Book Review: You’re Never Weird on the Internet (Almost) by Felicia Day

First, this book is almost exactly the length of a flight from Seattle to Minneapolis.

Second, if you are looking for a book that tells you how Felicia Day met Wil Wheaton and Joss Whedon, this is not it. Joss wrote the intro, and he is mentioned once in the book. Wil is also referenced once, in the chapter on Gamergate, and only in that he called Felicia to tell her to disable comments on a post. That post is also only the second time her recurring role on Supernatural is mentioned.

To be clear, this is not a book about any relationships. Her relationship with her brother, is barely mentioned. Her boyfriend is simply referred to as her boyfriend throughout. (Though that may also be to protect his privacy.)

The only relationship that really matters in this book is the one between Felicia and her first real business partner, a former screen writing teacher of hers, named Kim. But this book is not about their relationship either. It is about how Felicia’s anxiety and depression probably ruined that relationship.

And this is an odd thing, because the book really wants to be about how you connect to people. It deals with Felicia’s odd childhood, and how she never really found friends until the internet. It is about how she, in many ways, found her tribe on the internet. And yet, it is not about relationships at all.

Once the book gets past Felicia’s childhood, it is all about anxiety, addiction, and depression. These are important subjects. Sharing that struggle is brave. And meaningful.

But really, for a book that is kind of sets itself up to be about how the internet changed relationships, how it allowed weird people, like Felicia, to find the people she really and truly connected with, it seems disingenuous to skip over her actual friend group, the people she is now really connected with, and that includes her brother.

This is still a good read. If you have 3-4 hours free, pick it up. It is funny and interesting. But it is not really about not being weird in the internet.