“Bubble World” by Carol Snow is a fiction novel. This book takes place in both Phoenix, Arizona as well as what some would call a virtual Utopia. This book explores how technology can manipulate individuals without them even knowing it. The main character, Freesia or Francene, is a high school student that has been enrolled in a virtual education program. The book, while fiction incorporates very real threats of technology which was eye-opening to me and is one of the reasons I enjoyed this book so much.
The book starts off with an introduction of Freesia. Freesia, as stated, is enrolled in a virtual education program, however, she does not know this. The virtual world, Bubble World, is very real to Freesia. She has her family and friends along with a fancy house and a full bank account. The island in Bubble World is known as Agalinas which is where Freesia along with many other students believe they live. However, these students are actually in the real world, just in bubble pods in their real room. The book takes you through Freesia’s realization of the real world and the progression of her feelings towards it.
Freesia has a mom, dad and a younger sister named Angel. She lives in Arizona and was enrolled in Bubble World by her parents because she had no friends. Once in Bubble World, everyone is attractive and well-off. All virtual programs have glitches which is what led to the first crash of the program. Freesia was taken back to her real home and had to deal with the knowledge of reality. She denied her memory blocker when the system was running again which led her to speak about the false reality that was Bubble World and because of these actions, she was kicked out. She had to learn how to actually live in the real world again where unlike Bubble World, she was expected to do work and gain knowledge.
The most interesting part of this book for me was the relationship between Freesia and Angel. In Bubble World, Angel could only truly interact with Freesia if Freesia directly invited her to. Because of this, their relationship faded while Freesia had no idea what she was causing Angel. Angel, only being a freshman in high school began to lash out by drinking and sneaking out. It was not until Freesia returned, that their relationship was rekindled. I always appreciate when siblings in books bond in a realistic way like Freesia and Angel.
I would say the most intense aspect of this book was the reality of the situation. Parents, unknowingly, were sending their kids to a virtual world where they did not learn but rather, shopped, partied and did whatever they wanted. Obviously, this is not a reality for us, however, technology still has a tremendous impact on everyone. It is not a surprising concept that sometimes technology becomes more powerful than originally intended.
I think this book would appeal to anyone who has a hard time committing to a fantasy book. This book is very fictitious but has aspects of fantasy in it which made it very interesting. I have always struggled with fantasy but this book was not difficult for me. Regular fiction is not usually my first genre pick however, I am glad I gave this book a try because it turned out to be more realistic in a deeper way than what I expected.
The book starts off with an introduction of Freesia. Freesia, as stated, is enrolled in a virtual education program, however, she does not know this. The virtual world, Bubble World, is very real to Freesia. She has her family and friends along with a fancy house and a full bank account. The island in Bubble World is known as Agalinas which is where Freesia along with many other students believe they live. However, these students are actually in the real world, just in bubble pods in their real room. The book takes you through Freesia’s realization of the real world and the progression of her feelings towards it.
Freesia has a mom, dad and a younger sister named Angel. She lives in Arizona and was enrolled in Bubble World by her parents because she had no friends. Once in Bubble World, everyone is attractive and well-off. All virtual programs have glitches which is what led to the first crash of the program. Freesia was taken back to her real home and had to deal with the knowledge of reality. She denied her memory blocker when the system was running again which led her to speak about the false reality that was Bubble World and because of these actions, she was kicked out. She had to learn how to actually live in the real world again where unlike Bubble World, she was expected to do work and gain knowledge.
The most interesting part of this book for me was the relationship between Freesia and Angel. In Bubble World, Angel could only truly interact with Freesia if Freesia directly invited her to. Because of this, their relationship faded while Freesia had no idea what she was causing Angel. Angel, only being a freshman in high school began to lash out by drinking and sneaking out. It was not until Freesia returned, that their relationship was rekindled. I always appreciate when siblings in books bond in a realistic way like Freesia and Angel.
I would say the most intense aspect of this book was the reality of the situation. Parents, unknowingly, were sending their kids to a virtual world where they did not learn but rather, shopped, partied and did whatever they wanted. Obviously, this is not a reality for us, however, technology still has a tremendous impact on everyone. It is not a surprising concept that sometimes technology becomes more powerful than originally intended.
I think this book would appeal to anyone who has a hard time committing to a fantasy book. This book is very fictitious but has aspects of fantasy in it which made it very interesting. I have always struggled with fantasy but this book was not difficult for me. Regular fiction is not usually my first genre pick however, I am glad I gave this book a try because it turned out to be more realistic in a deeper way than what I expected.