This Book Loves You

Following only the loosest definition of the word “book,” this coffee-table styled paperback is aimed at existing fans of millionaire Swedish gamer/live-streaming sensation, PewDiePie.

DISCLAIMER: I picked up this book because I’d heard of PewDiePie and had seen a handful of his videos. I’m also a gamer who is quite familiar with live-streaming, and was expecting that familiarity would give me an easy advantage in comprehension and high probability of enjoyment. Alas, I was largely mistaken.

The book is fairly high quality for a paperback, featuring an eclectic mix of photography, quirky sketches, and perverse imagery set as the backdrop to a single demotivator quote featured (on rough average) every other page. It actually felt like the format would have been better suited to a small flip calendar. Despite the page count, it is an incredibly quick read.

Here’s a random sampling of the de-inspirational quotes:

*“Life is about listening to quotes that relate to you, so you can feel momentarily better about yourself.”
*“If you never move, you can never stub your toe.”
*“It’s important to love yourself. Because no one else does.”
*”It’s never too late to give up.”

This reader took no particular issue with the generalized morbidity or intentional irreverence toward things like body image, suicide, religion, etc. And it isn’t that I don’t grasp the appeal of highly ironic and/or erratic humor. For some time I actually followed a similar spastic internet personality by the name of Toby Turner: (https://www.youtube.com/user/Tobuscus) Bless his face.

I suspect this is a matter of personal taste. PieDiePie, I’ve discovered, is not to my taste or sense of humor. That doesn’t mean he won’t be to yours. But I do maintain that this isn’t the sort of product that’s likely to make new fans.

However, if you’re already a rabid fan of PewDiePie’s antics, and have both $16 and 16-minutes to burn, this might just be the book for you.

(Also recommended for those who happen to have a thing for ducks. >.> Maybe.)