Moderation
'If you liked Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow you'll like this' PANDORA SYKES
Published on 3. July 2025
Book
Hardback
320 pages
978-1-83895-496-3 (ISBN)
Description
Sometimes people just...click.
'A highly charged, passionate and tender love story. Wonderful'
Kaliane Bradley, author of The Ministry of Time
'Castillo is a literary firecracker... If you liked Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, you'll like this'
Pandora Sykes, Books and Bits
Thirty-something Girlie Delmundo works a day job as a content moderator, flagging and removing the very worst that makes it on to the internet. She's one of the best at it, too - dispassionate, unflinching, maybe because she learned by necessity to wall off all her emotions when she was still a kid - so it's no surprise to anyone when the social-media company for which she works offers her a big salary rise and an office to start moderating its new venture: virtual-reality theme parks, lush and near-perfect simulations of civilizations long since dead.
Girlie takes the job, and getting paid to spend her days wandering the crowds of medieval jousts or exploring romantic Left Bank Paris seems too good to be true. Almost. Sure, she signed up for having to deal with the sordidness of pretty much any virtual space, but as she begins to explore the intricate worlds that she moderates, she notices two deeply troubling things: that there might be something much darker built into the very code of the company, and that William, technically her new boss, a man whose barriers are as mighty as her own, might just be that long-forgotten thing... Girlie's type.
'A highly charged, passionate and tender love story. Wonderful'
Kaliane Bradley, author of The Ministry of Time
'Castillo is a literary firecracker... If you liked Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, you'll like this'
Pandora Sykes, Books and Bits
Thirty-something Girlie Delmundo works a day job as a content moderator, flagging and removing the very worst that makes it on to the internet. She's one of the best at it, too - dispassionate, unflinching, maybe because she learned by necessity to wall off all her emotions when she was still a kid - so it's no surprise to anyone when the social-media company for which she works offers her a big salary rise and an office to start moderating its new venture: virtual-reality theme parks, lush and near-perfect simulations of civilizations long since dead.
Girlie takes the job, and getting paid to spend her days wandering the crowds of medieval jousts or exploring romantic Left Bank Paris seems too good to be true. Almost. Sure, she signed up for having to deal with the sordidness of pretty much any virtual space, but as she begins to explore the intricate worlds that she moderates, she notices two deeply troubling things: that there might be something much darker built into the very code of the company, and that William, technically her new boss, a man whose barriers are as mighty as her own, might just be that long-forgotten thing... Girlie's type.
Reviews / Votes
Moderation is a novel that refuses to do things by halves. It is a piercing, laser-precise exploration of big tech... breathtakingly funny...and a highly charged, passionate and tender love story. A wonderful book. * Kaliane Bradley, author of The Ministry of Time * Castillo is a literary firecracker... Reading her is like pressing your finger on a bruise just to feel the thrill. If you liked Gabrielle Zevin's Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and/or The Circle by Dave Eggers, you'll like this * Pandora Sykes, Books and Bits * Tender and cutting, engrossing and immediate-Elaine Castillo's Moderation is a moving meditation on connection, growth, and how, in a world that's constantly on the verge of ending, one way we move forward is cultivating our own. Castillo's prose is luminous and lucid, balancing humor and emotion with wicked aplomb. Castillo expertly stretches the possibilities of language; Moderation is infinite. * Bryan Washington, author of Family Meal * With its unyielding density of sharply observed detail, high-resolution psychological drama, and driving narrative momentum, Moderation reminded me that the novel is still the best form of virtual reality we have * Jenny Odell, author of Saving Time * Phenomenal. A blisteringly funny critique of big tech, and an amazing love story too * Susan Barker, author of Old Soul * Masterful...Castillo shifts seamlessly in scale and tone, from a wide-angled systems novel to a love story, and from barbed satire to staggering emotional depth. It's a triumph. * Publishers Weekly *starred review* * With this novel...Castillo raises the bar for writing about tech and virtual reality, family stories, and workplace romances...A brilliant novel with much to say about work, family, excess, identity, and love * Kirkus *starred review* * Slyly brilliant... Castillo again proves to be an enviably erudite chronicler of (racist) history, power structures, identity politics, and socioeconomic inequities * Booklist *starred review* * Pick up the novel everyone will be talking about...Her new boss, William, also happens to be a total stud, and his presence transforms Castillo's flinty satire of the tech industry into a sultry romance novel * The Atlantic *More details
Edition
Main
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Dimensions
Height: 223 mm
Width: 147 mm
Thickness: 30 mm
ISBN-13
978-1-83895-496-3 (9781838954963)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
E-Book
07/2025
Atlantic Books
€8.49
Available for download
Person
Named one of '30 of the planet's most exciting young people' by the Financial Times, Elaine Castillo was born and raised in the Bay Area. Her debut novel America Is Not the Heart was named one of the best books of 2018 by NPR, San Francisco Chronicle, The New York Public Library, The New York Post, The Boston Globe, Real Simple, Lit Hub, and has been nominated for the Elle Award, the Center for Fiction Prize, the Aspen Words Prize, the Northern California Independent Booksellers Book Award, and the California Book Award.