VioletPeanut
I read a little bit of everything. I love analysis. I was the kid in school who loved when the teacher assigned a book report.
1014 points
VioletPeanut started reading...
Daughter of the Empire (The Empire Trilogy, #1)
Raymond E. Feist
0VioletPeanut finished a book
Operation Bounce House
Matt Dinniman
0VioletPeanut started reading...
Operation Bounce House
Matt Dinniman
0VioletPeanut commented on VioletPeanut's review of For Human Use: A Novel
The premise sounds absurd on paper. Truly absurd. And yet it’s written in a way that makes it feel entirely plausible, like it’s one investor pitch and a slick interface away from reality.
Part I had me laughing out loud. The early corporate exchanges are so sharp and so well done. The escalation of absurdity feels almost Twilight Zone-ish, and I genuinely felt like I was Tom at times. “Am I being pranked? Is this real life?” The satire is biting without being heavy-handed. It trusts the reader to see the horror hiding under the polished language.
But what really struck me is that this book isn’t actually about the surface premise. It’s about the ecosystem that makes something like that possible. Loneliness creates demand. Influencers normalize desire. Tech builds the infrastructure. Capital scales whatever gains traction. IPOs, super PAC money, trend chasing, mass hysteria, none of it feels exaggerated. It feels recognizable.
That’s what makes it unsettling.
The book mirrors our world as it is now. It captures how quickly something fringe can become normalized once it’s packaged correctly and backed by the right people. There are no mustache-twirling villains, just incentives aligning in uncomfortable ways.
I’ll be honest. I preferred Part I’s edgy humor and sharp absurdism. As the book progresses, it becomes more intimate and more interior. It’s thematically cohesive, and I can absolutely see why the later sections unfold the way they do, but I personally missed some of that early bite. The ending, in particular, felt emotionally quieter than I expected. Not explosive, but inevitable.
And maybe that’s the point.
This isn’t a story about everything burning down. It’s about how systems shift and settle. It’s satire that doesn’t feel far-fetched. It feels adjacent.
If you’re looking for something over-the-top or wildly dystopian, this might not be it. But if you’re interested in sharp social commentary that mirrors our current tech culture, loneliness epidemic, and obsession with scale and disruption, this one will stick with you.
It’s absurd. It’s funny. It’s unsettling. And it feels just close enough to home to be uncomfortable.
I have another review that includes more details and spoilers over on my Goodreads page: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/8295342680
3VioletPeanut wrote a review...
The premise sounds absurd on paper. Truly absurd. And yet it’s written in a way that makes it feel entirely plausible, like it’s one investor pitch and a slick interface away from reality.
Part I had me laughing out loud. The early corporate exchanges are so sharp and so well done. The escalation of absurdity feels almost Twilight Zone-ish, and I genuinely felt like I was Tom at times. “Am I being pranked? Is this real life?” The satire is biting without being heavy-handed. It trusts the reader to see the horror hiding under the polished language.
But what really struck me is that this book isn’t actually about the surface premise. It’s about the ecosystem that makes something like that possible. Loneliness creates demand. Influencers normalize desire. Tech builds the infrastructure. Capital scales whatever gains traction. IPOs, super PAC money, trend chasing, mass hysteria, none of it feels exaggerated. It feels recognizable.
That’s what makes it unsettling.
The book mirrors our world as it is now. It captures how quickly something fringe can become normalized once it’s packaged correctly and backed by the right people. There are no mustache-twirling villains, just incentives aligning in uncomfortable ways.
I’ll be honest. I preferred Part I’s edgy humor and sharp absurdism. As the book progresses, it becomes more intimate and more interior. It’s thematically cohesive, and I can absolutely see why the later sections unfold the way they do, but I personally missed some of that early bite. The ending, in particular, felt emotionally quieter than I expected. Not explosive, but inevitable.
And maybe that’s the point.
This isn’t a story about everything burning down. It’s about how systems shift and settle. It’s satire that doesn’t feel far-fetched. It feels adjacent.
If you’re looking for something over-the-top or wildly dystopian, this might not be it. But if you’re interested in sharp social commentary that mirrors our current tech culture, loneliness epidemic, and obsession with scale and disruption, this one will stick with you.
It’s absurd. It’s funny. It’s unsettling. And it feels just close enough to home to be uncomfortable.
I have another review that includes more details and spoilers over on my Goodreads page: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/8295342680
3VioletPeanut finished a book
For Human Use: A Novel
Sarah G. Pierce
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This book feels like a critique of loneliness, influencer culture, tech acceleration, and capitalism but not in isolation. It’s suggesting that all of these forces feed each other.
Loneliness creates demand. Influencers normalize desire. Tech creates access and infrastructure. Capital scales whatever gains traction.
The cadavers aren’t just shock value; they’re a test case for normalization. At the beginning, the premise feels absurd. By the end of Part I, it feels procedural. Strategized. Market-tested. That tonal shift is so intentional and honestly a little chilling.
The writing is what really makes it work. The humor early on (especially in Tom’s chapters) softens you up. You laugh because it feels ridiculous. But the language never winks at you too hard. It stays controlled, almost clinical at times. Conversations are written in this polished, corporate tone that smooths over the horror of what’s actually being discussed. That dissonance (calm language, grotesque implications) is where the unease lives.
There’s also something really sharp about how the book captures modern persuasion. No one is cartoonishly evil. People don’t shout. They reframe. They optimize. They use clean language and influencer aesthetics. That’s what makes it feel plausible instead of dystopian.
And the loneliness theme keeps nagging at me. A cadaver is a body that won’t reject you. Won’t argue. Won’t leave. In a world mediated by screens and curated identities, the idea becomes less about anatomy and more about proximity. That’s dark, but it doesn’t feel random.
By the end of Part I, the question isn’t “Is this insane?” anymore. It’s “Is this how things happen?” How quickly outrage gets metabolized. How fast something fringe becomes normalized once it’s wrapped in a sleek interface and backed by money.
The writing trusts the reader. It doesn’t over-explain the themes. It just shows how incentives align and lets that alignment speak for itself.
Curious if others are reading this as satire, social commentary, or something closer to prophecy.
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VioletPeanut commented on VioletPeanut's update
VioletPeanut started reading...
For Human Use: A Novel
Sarah G. Pierce
6Post from the For Human Use: A Novel forum
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VioletPeanut commented on a post
Very intrigued with the concept and in the perfect mood for horror that has a strange feeling to it
2VioletPeanut started reading...
For Human Use: A Novel
Sarah G. Pierce
6VioletPeanut wrote a review...
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0VioletPeanut finished a book
The Girl Who Drank the Moon
Kelly Barnhill
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