is not easy as the players have no clue as to where the egg is and there is an endless series of challenges before one can find the key. Most of the story is about the experience of hunting for the Halliday Easter egg and the challenges, mostly life threatening, encountered by the main characters both in the virtual world ‘OASIS’ and the real world during the hunt.

Theme

One theme that Cline makes obvious is the effect technology has on relationships. One would easily conclude that technology affects relationships negatively. However, Cline seems to have a different view because in his novel, technology actually strengthens relationships and provides companionship to lonely people.  Before technology took a major toll on people, relationships were different from what they are now. People made new friends in get together events and the relationships were developed through physical interaction. There are people who are naturally shy and making friends using physical interaction is an uphill task. Such people are often lonely and they lack companionship which is a major element of daily life. Also, there are instances where people develop distant relationships with their family members but they identify quite well with friends who are not family members. If such people are not able to make friends, they lead a lonely life.

That is the case of Wade Owen Watts, the main character in the book. He lives a lonely childhood because his father died when he was young such that he has no memory of him and his mother has two full time job so she has no time for him. Wade is introduced to OASIS at an early age by his mom so that he can be preoccupied when she is working. He narrates how he spent his childhood in the OASIS virtual world playing games and singing with friendly Muppets (16). One cannot help but think of how lonely Wade’s childhood would have been without the virtual reality technology that helped him escape reality and have fun. This trend continues even after Wade grows up. His mother dies and he moves in with his aunt Alice and they don’t get along quite well. Wade is not allowed into his aunt’s bedroom despite the fact that she takes all his food coupons. His aunt has no affection for him at all and this is evident when she forcefully takes his laptop and pawns it (20). It is the friends that Wade makes in OASIS that provide him with true companionship. His best friend Aech and the other friends he makes in his quest to find the Halliday Easter egg prove to be his closest companions compared to his family members. When they get the chance to meet in the real world, their physical differences do not change the friendship between Wade and Aech because they had already formed a strong friendship bond over the internet (318). This story proves that technology does not destroy relationships as most people normally assume. On the contrary, technology aids lonely people when they meet new people over the internet and they develop strong friendships compared to the ones they have with close kin.

Story Development

Cline bases his story on a future that is dominated by technology but he talks a lot about the 80s. It is no doubt that technology makes many things easier. Take for example communication where one can talk to other people across the globe by the use of internet. Virtual reality and artificial simulation make hazardous experiments easier since there is no human risk involved. Also, by the use of 3D technology, surgeons can perform trial surgeries before performing crucial surgeries in order to increase the chances of successful surgeries. However, all this technology comes with a cost. In the story, Wade narrates the abject poverty, overpopulation and poor housing conditions all because of the Global Energy Crisis (17). The people live in trailers that have been stacked on top of each other and because of the high population, each trailer houses more than one family. Although that world is full of high technology, the living conditions are poor.

The thought that the future will have such poor living conditions prompted Cline to lay so much emphasis on the 80s. Life in the 80s was simpler and better compared to the life described in the novel. Although the technology was not that advanced, the living conditions were much better. For instance, the climate was good since there was no global warming. Also, owed to the low crime rate, gunshots would have attracted attention from the authorities as well as the civilians. This is contrary to the world depicted by Cline in his novel. The story begins with a gunshot that wakes Wade from his sleep. However, according to him, that is a normal thing and it does not surprise him (13). Another difference between the 80s and the future as described in the book is the social life led by the people. It is in the 80s that video game technology was introduced and it is quite different from the video games in the story. In the 80s, video games involved inviting a friend over and playing the game together using the same screen. It was a type of leisure activity that people engaged in together and it enhanced physical interaction. On the contrary, the video games played on the world in the story have no room for an interactive social life. In the OASIS game, players log into the virtual world and play games with virtual friends. Once the person logs out, the social interaction stops at that. This implies that the advanced virtual online games do not encourage physical social interactions.

Although Cline is well versed in technology because of his surrounding, it is obvious that he longs for the 80s life where technology was not advanced. Throughout his novel, there are many instances that refer to the 80s. For instance, when Wade is watching an episode of ‘Family Ties’, an 80s show, that depicts how life was back then. Wade imagines that he was the one sitting in that warm and well-lit house and that the smiling, understanding people were his family (15). By all means, this is Cline expressing his wish through his main character. The memory of how good life was in the 80s makes his wish that life was that simple and happy now. Another instance is when the answer to one of the challenges for the egg is a song from the 80s. Cline makes his character, Wade, idolize the 80s life such that he has memorized most of the songs. He shows their importance when the song ‘Discovery’ from the Rush album help Wade to crack one of the challenges left by Halliday (262). At the end of the novel, the author makes it clear that true happiness can only be found in the real world, just like in the 80s. All these goes to prove how Cline’s exposure to technology and nostalgia for the 80s helped his shape his novel.

Conclusion

The novel is based on the future and how it is likely to be in the next few years. In the story, Cline shows how technology can help people make long-lasting relationship even though most people believe that technology limits social life. In addition, Cline lays emphasis on the real world and the way that he refers to the 80s show that he wishes that life was how it was back then.

Works Cited

Cline, Ernest. Ready player one. Crown Publishers ,2011.