USERS was one of six paperbacks recommended in The New York Times’ Paperback Row this week:
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2024/03/22/books/new-paperbacks-robbins.html
They call it an “acute novel,” saying, “As a “lead creative” at a virtual reality company that turns people’s dreams and pasts into paid daytime fantasies, and that is newly mired in scandal, Miles is increasingly beholden to those shadowy parts — of his users, and of himself.”
Users has been selected as a Finalist for the 2024 Pen/Faulkner Award.
Users was long-listed for the Pen/Faulkner Award for Fiction, along with Jamel Brinkley, Emma Cline, Daniel Clowes, Henry Hoke, Nishanth Injam, Claire Jimenez, Catherine Lacey, James McBride, and Alice McDermott.
In NY Mag’s The Strategist USERS was named one of the “Best Gifts to Get Gamers, According to Gamers.”
This book brings the suspense and dread of Severance to the life of a VR game developer. I finished it in about two days (a record for me in a year of infrequent reading).
Read the full piece and get your gift ideas here: https://nymag.com/strategist/article/best-gifts-gamers-according-to-gamers.html
Order Users here: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/719650/users-by-colin-winnette/
Rudy K at the great Powell’s Books in Portland recommends USERS as a “Staff Pick,” saying:
“Users immediately drew me in with its dark humor and clever commentary on the addictive nature of technology. Winnette creates a compelling, and anxiety-inducing world where the line between reality and illusion is blurred.”
Get a copy today!
The good folks at LitHub included The Nation’s rave review of USERS on their list of “5 Book Reviews You Need to Read This Week".
“Among the novel’s strengths is Winnette’s ability to capture the dissatisfaction that life online generates. While other novelists have focused on the addictive, sickening effects of endless scrolling, Winnette highlights the opposite: the slow numbing of the imagination that comes from hooking it up to machines.” -Lily Meyer, The Nation
In a rave review, The Nation calls USERS “The First Great Novel About Virtual Reality”, saying:
"Users asks its readers to wonder what lurks in the depths of any given person’s mind—or, more alarming, what technology and the Internet may have inserted there—and whether those depths are, perhaps, shallower than they used to be. . . . Among the novel’s strengths is Winnette’s ability to capture the dissatisfaction that life online generates. . . . Miles's downward spiral is an effective and upsetting reminder that there’s more to lose on the Internet than just time and money."
https://www.thenation.com/article/culture/users-colin-winnette-review/
In a “tag along” with Eater SF, Colin Winnette visits the dives and cafes where he wrote “Users.”
“…most of the time, he’s just drinking a pickle back and eating fried okra after sifting through the white noise of San Francisco for eight hours or so. The author says these bars and restaurants remind him of Denton, in that they’re ubiquitous and unpretentious. ‘They have a thread of home,’ Winnette says.”
https://sf.eater.com/2023/8/17/23814654/users-book-colin-winnette-san-francisco