Welcome, @ObscurityofDCClub and other members of the DC Community! Welcome to Obscurity of DC’s thirty-second Ultr-Obscure Book Club! This week, we’ll be focusing on…
Number of Books: 1 (We’re only reading Vol. 1 this week)
Description from dcuniverseinfinite.com: A dying social media mogul leaves his billions to be split evenly between 140 random people-or however many of them are still alive at the moment of his death. This sharp, thrilling look at life in the digital age assembles a cast that includes a young black man trying to get by in St. Louis, an Iranian reporter in need of hope, a retired special forces soldier with a strange sense of purpose, and a thrill-seeking heiress-and shows us that we’re all still part of the food chain.
Now that that’s over with, here are some discussion questions:
Why do you think Rubinstein was so insistent for there to be no more than 140 people on the list?
Why do you think each person on the list was referred to as a “character?”
Consider the author’s writing style and narrative structure. How does it contribute to the overall impact and meaning of the book?
“Unfollow” might also refer to breaking away from societal norms or expectations. In what ways do the characters challenge societal conventions, and what are the consequences of their actions?
Who was your favorite “character?” Why?
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Oh, I loved this series when it came out. Paired excellently with Memetic. (I wasn’t familiar with Eden of the East at the time, but have since learned of it though not watched. I should watch it now that I’ve reread Unfollow without interruption.)
I’ve got Rubinstein’s mask on the top of one of my longboxes.
Its Ferrel’s plan, not Rubinstein’s.
I took the specific number an overt elbow-to-the-ribs nyuk in reference to a certain social media platform’s character limit. In story, the forced exclusivity helps to secure the victims’ participation.
For the social media nyuks. But also for Ferrel’s belief that he knows exactly how everything will play out, just as in Humans, but with him in control. (Though, he presumably didn’t anticipate Rubinstein also reading Humans, and being quite mad, nor whomever manipulated the list and introduced the mask, the two loose threads we never get definitive conclusions on.)
Writing style is very similar to his Suicide Squad run, but with the Vertigo need allowance to curse (and show lots of naked people). I didn’t find anything particularly remarkable about it; it didn’t contribute nor not contribute to the impact and meaning of the story. Standard introduction of characters, revealing backstory and truths-behind-the-lies in bits and pieces as we get to know each of the main characters, slowly turning them from narcissists to victims to heroes in our eyes.
I mean, they challenge societal norms by (willingly) being thrown into a ridiculous death match and having to fight their way out. The fact that they don’t go back to pedestrian lives blissfully following social norms isn’t so much a decision they made to challenge these norms as a necessity to survive the world they stepped into. Its “challenge convention” or be killed. (♫𝅘𝅥♫Hell Night! Oh oh oooh oh oh!♫𝅘𝅥♫)
This is a hard one - they’re all great characters in their own way. I think Ravan is the most empathetic - we see her as in need of salvation, not celebrity from the beginning, even though she has her lessons learned about self the same as everyone else. But she’s not hallucinating leopards, talking to god, or snorting coke to deal with life. When the other characters have their turning points, its more “comic book world” than “real world,” though still fun.
Rubinstein, on the other hand, is the most fascinating because we really never fully unwrap him. He’s clearly mad and enjoys killing, but at what point did he decide to step into the experiment? I don’t think we ever overtly confirm that he manipulated the list, other than his comments to Rees indicating that he certainly had the access to do so. He’s on the list, and Ferrel presumably knew this, but he had his own agenda. Or did Ferrel plant the agenda within him (via @MaskNotRubenstein) to ensure things went the way he wanted them to? And how does Dave hear the mask’s voice in the hallucileopard? (I’m assuming the mask really speaks, because Courtney hears it too.)
Thanks.
I just noticed the comment about “only reading Vol. 1 this week” – apologies I totally didn’t register that, so my comments are on the whole series. But I think I spoiler blurred anything not revealed in the solicits or opening issue out of habit, so hopefully that’s okay.
