PopCo

This is a love it or hate it book. Because of the significant social issues contained in this story, such as the mistreatment of animals, corporate misdeeds, and guerilla marketing, this will appeal more to socially conscious individuals and those whose principles stand in opposition to the current CEO-type establishment. But, even then, counterculture types may still not like it if they don't want to see these issues advanced in a novel. That said, I applaud Scarlett Thomas for weaving these controversies in without sermonizing and laying on dull exposition. Thomas is clearly brainy and imaginative. She is subversive without being cynical, intellectual without condescending.Two storylines alternate throughout the novel, and eventually merge into a complex whole. As a child, Alice Butler was raised primarily by her grandparents, as her mother died when she was very young and her father took off to find a buried treasure. Alice's grandfather is a formidable cryptanalyst, cracking codes and ciphers and teaching Alice the essentials of prime numbers, poly-alphabetic ciphers, Vigenere enciphering, and other forms of codes and ciphers. The reader is exposed to some fundamental lessons that are thrilling and mind-boggling. The author infuses this in the story so naturally that it feels organically part of the storyline.Alice's grandmother has been working on the Riemann Hypothesis for many years but has not solved it. Alice's upbringing has made her hyperaware of the layers of complexity that exist in her surroundings, and she is a lover of paradoxes. She is often alienated from her peers, and develops a tough shell due to the immaturity and abuse she endures from her classmates (as well as some teachers). I have never read a book that illuminates adolescent behaviors so well--such as taunting, striving for popularity, the desire to fit in. Not even Margaret Atwood, known for her stark portrayals of teenage predatory behaviors, has illustrated the harrowing anxieties, shame and adversity so baldly and authentically.As an adult, Alice works for the corporate toy company, PopCo, the third largest toy company in the world. The story opens as Alice is on her way to a "thought camp" retreat. Her job is coming up with marketing strategies aimed at teenage girls. Her team is designated to design a new product, with specific potential to become a craze. Essentially, create a desire where none exists and persuade teenage girls that they have to have it. The ideation seminars at the thought camp instruct PopCo employees to create identity manias, a veritable fever that infects girls and coaxes them to covet a trend and crave a product.In lesser hands, this could easily become an elongated slogan or a sententious rant. However, Thomas is a gifted writer with a blazing, generous spirit. She is out-of the box and brimming with provocative, piercing ideas that are fleshed out and powerful. This imaginative novel is unclassifiable and yet compelling. The author has a keen sense of adventure, keeping the reader in suspense. Alice's narrative voice has a vital, dynamic sensibility that is suffused with compassion and wisdom beyond her years. The prose is eloquent and her characters fully developed. Thomas is an enormous, brilliant think tank of a writer.

Although Scarlett Thomas does another bang up job of writing in this one it was not as good as her "Our Tragic Universe" and/or "The End of Mr. Y." That being said it is about a young woman named Alice Butler who is a "creative" at Popco, Britian's third largest toy manufacturer. This corporation is very postmodern in that it has no dress code, no set hours, and virtually no rules. Her days are spent brainstorming ideas for pre-teens to spend their money on. Then the whole company is summoned to a "thought camp" set somewhere in the wilderness of England. It is here that she is chosen to become a member of an elite group which is to come up with a new fad for teenage girls. She and the others live in what would best be described as a dormitory where she receives strange encrypted messages under her door. Then she begins to have her doubts as to the viability of what she is doing. All this is mingled with flashbacks from Alice's past where she was raised by her grandparents who were both mathematicians and her necklace given to her by her grandfather may hold the key to a long lost pirate treasure.Although this is all very exciting at times the book drug as when Thomas goes into detail about homeopathic remedies and conversations between characters about how to retail a product. I couldn't really connect with Alice the way I did with Thomas's other protagonists in "Our Tragic Universe" and "The End of Mr. Y." The other characters of the book are not well fleshed-out and it's hard to tell the members of the "underground network" from the corporate drones. The ending is not a surprise you will see it coming from a mile off but overall still a good book just not one of Thomas's best.

This bookbstarted off as one of favorites. I loved the flashbacks. I adored the learning moments about cryptoanalysis, creativity, mathematics and even homeopathy. What I did not appreciate is the last 30 percent of the book turning into a preaching session. I do not read fiction for this. The weird obsession with how focus groups, and trying to understand children so you can sell them toys they like was insane. Sure. I would much rather companies make products for groups of people without considering what they think, feel, enjoy- at all. Surely that would mean I would have products I like. The demonization of this process even went so far as to equate focus groups to pedophilia. Trying to understand why some children like to play with socks instead of packaged toys is deviant and weird in this book. We even get a weird moment where the main character chastises herself for falling into disgusting trends of exploiting children by habitually wearing her hair in braids, a style she admits is too childish. In a complete 180 her love interest who was the driver of this whole thing then admitted " haha yeah but i like them, your braids are kinky". Ummm..... what....? No self awareness of the hypocrisy or the fact that calling braids as a hair style childish or kinky is offensive on many levelsBy the end of the book I was just frustrated by how naive i was to think the main characters pathological obsession with not being like other people would be resolved by the end of the book as something juvenile and shallow. What's the difference between working hard to fit in vs spending all your energy ensuring you stand out ..... It's sad and not something an adult should concern themselves with. Like what you like, not the way the things you like make others respond to you.I feel so bummed out.

I wasn't sure if I would enjoy this book as much as The End of Mr Y because the reviews were so varied but I did (well nearly).The thing about books by Scarlett Thomas you have to be willing to learn as you read. Now if I wanted to learn a little about Cryptography and bought a book on the subject I probably wouldn't have got very far. Too over my head. With PopCo, I had a story to read about Alice and her life plus a bit on lots of other subjects, including Cryptography thrown in.The beauty of reading a book like this on the Kindle is that you have various look up facilities to hand. This greatly added to the reading/learning experience. I do like a book where you learn things and even though I am not now claiming to have the superb knowledge and intellect of Alan Turing, I have enjoyed a good story and peeked into that world.I thoroughly recommend this book. It isn't as good as The End of Mr Y but still deserves 5* (4.75 or 95%). However, I think you have to be prepared to hear/learn about Mathematics and its use in Cryptography. You could just skip these pages but if you do I think this will lead to a poorer reading experience.

Have recently discovered Scarlett Thomas (Mr Y) and am now trying to track down her earlier (non-detective) novels, as she herself seems to be less than pleased with the 'tec ones.She is a real find - like others, I picked up on the Murakami connections - and also, I think there is a real whiff of David Mitchell. She's a sophisticated story teller, and has clearly written a book around ideas and concepts which interest her (corporate culture and its brain-washing us into consumerdom, animal rights, veganism, third world exploitation, homoeopathy, mathematics and cryptanalysis) She juggles these diverse interests beautifully, and whilst I share some of them, I found her writing pulled me into fascination with those interests I had not been drawn by (the maths!)I'm always grateful to writers who can make their passions understandable to the previously uninterested.I loved the puzzles, she exercised my brain as well as telling an inventive and interesting storyAlice is a quirky, interesting young woman, and the funny, painful references to being a young girl on the verge of adolescence, the finding of identity and FITTING IN with one's peers were great - the backwards/forwards story of Alice now and Alice then worked magnificently.Good luck all you NoCo cell members out there!

One of the most engaging books I have read this year, I could not put it down. It's rare to find a book that encompasses mystery, coding, and the world of children's toy invention, but somehow this works!It's an easy book to get into and not an overly taxing read (not a criticism), but still touches on complex topics (coding, consumerism, etc).The characters are likeable and have enough depth that you are invested in the story. Although I wasn't thrilled by the ending, I found myself wishing this were a series so that I could see how the story develops.I have recommended this to a number of friends.

I'd already read "The End of Mr Y", and thoroughly enjoyed it, although I'd been slightly disappointed with the ending, which didn't, in my opinion, live up to the rest of the book. But Scarlett Thomas had produced something intelligent, pacey and different, so I thought I'd give this previous novel a try.I'm really glad I did - it was excellent, just as gripping and interesting as "The End of Mr Y", but with a totally satisfactory ending. I also learnt something about codes - and she's brilliant at telling you things without either interfering with the pace or making you feel you're being lectured - and look forward to trying the vegan cake recipe when my vegan friend comes to dinner.Now to try some more of the back catalogue while hoping she's well on with a new offering!

This is the first book I've read by Scarlett Thomas, and I'll definitely be seeking out more. I'm very pleased that it caught my eye when I was looking for special offer books to try out on my new Kindle. I downloaded a sample and immediately wanted to read on when I'd read that.I'm not the tiniest bit mathematically minded so when I read some of the reviews mentioning the maths aspects of the book I might have been put off, but I ended up finding all that stuff pretty fascinating, as did I the cryptography/crytanalysis and all the references to WWII codebreaking and so on.I love her writing style, and the book just flowed. One test of a good book for me is when you look forward to getting back to it after a break from reading, like when you look forward to the company of a good friend.