“Notes from the Internet Apocalypse” by Wayne Gladstone – In Search of WiFi

There is no denying that the internet has come to occupy a rather important place for us humans, being relied on every day for everything from important corporate transactions to menial entertainment seeking.

In Notes from the Internet Apocalypse, Wayne Gladstone explores the idea as to what would happen in a world where the internet suddenly stopped working.

According to him, anarchy would reign supreme as the addicts would come out of their dank apartments into the sun-filled streets, crowding them with their desperate attempts to recreate the internet, forcing animals to entertain them and speaking in no more than one hundred and forty characters.

However, rumors persist that a single person remains online in New York, and alongside with his friends, a blogger and webcam girl, Gladstone sets out on a most glorious journey to find the internet and save humanity from the madness it has descended into.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with Gladstone’s comedy style, what you ought to expect from this novel is a heavy load of sarcasm, irony, dry wit, deadpan humor and exaggerations.

The author doesn’t shy away from turning his world into one as ridiculous as possible, basically transposing the internet into real life and showing what it would be like if we tried to recreate it in a human way.

From the first letter to the last one this novel doesn’t take off its comedic mask, even though underneath it all resides a rather serious criticism of modern society and our dependence on technology; yes, the theme has been explored many times before, but considering the direction we are heading, we’ll never be reminded about it often enough.

The novel is written in a very engaging way, one that allows you to suspend your sense of disbelief and enter into this quest alongside the Gladstone himself. We come to learn about him and what happens inside his head in a rather comical way, through his endless opinions and criticisms of the internet and the various communities it has given birth to.

The storylines itself is rather simple, allowing you to focus on the many elements which make this novel a funny and enjoyable one, including lovable characters, sharp one-liners, entertaining twists, and fun-poking at the internet, life with, life without it, and the people who use it.

All in all, if you are looking for a comedy that borders on the ridiculous and centers on our usage of the internet, something that will pull you in with its humor and hold you in with everything else it has to offer, then I advise you check this book out as soon as possible. And if you like it, let it be known that it is the first part of a trilogy, and there will be more!

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Wayne Gladstone Wayne Gladstone is an American author and humorist who is mainly known as the creator and writer of Hate by Numbers, an internet series, and a contributor to Indecision Forever and Cracked.com. He published his first novel in March 2014, titled Notes from the Internet Apocalypse, the first in a trilogy surrounding the idea of Gladstone himself searching for the internet which has suddenly gone missing.