Reading it was entertaining, but didn't go much in-depth. It was an easy and quick read, clearly tailored to his online audience, always keeping your attention with slang, references and jokes. The actual information is superficial and self-evident. I think when I bought it, I expected more from it, but when I saw the chapter titles in the overview, I adjusted my expectations and settled for an entertaining read. I'm not mad I read it, and I would still recommend it, but with the disclaimer that you will not learn that many new things. It might be good for parents trying to understand their young children and teens, and the teens themselves. I was able to use parts of it though for my post on self-flanderization!

An interesting book, for sure. The main character is not really likeable, but that seems to be the entire point, and to read someone whose experience and inner dialogue is so different than your own. I expected to relate a lot to this one, as I am autistic and have rarely felt human, but Yozo (the main character) seems to catch a different type of autism than I have.

Reading it, it felt like someone strongly intellectualizing and exaggerating normal human emotions and experiences, while feeling simultaneously superior and inferior than the others. The inferiority overweighs in the beginning, then it turns into more superiority later on, as the ability not to feel is turned into an advantage in his eyes, as if he is the only one who can see through it all clearly as everyone else is too emotional and caught up. He feels inferior in the way others can experience happiness and care, while feeling superior in the fact that he is effortlessly smart, soon feeling like his complete apathy to anything is the better way to go through life and anyone who cares is dedicating useless time and brain power to inconsequential shit.

There is lots about putting on a mask and fooling people into liking him, but Yozo also internally devalues anyone who dares to like or desire him; for one, because he hates himself, but also, because he seems to think everyone is so fucking stupid for believing him. At the same time, there are times where he is deeply embarrassed and stressed about the potential of being "found out". You can really see how he has internalized to be a bad person when he fantasizes about living in jail, and when he feels relief at being detained and jailed. It's curious that he still utilized deception to get out, just to again feel no joy about having avoided jail, as he still thinks he deserves it for being a bad person. He keeps self-sabotaging, as he never feels like he deserves anything. It's certainly enraging to read at times how much he wastes the resources given to him; better people wouldn't be helped as much as he was.

All in all, he comes off as someone who grew up rich, but emotionally neglected and forced to permanently shut off parts of him due to a strict upbringing and CSA by the servants in the house and other traumatic moments - the parts that had any needs like hunger, love, warmth, belonging, craving, the parts that make you want to achieve something. A person who had lots of potential due to heritage, reputation, connections, money, looks and brains, but squandered it all. It's surprising that it's not (officially) an autobiography, because the descriptions of everything really matches someone's retelling from memory well; probably not everything was fiction, as the author committed suicide.