Review of OOF

[Denisa Chárová]

[Following is a volunteer review of "OOF" by Strobe Witherspoon.]

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4 out of 5 stars

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Strobe Witherspoon set out to expose and criticize the real-world craziness of cancel culture and herd mentality. And he does just that! OOF set out to be a satirical image of the USA, and it was a job well done. When I first looked up information about this book, I was slightly confused as to what was part of the story and what wasn't. That's how immersive of a world Strobe managed to create. If someone told me this actually happened, I would believe it. Which probably says more about the absurdity of the world than anything.

OOF perfectly captures the essence of a nonsensical witch hunt, complete with plenty of out-of-this-world conspiracy theories. In order to emulate the real world, Strobe utilizes a wide variety of discourse types - the book presents us with articles, transcripts, author's notes, tweets, and excerpts of the memoir that started it all. As a reader, I greatly appreciated this. However, there were passages in which I got kind of lost. The writing was way too formal and specialized for a casual reader, but again, that only captures what we would come into contact with in the real world.

Aside from the writing style, I also really enjoyed the plot itself. The book managed to keep me on my toes, and I audibly gasped on more than one occasion when new information was revealed. The author showcased different points of view and the different personalities and ideologies of the individual characters. Even tho the book is satire, it actually goes much deeper than that. I often caught myself thinking: "How could anyone belive stuff like this?" Only to realize there are a lot of people in this world who thrive off absurd theories like the ones presented in OOF. It's a scary place out there, just like the one in this book.

Reading this book was a gripping experience, starting with the writing style, the plot and characters, and also great editing. OOF by Strobe Witherspoon was a strong 4/5 for me.

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OOF
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