Set in a not-so-distant future where everyone is judged by their credit score and now scan instead of read, Lenny is just trying to find his way. It's a story about immortality, youth, and fickle relationships in a world where data is produced by the gig but no one really knows or understands one another. The characters were awful, insecure people with selfish motives and incomplete desires. I couldn't stand hearing about them, to be honest. But like in Hunger Games, all I cared about was the world building. The overt public sexuality, broadcasting live at bars with friends, the Federal Reserve going bankrupt, the largest corporations looking to cash in - felt like an apt exaggeration of modern society now as well as an unpalatable premonition for the future. I think any immaturity in the characters might reflect an immaturity in the author. Not a single character questioned their surroundings. So, to call it purposeful or say more mature characters would have been more enjoyable to read might be an unreasonable critique. He is a great writer though, and makes complex ideas sound simple. He fabricated a very real world with Media and Credit and Retail, a slightly exaggerated mirror image of ourselves.
I recommend this book to get some fresh eyes on things we think of as normal and to realize there are people more vapid and unintelligent than yourself.
5/5
