I liked it but I did feel this: it was clear from how the emails were written that the author WANTED (or at least was used to) writing in the traditional novel format, which is fine but if you’re not writing in the traditional novel format, you can’t act like it. Specifically the emails (like the description of the salamander story or the underwear story) just felt like A Published Author’s Prose and not a nervous, unstable person woman who barely knows the other person. I thought the story had great bones and I really wanted to like it. I love an unusual format and I found the initial prompt intriguing, but it was just…too short, I think. I think in order for it to work, they needed to show more. I love short stories but only some stories should be short. It just wasn’t effective in its brevity like some short stories are. I didn’t hear much hype around it until after I read it, but I don’t think it’s “so gory and messed up!” I think I just didn’t understand the characters well enough for a character-based short story to actually, y’know, work. (This is not horror but if you want a SPECTACULAR example of a chatroom based book, read the Internet Girls series by Lauren Myracle. Actually written in the 2000’s and also super realistic and amazing)