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Wednesday, July 19, 2023

Don’t Read the Comments by Eric Smith--Review by Ahana Sil

 Don’t Read the Comments by Eric Smith


Don’t Read the Comments unpacks a lot of issues that many people around the world face, both online and in the real world, some of those being cyberbullying, racism, sexism, sexual harassment, etc. Divya Sharma (better known online as D1V) is an Indian American streamer who works hard in order to support herself and her mother. Aaron Jericho is a Honduran American whose parents want him to become a doctor, though he’d rather spend his time gaming and writing scripts for video games. When these two teens unexpectedly connect while playing the most popular video game at the time, Reclaim the Sun, they help each other out when Divya is doxxed and attacked both online and in person by a group of internet trolls calling themselves the Vox Populi. From the start, I liked that Divya’s feelings towards the internet were realistic. While she enjoyed her fame there were also several moments where she felt overwhelmed, and it was clear that ultimately she was streaming and putting herself out there in order to support herself and her mother. Unfortunately, this book felt sort of slow, and it didn’t really stand out to me. While I liked that it tackled many real life issues, sometimes these problems felt very forced and not well integrated into the story. Ultimately I did enjoy reading the book, but for me at least, it definitely wasn’t the greatest.


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