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PopCo (Paperback)

by Scarlett Thomas (Author)
4.1 out of 5 stars See all reviews (25 customer reviews)

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Paperback £7.99 £4.79 29 used & new from £2.58

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Product details

  • Paperback: 448 pages
  • Publisher: HarperPerennial (1 Aug 2005)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 1841157643
  • ISBN-13: 978-1841157641
  • Product Dimensions: 19.2 x 12.8 x 3 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 123,840 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    Popular in this category:

    #6 in  Books > Fiction > Authors, A-Z > T > Thomas, Scarlett

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Product Description

Review
Praise for PopCo: 'Hugely ingenious ... Mind-stretching fun' Boyd Tonkin, Independent Praise for Going Out: 'GOING OUT takes the most important human preoccupations and fashions a dazzling entertainment out of them. It is beautifully controlled, incredibly disciplined, and points the way to a new future for English fiction. Fans of Coupland and Murakami: here is your new favourite author.' Matt Thorne 'Original, funny and full of insight. Scarlett Thomas's voice is pitch-perfect and she has created a brilliant and assured novel with themes that resonate long after the book has been put down.' Chrissie Glazebrook, author of THE MADOLESCENTS

Time Out
'Clever, likeable, frothy, zeitgeist-chasing - fans of Doug Coupland should find much to enjoy here.' --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?

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71% buy the item featured on this page:
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Customer Reviews

25 Reviews
5 star:
 (10)
4 star:
 (7)
3 star:
 (8)
2 star:    (0)
1 star:    (0)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
4.1 out of 5 stars (25 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
15 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Wow, 30 April 2006
By Snapdragon (London) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)   
this book really wasn't what I was expecting at all (especially from the cover) Smart, funny, well observed, great ending. I can't really praise it highly enough.
I learnt a lot about cryptanalysis and maths. Usually I'd say that any book that had too much of a maths element would put me into a coma, but this was great.
I really enjoyed the sections of the book that involved Alice when she was at school. It certainally brought back some painful memories for me! Brilliantly observed.
The passages about how we make judgements about people based on their DVD collections was also thought provoking!
Highly recommended, especially if you are going through a stage of duff books...this will get you back on track.
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22 of 28 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars PopCo, 7 Dec 2004
This review is from: PopCo (Paperback)
Before reading PopCo, I was getting frustrated with the lack of books suitable to my tastes. I had read all of Haruki Murakami's books and wanted something similarly intelligent and thought provoking. Scarlett Thomas restored my faith in the female writer with this book. This book is a great read for a female reader who is sick of chick-lit and doesn't know what to go for next. Despite the girlie cover of the latest edition, this book is intelligent and witty. It is not chick-lit, but an amazing, compelling novel that stopped me from doing anything until I had finished reading it. The story appeals to the young, leftish person wondering why they are doing what they are doing in life (and anyone older who considers themself trendy but morally conscious). The excellent thing about the book is the author's ability to create characters and intertwining storylines that leave you wanting more. Once you've read this book you will begin your quest to track down the writers others.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars Interesting and well written but heavy handed, 13 April 2009
This review is from: PopCo (Paperback)
The code-breaking information was fascinating and the beginning of the book gripped me almost instantly. Scarlett Thomas writes in a way that I feel she is expressing things I've thought about, but never contemplated writing.

Ultimately though I found long stretches of the book where I felt I was being condescended to and preached at: Despite having been a strict vegetarian (on-off vegan) and immersed in that kind of literature for two decades I felt the pieces about the negative impacts of factory farming and the milk industry were too heavy handed and almost propaganda-like. There are some similar stretches about beauty, identity and fashion which were also patronising.

Unlike some of the other reviewers who were wowed by the ending, I left the book wondering if I had missed a chapter. To me, the ending felt rushed and a little forced (Thomas even seems to hint at this with her protagonist writing a book which she is unsure how to finish), almost like stories I used to write at school for English homework, thinking "I'm bored of this now, how can I get to my planned end piece?"

Despite my comments above (and below) I do recommend this read, although I preferred "The end of Mr Y". I might be a little more wary of her other books, I'm not fond of being preached to and I think thomas needs to be careful of preaching to the converted.

--Please don't read this part of the review if you haven't read the book in its entirety--
Whilst reading this book, I couldn't help harbouring a sense of doom wondering what sinister reason there could be that the NoCo members were coincidentally the same people that PopCo chooses as its elite marketing crack team. Thinking that 'they are the smartest' wasn't a reasonable explanation I was convinced the board had laid a trap or that there was something deeper going on. It x just the way the story went and I felt that it was maybe a tad implausible, which was a shame because the rest of the novel was much more credible.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

3.0 out of 5 stars Interesting mix
This was the first book I read by Scarlett Thomas and it was an interesting read. The book alternates between 2 storylines, the past (and a recent history of cryptology) and the... Read more
Published 14 days ago by Shamila

3.0 out of 5 stars Quick pace leads to Zero Climax
After reading 'The end of Mr Y' - I expected this book to be just as crazy and fun. I was wrong, instead it always feels like its going somewhere exciting and zany but falls short... Read more
Published 20 days ago by F. Wight

3.0 out of 5 stars The Girl Guide Green Tea Chronicles
Fairtrade I hope, though the text doesn't specify. It doesn't work as a novel for me, not least because of its lack of any serious plot, frequently hectoring tone, and because the... Read more
Published 2 months ago by Time Traveller

4.0 out of 5 stars What on earth happened?
For the first 300 pages or so, this had become my favourite book. Reviews tend to involve a lot of hyperbole, but when I say this was temporarily my favourite book, that's the... Read more
Published 2 months ago by Anna

3.0 out of 5 stars Ok, not as good as expected
I bought this after reading "The End of Mr Y", by the same author, and am really surprised that this has had the better reviews. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Ms. Teedah Saratoon

4.0 out of 5 stars An ambitious and surprising novel.
At first Popco seems to be a thriller/ treasure hunt. The narrator Alice Butler, an employee of a large global toy corporation, is participating in an ideas conference but finds... Read more
Published 3 months ago by DDH255

5.0 out of 5 stars Great FUN read, with some interesting ideas along the way!
Like many others who have reviewed this book I came to it via Mr.Y, which I also really enjoyed. Whilst this is not a book that will 'change your life' as the Independent on... Read more
Published 3 months ago by booklover

3.0 out of 5 stars Too many themes, too many ideas
Having enjoyed "The End of Mr. Y", I went for this as a promising holiday read. I have to say that I was rather disappointed. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Peter Genild

4.0 out of 5 stars Quirky and intelligent
I read dozens of novels every year but I can quite honestly say I've never read anything quite so weird nor as wonderful as Scarlett Thomas's PopCo. Read more
Published 3 months ago by kimbofo

3.0 out of 5 stars Interesting but flawed
I was expecting good things from this book, having read and enjoyed "The End of Mr Y", a hybrid SF/Gothic fantasy novel which I found impossible to put down. Read more
Published 4 months ago by L. Tolman

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