Elaine Castillo returns with her sophomore novel, Moderation, a dazzling exploration of modern romance that feels both urgently contemporary and timeless in its emotional depths. Moderation takes us into the world of content moderation—that invisible digital labor that sanitizes our online experiences—and transforms it into a stage for one of the most compelling love stories in recent literary fiction.
The novel follows Girlie Delmundo, a Filipino-American content moderator who has spent over a decade filtering the internet’s darkest impulses. When she’s offered a promotion to elite VR moderation at Playground, a virtual reality platform owned by her company Paragon, she sees it as her chance to finally escape financial precarity. What she doesn’t anticipate is falling for William Cheung, Playground’s enigmatic British co-founder and Chief Product Officer.
A Love Story Written in Code and Flesh
Castillo’s genius lies in how she weaves together the virtual and the visceral. The romance between Girlie and William unfolds across multiple realities—in sterile corporate conference rooms, within the immersive historical landscapes of Playground’s VR worlds, and ultimately in the messy, complicated terrain of real life. Their relationship becomes a meditation on authenticity in an age where our most intimate connections often happen through screens.
The chemistry between these characters crackles with an intensity that feels both modern and classical. Girlie, with her sharp wit and protective cynicism, is beautifully matched against William’s repressed British formality that barely contains his deep wells of grief and longing. When they finally connect—both virtually and physically—Castillo writes their passion with a raw honesty that makes their eventual separation all the more devastating.
The Weight of Digital Labor
While romance drives the narrative, Moderation by Elaine Castillo functions equally well as a searing critique of tech capitalism and its human costs. Castillo doesn’t shy away from the psychological toll of content moderation—the daily exposure to humanity’s worst impulses, the corporate gaslighting disguised as “wellness initiatives,” the precarious employment that keeps workers trapped in cycles of trauma.
Girlie’s expertise in recognizing and blocking violent content becomes a metaphor for the emotional armor she’s built around herself. The novel’s most powerful moments come when this armor begins to crack, revealing the vulnerability underneath. Castillo handles these scenes with remarkable sensitivity, never exploiting trauma for dramatic effect.
Cultural Authenticity and Family Dynamics
The author’s portrayal of Filipino-American family life feels lived-in and authentic, from the casual code-switching between English and Tagalog to the complex dynamics of multi-generational financial responsibility. Girlie’s relationship with her cousin Maribel and the extended family network provides crucial grounding for a story that could easily drift into pure techno-fantasy.
These family scenes also serve as counterpoint to the sterile corporate environments where much of the action unfolds. When Girlie brings William to Maribel’s engagement party, the cultural collision creates some of the novel’s most tender and revealing moments.
Technical Mastery and Emotional Depth
Castillo’s prose demonstrates remarkable range, shifting seamlessly from corporate doublespeak to intimate emotional revelation. Her descriptions of virtual reality experiences feel genuinely immersive—whether it’s a medieval tournament or a therapeutic garden designed to ease trauma. The author clearly did extensive research into VR technology and content moderation practices, but never lets technical detail overwhelm the human story.
The novel’s structure, with its alternating perspectives and timeline shifts, mirrors the disorienting experience of living between virtual and physical realities. Some readers may find these transitions occasionally jarring, but they serve the larger thematic purpose of questioning what constitutes “real” experience.
Minor Imperfections in an Otherwise Stellar Work
While Moderation by Elaine Castillo succeeds brilliantly in most areas, there are moments where the corporate intrigue subplot feels slightly underdeveloped compared to the richness of the central romance. The revelation of corporate espionage and French intelligence involvement, while adding stakes, occasionally reads as somewhat convenient plotting rather than organic story development.
Additionally, some of the secondary characters—particularly the various corporate executives—remain somewhat thinly sketched. While this may be intentional commentary on corporate dehumanization, it leaves certain plot threads feeling less emotionally resonant than they might otherwise be.
Themes That Resonate Beyond the Screen
The novel’s exploration of moderation extends far beyond content filtering. Girlie must moderate her own expectations, her capacity for trust, her willingness to be vulnerable. William struggles to moderate his grief over his deceased friend and business partner Edison. Even their romance requires careful moderation—between professional boundaries, cultural differences, and the fundamental question of what’s real when so much of their connection happens in virtual space.
Key Strengths:
- Authentic portrayal of Filipino-American family dynamics
- Compelling central romance with genuine emotional stakes
- Thoughtful examination of digital labor and its psychological costs
- Immersive world-building that makes VR experiences feel tangible
- Prose that shifts expertly between technical precision and emotional lyricism
Minor Criticisms:
- Corporate intrigue subplot feels occasionally underdeveloped
- Some secondary characters lack full dimensionality
- Pacing sometimes slows during technical exposition
A Worthy Follow-Up to a Powerful Debut
Readers familiar with Castillo’s acclaimed debut America Is Not the Heart will recognize her gift for creating complex, fully realized characters navigating questions of identity and belonging. Moderation by Elaine Castillo represents a significant evolution, tackling contemporary themes while maintaining the emotional authenticity that made her first novel so compelling.
The ending, set in the London neighborhood of Crystal Palace, provides a satisfying resolution that feels both earned and hopeful. When Girlie and William finally meet in physical reality—she carrying a cheerfully branded Sainsbury’s bag, he walking his elderly dog Mona—the mundane details carry profound emotional weight.
Books for Further Reading
Readers who appreciate Moderation by Elaine Castillo might enjoy:
- Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro – for its meditation on artificial intelligence and human connection
- The Power by Naomi Alderman – for its examination of technology and power dynamics
- An Unkindness of Magicians by Kat Howard – for its blend of corporate intrigue and romantic tension
- The Circle by Dave Eggers – for its critique of tech culture and surveillance capitalism
- Severance by Ling Ma – for its darkly comic take on corporate life and survival
Final Verdict
Moderation stands as both an engaging literary romance and a sharp-eyed examination of how technology shapes our most intimate connections. Castillo has written a novel that feels essential to our current moment while telling a love story that transcends its technological trappings. The result is a work that satisfies both as entertainment and as serious literature, confirming Castillo’s position as one of our most important contemporary voices.
For readers seeking fiction that grapples seriously with the intersection of technology, labor, and love, Moderation by Elaine Castillo delivers with intelligence, heart, and considerable style.
I received an advance reader’s copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.