'The dank underside of social media, its cruelty and delusions . . . superbly poised, psychologically astute and subtle' - Ian McEwan, author of Atonement'A glimpse of the foetid underbelly of the internet' - The TimesWe Had To Remove This Post by Hanna Bervoets is a chilling, powerful and gripping story about who or what determines our world view. To be a content moderator is to see humanity at its worst — but Kayleigh needs money. That’s why she takes a job working for a social media platform whose name she isn’t allowed to mention. Her job: reviewing offensive videos and pictures, rants and conspiracy theories, and deciding which need to be removed.Kayleigh and her colleagues spend all day watching horrors and hate on their screens. Yet Kayleigh is good at her job, and in her colleagues she finds a group of friends, even a new girlfriend — and for the first time in her life, Kayleigh’s future seems bright.But soon the job seems to change them all, shifting their worlds in alarming ways. How long before the moderators own morals bend and flex under the weight of what they see?Examining the toxic world of content moderation, the novel forces us to ask: what is right? What is normal? And who gets to decide?Translated from the original Dutch by Emma Rault.'Taut as a thriller, sharp as a slug of ice-cold vodka' - Irish Times'Fast paced and thrilling, violent and nightmarish' - Kristen Arnett, author of Mostly Dead Things'An acid glimpse into a new form of labor existing today' - Ling Ma, author of Severance
CONTRIBUTORS: Hanna BervoetsEAN: 9781529087239COUNTRY: United KingdomPAGES: WEIGHT: 164 gHEIGHT: 215 cm
PUBLISHED BY: Pan MacmillanDATE PUBLISHED: CITY: GENRE: FICTION / LGBTQ+ / Lesbian, FICTION / Literary, FICTION / Family Life / General, FICTION / Cultural Heritage, FICTION / World Literature / NetherlandsWIDTH: 135 cmSPINE:
Book Themes:
Netherlands, Relating to LGBTQ+ people, Modern and contemporary fiction: general and literary, Narrative theme: Interior life, Narrative theme: Social issues, Fiction in translation, Violence and abuse in society, Impact of science and technology on society, Digital and information technologies: social and ethical aspects
Acid-dipped novella . . . a glimpse of the foetid underbelly of the internet and a sobering consideration of who is deciding what we see, and at what cost., A chilling page-turner . . . the unreliable narrator gives it a strong literary heartbeat — and it’s richly suspenseful too. With a few deft strokes [Bervoets] manages to incorporate all of the ills of social media into one concise story . . . utterly haunting., The setting alone is compelling and has always been in need of an accomplished novelist’s attention . . . The dreamlike climax of the final pages is beautifully wrought. Men might usefully confront in Bervoets a writerly intelligence at once so tender and so willing to look into the abyss., Bervoets' neat dissection of morality is as taut as a thriller, sharp as a slug of ice-cold vodka., Surprising and enigmatic . . . intriguing and frustrating . . . As we spend more and more time in the trickmirror of the internet, how can we know what or whom to believe?
Hanna Bervoets is one of the most acclaimed Dutch writers of her generation. She is the author of several novels in her home country of the Netherlands, and she has also written screenplays, plays, short stories, and essays. She is the recipient of many literary awards, including the prestigious Frans Kellendonk Prize for her entire body of work. She was a resident at Art Omi: Writers at Ledig House, New York, and works and lives in Amsterdam with her girlfriend and two guinea pigs. We Had to Remove This Post has been translated into thirteen languages and is her first book to be translated into English.
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'The dank underside of social media, its cruelty and delusions . . . superbly poised, psychologically astute and subtle' - Ian McEwan, author of Atonement'A glimpse of the foetid underbelly of the internet' - The TimesWe Had To Remove This Post by Hanna Bervoets is a chilling, powerful and gripping story about who or what determines our world view. To be a content moderator is to see humanity at its worst — but Kayleigh needs money. That’s why she takes a job working for a social media platform whose name she isn’t allowed to mention. Her job: reviewing offensive videos and pictures, rants and conspiracy theories, and deciding which need to be removed.Kayleigh and her colleagues spend all day watching horrors and hate on their screens. Yet Kayleigh is good at her job, and in her colleagues she finds a group of friends, even a new girlfriend — and for the first time in her life, Kayleigh’s future seems bright.But soon the job seems to change them all, shifting their worlds in alarming ways. How long before the moderators own morals bend and flex under the weight of what they see?Examining the toxic world of content moderation, the novel forces us to ask: what is right? What is normal? And who gets to decide?Translated from the original Dutch by Emma Rault.'Taut as a thriller, sharp as a slug of ice-cold vodka' - Irish Times'Fast paced and thrilling, violent and nightmarish' - Kristen Arnett, author of Mostly Dead Things'An acid glimpse into a new form of labor existing today' - Ling Ma, author of Severance
CONTRIBUTORS: Hanna BervoetsEAN: 9781529087239COUNTRY: United KingdomPAGES: WEIGHT: 164 gHEIGHT: 215 cm
PUBLISHED BY: Pan MacmillanDATE PUBLISHED: CITY: GENRE: FICTION / LGBTQ+ / Lesbian, FICTION / Literary, FICTION / Family Life / General, FICTION / Cultural Heritage, FICTION / World Literature / NetherlandsWIDTH: 135 cmSPINE:
Book Themes:
Netherlands, Relating to LGBTQ+ people, Modern and contemporary fiction: general and literary, Narrative theme: Interior life, Narrative theme: Social issues, Fiction in translation, Violence and abuse in society, Impact of science and technology on society, Digital and information technologies: social and ethical aspects
Hanna Bervoets is one of the most acclaimed Dutch writers of her generation. She is the author of several novels in her home country of the Netherlands, and she has also written screenplays, plays, short stories, and essays. She is the recipient of many literary awards, including the prestigious Frans Kellendonk Prize for her entire body of work. She was a resident at Art Omi: Writers at Ledig House, New York, and works and lives in Amsterdam with her girlfriend and two guinea pigs. We Had to Remove This Post has been translated into thirteen languages and is her first book to be translated into English.
Mevrou Smit het Aronspoort toe gekom om vir haarself ’n nuwe lewe en identiteit te bewerk, nie om gewild te wees nie. “Daar is geen wag voor daai mond nie. Al die gedagtes wat in haar kop uitbroei, marsjeer soos mank soldate oor haar tong.” (p.16). Maar dit is juis daardie gedagtes wat al menige moord opgelos het, dit terwyl sy vir haarself streng reëls gestel het vir “goeie” gedrag en verbete daaraan werk om daarby te hou. Reëls soos om te oorleef en te luister na jou instinkte. “My derde reël is om nie my tyd te mors met retrospeksie nie” (p.78), verduidelik sy aan Dario wat in hierdie aflewering weer ’n hoopvolle draai kom maak. Die uitstekende skryfstyl van Elizabeth Wasserman verseker dat mevrou Smit konsekwent, sonder aansien des persoons, hou by haar reëls.
Ek moet bieg dat hierdie derde sage van mevrou Smit vir my ietwat stadig afgeskop het. Daar was nie juis dringendheid rondom die ontdekking van ’n dekade-oue menslike oorskot in die rivierbank nie. Maar wanneer daar ’n vars moord vermoed word, tel mevrou Smit se bloedhond instinkte spoed op. En die krisis na die einde toe is so spannend as wat ’n sogenaamde sagte krimi kan toelaat.
Ek sukkel deesdae toenemend met reekse. Ek vergeet die fynere detail van vorige boeke (ouderdom of té veel storielyne?) en dan sukkel my kop deurentyd om te onthou. Dus sou ek beslis beter gevaar het om die drie boeke agtereenvolgens te lees. Nuwe Mevrou Smit lesers wat nie noodwendig alles wil weet van haar vorige lewe en die voorafgaande avonture op Aronspoort nie, behoort suksesvol te kan volstaan met die intrige soos hier aangebied.