We Had To Remove This Post by Hanna Bervoets

*minor spoilers ahead*

We Had To Remove This Post is a Dutch novella, written by Hanna Bervoets and translated by Emma Rault. It revolves around Kayleigh who is broke and is desperate, so she takes a job as a content moderator, reviewing horrors and hate online and deciding which posts need to be removed.

Kayleigh is good at her job and is fortunate that from her workplace she finds a group of friends and even a girlfriend. For once the future seems promising for Kayleigh but soon the job shifts and becomes alarming.

The tone of the book flows like a conversation; it’s very easy to read and follow. I really enjoyed following Kayleigh’s life and how the job affected her and those around her and resulted in a toxic relationship. The novella covered interesting conversations around controversial topics; it is a good parallel to how a lot of social media debates take place. It also gave an insight into the work online moderators have to do and how watching so much sensitive and dangerous material can change how you see the world. It may not immediately make you more violent or corrupt, but it negatively impacts how you interpret situations and communicate socially.

This wasn’t a shocking, horror book that I was expecting; there is some insight into the content these moderators must consume and audit, but it’s not as gruesome as I thought it would be.

I enjoyed this book, but the ending was the biggest letdown in the sense that it just suddenly ended. I was reading on my Kindle, and so I wasn’t sure exactly how long was left, but I was left confused when I turned the page and realised it was done as I felt like I’d only read half a book. I would have given this 4/5 stars, but unfortunately, the ending was poor. This is not a criticism of the writing, but I wanted more, and a more conclusive end to the story. I wasn’t even frustrated that, technically, the book ended on a cliffhanger, just genuinely confused as to why it ended there when there was so much plot left to explore.

This book has a low Goodreads rating, which is a shame, as I believe the ending has tainted the rest of the story. I did enjoy the book a lot, but the ending did feel like the author had just given up and stopped writing.

3/5 stars