68 pages • 2 hours read
Ready Player One
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Book Club Questions
General Impressions
Gather initial thoughts and broad opinions about the book.
1. What does immersive virtual reality look like in this novel? Compare it to depictions from before VR was created, ranging from short stories like E. M. Forester’s 1909 “The Machine Stops” to novels like Neal Stephenson’s 1992 Snow Crash.
2. What did you know about 1980s pop culture before reading this novel? How did your knowledge of this era influence your enjoyment of it?
3. Some critics of this novel discuss its overreliance on self-referentiality and its constant invocation of 80s references and media, which can overwhelm the book’s plot. Do you agree or disagree with this criticism?
Personal Reflection and Connection
Encourage readers to connect the book’s themes and characters with their personal experiences.
1. Of the many major and minor references to 1980s pop culture, which do you find most entertaining, clever, or funny? Which references do you find the most and the least narratively successful?
2. Wade as Parzival eventually develops an alliance with other Gunters: Art3mis, Aech, Daito, and Shoto. Which one of these characters do you relate to most, and why?
3. What was your emotional reaction to the dystopian world outside the OASIS? Why do you think people want to escape it? Do you see any similarities to our world today?
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