You (2013)

by Austin Grossman

Other authors: See the other authors section.

Members	Reviews	Popularity	Average rating	Mentions
392	33	65,454	(3.29)	4
After joining a revolutionary video game company run by his once-closest friends and a team of eccentric nerds, Russell discovers a software bug that leads him to uncover a mystery stretching back twenty years.

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00
Super Mario: How Nintendo Conquered America by Jeff Ryan (melissarochelle)
melissarochelle: Super Mario is a nonfiction read-alike for You (and Ready Player One). It focuses on Nintendo, but the gaming industry as a whole is discussed. Very interesting read.
00
JPod by Douglas Coupland (ivan.frade)
ivan.frade: Fictionalized life in a video game company.
01
Ready Player One by Ernest Cline (Anonymous user)

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Showing 1-5 of 33 (next | show all)

Story: 2.0 / 10
Characters: 7
Setting: 7
Prose: 6.5 (

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MXMLLN | Jan 12, 2024 |

It took a long time to get in to, and once I was in deeper, the narrative was confusing at times. Grossman told the story from Russel's perspective, but it jumped between personal narrative and flashbacks that weren't always apparent. Part of that could have to do with the fact that I read the Kindle copy rather than print.

All that said, I enjoyed the book. I know a lot of it was a little stereotypical of programmers and game designers, but the idea of a single game so wide and sweeping is interesting and exciting and made for a good finish. (

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ohheybrian | Dec 29, 2023 |

A spiritual, fictional sibling to [b:Extra Lives: Why Video Games Matter|7059033|Extra Lives Why Video Games Matter|Tom Bissell|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1356909143s/7059033.jpg|7310818] and, like that book, nearly an opposite to the dreadful [b:Ready Player One|9969571|Ready Player One (Ready Player One, #1)|Ernest Cline|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1500930947s/9969571.jpg|14863741]. Whereas that last seeks to overwhelm the reader with its cleverness and bury in arcana, this book is interested in decoding and understanding the pleasures of video games and genres and what they mean to people on both surface and deeper levels.

Also, it pulls off a neat narrative trick in that there are three stories going on. In a weird way, the book it most reminded me of is [b:Skippy Dies|7146335|Skippy Dies|Paul Murray|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1301970939s/7146335.jpg|7410973], which is high praise indeed. My one minor quibble is that it has a multi-coda wrapup that goes on for a while too long. But that is small beer to complain about. (

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danieljensen | Oct 14, 2022 |

The story was all right. I didn't find myself cheering for the characters, but the story blended the reality of the world, the realty of video games, and the fantasy life of gamers. The book draws attention to the four most common team PC and NPCs in video games and how they appear in various genres. It leaves the parallel between those archetypes and the Black Arts staff as an exersise for the reader. (

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JoshEnglish | Mar 25, 2022 |

This is a fantastic book, or maybe mirror, or maybe second player game through a version of your life. After all, you're 28 years old and never really figured out where you wanted to be going, and that English degree isn't helping you as much as you thought it would at the time, but that's OK, because in the end, you get to tell your own story, even if you're borrowing someone else's to help you along. (

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Teuthex | Jun 24, 2021 |

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thingScore 67

One can’t help but appreciate Austin Grossman’s formidable writing skills. He’s grafted the game itself into the narrative, as well as other texts (emails, memos about bugs, character and game backgrounders) so that it’s a metanarrative. He’s also used the novel form to tackle big questions: What is the nature of reality? Who is the protagonist in a video game? (Hint: It’s not Mario. It’s … well … you.)

File this one under a good book that just didn’t click, although it would no doubt fare much better with a reader who was both a gamer and a fan of good literature.

added by KelMunger | editLit/Rant, Kel Munger (Jul 22, 2013)

Grossman isn't just chronicling the rise and fall of a company, or of a character, or even an industry. Rather, he uses YOU as a tool to prise open the mystical center of what art is, what games are, what fun is, and how they all mix together.

added by r.orrison | editBoing Boing, Cory Doctorow (Apr 16, 2013)

Readers interested in software and game design will find some reward in Russell's reflections about life as a game designer...

added by melissarochelle | editPublishers Weekly

▾Other authors

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Author name	Role	Type of author	Work?	Status
Austin Grossman	—	primary author	all editions	calculated
Chung, Sam	Cover font	secondary author	some editions	confirmed
Ng, Kapo	Cover designer	secondary author	some editions	confirmed
Superbrothers	Cover artist	secondary author	some editions	confirmed

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▾Awards and Honors

Awards

io9 Best Science Fiction and Fantasy Books of the Year (2013)

Distinctions

NPR: Books We Love (2013)

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Canonical title

You

Original title

Alternative titles

Original publication date

People/Characters

Important places

Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA

Lanesborough, Massachusetts, USA

Atlanta, Georgia, USA

Endoria

Important events

Related movies

Epigraph

For they are actions that a man might play,

But I have that within which passeth show ...

--William Shakespeare
Hamlet

Dedication

To everyone making games.

First words

Quotations

Last words

Disambiguation notice

Publisher's editors

Blurbers

Yu, Charles

Barry, Max

Original language

Canonical DDC/MDS

Canonical LCC

▾References

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Wikipedia in English (1)

You: A Novel

▾Book descriptions

After joining a revolutionary video game company run by his once-closest friends and a team of eccentric nerds, Russell discovers a software bug that leads him to uncover a mystery stretching back twenty years.

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Book description

When Russell joins Black Arts Games, brainchild of two visionary designers who were once his closest friends, he reunites with an eccentric crew of nerds hacking the frontiers of both technology and entertainment. In part, he's finally given up chasing the conventional path that has always seemed just out of reach. But mostly he needs to know what happened to Simon, his strangest and most gifted friend, who died under mysterious circumstances soon after Black Arts' breakout hit.

Then Black Arts' revolutionary next-gen game is threatened by a mysterious software glitch, and Russell finds himself in a race to save his job, Black Arts' legacy, and the people he has grown to care about. The bug is the first clue in a mystery leading back twenty years, through real and virtual worlds, corporate boardrooms, and high school computer camp, to a secret that changed a friendship and the history of gaming. The deeper Russell digs, the more dangerous the glitch appears — and soon Russell comes to realize there's much more at stake than just one software company's bottom line.

With You, Grossman offers his most daring and most personal novel yet — a thrilling, hilarious, authentic portrait of the world of professional game makers, and the story of how learning to play can save your life.

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