With thanks to Netgalley

I wish I could say that I enjoyed windows 96, but sadly I didn't. It just didn't hold my attention and I found myself plodding thought the book.

This novel reminds me of the movie Office Space, except the protagonist is a teenager, and the industry he works in is door to door sales. The movie is much funnier, but that's in a silly way and there's a lot of smart wit here. Set in England in the 1990s, the book has a melancholy vibe. Alex is not necessarily a likable character, but he's relatable. Anyone who has worked a dead-end job, or found themselves trying to fit in with and shady crowd just to be liked, will relate to him and his situation. While there are many redeeming qualities here, I simply couldn't figure out what the point of the story is. The middle felt long and rambling. I suppose it's a coming of age tale, but I found it generally unsatisfying.

I didn’t really finish this one it was not for me but I am happy that I got the Arc thanks so much to. Netgalley and the publishers for this one

Windows 96 takes place in the 1990s. I was a 90s child, so I enjoyed that part of it. The story was good overall. Characters were interesting. The plot was engaging and moved quickly. A fast read. Thanks to NetGalley for an arc in exchange for an honest review.

This book was definitely outside of my usual read but I enjoyed it more than I thought I would. It vaguely reminded me of The Wolf of Wallstreet movie, which I enjoyed, and the pace was great. It was hard for me to connect with Alex, the main character, in the beginning because he was usually in the background. Overall it was an enjoyable read and I’d recommend it to fans of strong character development and anyone looking for something a bit different to read.

Growing up in the 1990's myself, I did experience a sense of nostalgia as I read this title. Some of my child-hood memories came flooding back.
I disliked the protagonist and found the character progression rather slow and un-moving.
I liked the writing style, very easy to read and to settle into, the pacing definitely helped with that.
A good read!

Two of the best things about this book are:

1. the timing which is set in the nineties and which also means that the characters' lives are NORMAL and half of a YA story need not be devoted to him checking or not checking his social media etc.

2. it really reads like something that's been written by a teenager. His thoughts are often jumbled, feelings jump from exaggerated rage/confusion to mellow I-don't-give-a-shit.

This was a fast page-turner mainly because of those two aspects. But also I felt like I couldn't put it down because of its fragility, the authentic teenage spirit that flickers like a precious candlelight all the way through it. At times I thought he might blow up into a real fire, and at other times I felt like crying seeing how easy it actually is (at least in theory) to put out that fire within someone when you're so young and know so little about life.

And nobody who's reading any YA book can leap into the pages to tell the main protagonist that he will grow up, that life will get better once he is older and wiser. And really, nobody can know that for sure even in real life.

This book was both serious and eye-opening, and also wildly entertaining.

I couldn't really get into this one, though I tried really hard. It is a solid character study and I like the protagonist, Alex, but I couldn't connect with him.

Also some parts of the plot confused me but it might be because it was hard for me to remain interested so my mind wandered.

A mostly character-driven coming-of-age story that takes place in the 90's; Holmes' prose is flowing, whilst both the plot and the time period in which it unfolds bring forth the element of nostalgia.