{"id":2489,"date":"2025-04-07T14:13:00","date_gmt":"2025-04-07T14:13:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/?p=2489"},"modified":"2025-04-07T14:13:00","modified_gmt":"2025-04-07T14:13:00","slug":"book-review-unplugged-by-david-schulze","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/?p=2489","title":{"rendered":"Book Review: Unplugged by David Schulze"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Unplugged<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

by David Schulze<\/p>\n

Genre:<\/strong> Literary Fiction \/ Dystopia<\/p>\n

ISBN: <\/strong>9798992057409<\/p>\n

Print Length:<\/strong> 224 pages<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Reviewed by Chelsey Tucker | Content warnings: attempted suicide<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong>A provocative and peculiar story that examines technological dependency in a powerful near future<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Quentin Wagner is raised offline, an oddity compared to the lives of his fellow Gen Alphas. But animosity, anxiety, and depression still found him. After a failed suicide attempt, he posts a lengthy diatribe on a social media platform, TrueSwitch, about how, \u201cOur parents, the Millennials, became addicted to that digital world, so they felt it was only natural to pass that addiction on to their kids. But we\u2019re the only ones paying that debt.\u201d<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0<\/p>\n

Even though Quentin is immediately disgusted at his impulsive word vomit and subsequently deletes the app, his post takes off and is the basis of the tumultuous Unplug Movement. He has sparked a movement that will never truly be his.<\/p>\n

After #Unplug explodes, Amphibian \u201cPhibs\u201d Cantell tracks down Quentin\u2014a person with basically no digital footprint\u2014with the pure purpose of meeting his idol and partaking in Unplug. Phibs begins to orchestrate the meeting of various Boston College students in order for Quentin to speak and spread the philosophy.<\/p>\n

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Jax Halsteder is an intense 19 year old who is next to speak at the first meeting after Quentin. He talks \u201cabout coding and how he once saw it as valuable to society, only to realize how wrong he was thanks to Quentin\u2019s post.\u201d<\/em><\/strong> He gave up his full-ride scholarship to MIT because he was so moved by a social media post. Millions of people will join suit in shunning the internet, some even believing in no physical documentation at all. Of course, there is pushback that will eventually cause Jax and Quentin to reach their boiling point.<\/p>\n

Unplugged<\/em> is a strange, impossible to put down novella that is told mostly in the future tense. Zaddy, one of Quentin\u2019s fathers, is the narrator, painting the picture of his little boy\u2019s life after fretting over whether he will successfully raise him right. \u201cAnd I\u2019ll tell Quentin this: if he feels isolated or weird now, know that at least he\u2019s being raised right. That will only work out for him in the end.\u201d\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The utilization of the future tense allows for a unique way to audit the present day, as there are people and events within the story that mirror current politicians or cultural trends. The ways in which these characters reflect our own world give an immersive feel to the novel\u2014a worldwe can see ourselves in.<\/p>\n

The main topic for this discussion remains the anxiety and depression caused by overstimulation due to excessive technology use. Arriving in our admittedly chaotic world, this book allows us to put an essential distance between ourselves and reality. The fictional space gives room to process the thoughts and emotions that may feel overwhelming otherwise\u2014a successful endeavor on author David Schulze\u2019s part.\u00a0<\/p>\n

I\u2019d recommend this book primarily for a mature adult audience, particularly because of its representation of suicide and other heavy topics. Unplugged<\/em> invokes deep thought in a powerful dystopian world. While it might feel heavy, it leaves us with hope for the future.<\/p>\n

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Thank you for reading Chelsey Tucker\u2019s book review of Unplugged <\/em>by David Schulze! If you liked what you read, please spend some more time with us at the links below.<\/p>\n

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The post Book Review: Unplugged by David Schulze<\/a> appeared first on Independent Book Review<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Unplugged by David Schulze Genre: Literary Fiction \/ Dystopia ISBN: 9798992057409 Print Length: 224 pages Amazon Bookshop Reviewed by Chelsey Tucker | Content warnings: attempted suicide A provocative and peculiar story that examines technological dependency in a powerful near future Quentin Wagner is raised offline, an oddity compared to the lives of his fellow Gen […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":2490,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2489","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bookreviews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2489"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2489"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2489\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2490"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2489"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2489"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2489"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}