PopCo

Scarlett Thomas captures the exact tone for her heroine at each flash-backed age as she grows from a nine year old in a suddenly disrupted family through teen age and college years to her present-day twenty-nine year old self awakening to a coherent world view and finding her tribe. At the heart of the tale are the puzzles faced by a girl searching for meaning in a framework of number theory, and cryptography; secrets unfurling.Thomas weaves accessible excursions into mathematics and cryptography as fables to support her character's widening view of her world.I loved this book. I thought I would want it never to end. When it did end, I was as satisfied as though a theorem's proof was complete. Whatever would come next for Alice would be a story for a very different book.I should probably admit that I am a mathematician and was a girl a little like Alice, but without the same degree of adult support for my capabilities..

I'll say from the get-go that Scarlett Thomas is not a writer for everyone, but she does resonate with me. I enjoyed this book immensely. I love how she incorporates elements of science and weaves it in and out of the story. Her protagonist is unique, odd and (for me, at least), totally and completely intriguing and lovable. I can see how some people might be put off by the end, and there were a couple places where our cultural differences shone through (I'm from the US), such as the mention of genetically modified foods (which are more commonly accepted here than in Europe), however I'd say keep an open mind. It's good to challenge our thinking and our acceptance of reality, and Thomas is the master of getting you to do that.

I really liked Our Tragic Universe and I loved The End of Mr. Y by the same author, so I decided to check out some of her other novels. While overall I liked PopCo, I liked the other two novels much more. PopCo has a slow start and it took me awhile to really get into the story. Once I did, it was a pretty entertaining read, except when the author started discussing prime factorization or some mathematical code breaking method. I've never been a huge fan of math, so those sections were kind of a bore to read. Thankfully, most of the novel is about the story (or should I say stories) surrounding our main character, Alice: there's her in present time trying to create a product for teenage girls, then there's her in the past living with her grandparents trying to decipher coded manuscripts while also dealing with school and growing up. There were also some interesting discussions between the characters about the nature of reality, god, the afterlife, and corporate greed.Unlike some of the reviewers, I really didn't have a problem with the ending. For me, it was more satisfying than the endings for Our Tragic Universe and The End of Mr. Y. Overall, while I liked PopCo, I found the other two novels to be better. If you're new to this author, I'd recommend starting with The End of Mr. Y.Here are my ratings for the three books I've read from her so far:PopCo (3 and a 1/2 stars)The End of Mr. Y (5 stars)Our Tragic Universe (4 stars)I'm looking forward to hunting down some of her earlier novels, because I do enjoy her style of writing.

I first encountered Scarlett Thomas's work three years ago, at a now defunct surplus book store in Reading, Pa. The book as "Our Tragic Universe", and I was attracted by the odd cover. This of curse made me grin quite a bit during the reading of "Popco", but "Universe" reminded me of several hundred discussions I was in back in the 70's and 80's.It invited me to think thoughts and admit to interests long buried. Later I obtained "Mr.Y" and continued to be amused, impressed, strangely inspired and always involved in the story. Scarlett personalizes, fantasizes, and humanizes abstract conceptual issues and modes of thought in a unique way. While not exactly page turners, (although it seems likely she is more than capable of doing that as well)the books absorb you as you also absorb many of their ideas. Both of these are a bit more speculative and slightly science/conceptual/philosophical "fictiony", to coin a term, than "Popco".This is the first of these books that introduce the application of ideas into novel life situations, and is truly a work that presents a highly identifiable situation, and one that can be emphasized with if not outright identified with. I like the characters, understand the plot and between cryptanalysis, ciphers. codes, marketing and maths I was often reminded how much I have forgotten and that there truly IS a way to make these things work within a larger context. I liked it quite a lot.

I thought I'd like it, but I lost interest quickly. I finished reading it because I can't stand not finishing a book. It's a decent story. Many people will like it. It just seemed kind of bland and blah to me.

Entertaining. Insightful—especially in the age of Trump; or how corporations manipulate us and how the MIC use propaganda to skew our attention to irrelevancies and obfuscate their footprints.MIC —> Military Industrial Complex

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.

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.

In all honesty I really couldn't make up my mind with this book.The first thing to say about it is that it is a beautifully written novel and Scarlett Thomas is clearly a very intelligent and thoughtful writer. She presents some maths that is complex and methods of coding that I couldn't begin to understand. The characters are intriguing and certainly not your usual bland and cliche recycled personae of many novels. The main character, Alice, is an enigma even though we are hearing from her point of view. In fact she is almost (I stress almost) a Byronic hero. She is intelligent and perceptive, world weary, self critical, anti-establishment and not to mention is troubled by her past. I enjoyed reading about her and enjoyed reading from her perspective. The story itself is also interesting, a novel which questions establishment and to what extent we can trust what we know. I believe it is a book which intends to make you question your own beliefs and I was genuinely hooked by the novel.And yet... Everything that made this book good also contributed to its flaws. At times there is too much description. Do I really want to read for four pages about what cough medicine the protagonist prefers? And whilst the maths fascinated me I'm sure for many people the amount of time dedicated to describing complex bits of mathematics would just bore others. Yes the characters are interesting, but some seem enigmatic and mysterious when they play no real role in the book. For example I was convinced that the character of Kieran would eventually play a central role, but no. He was just a slightly peculiar person who seemed to float around the novel. This leads me on to the ending of the novel. It felts rushed, almost as if the author were unsure of how to finish the novel. I think I actually felt slightly cheated at having the ends of the novel tied together so quickly.And then, as many others have said, I felt lectured by the book. I think that at times this novel turned into more of a rant at society. It felt as if Scarlett Thomas was actually judging the readers of the novel. And the there's the feeling I couldn't shake all whilst I was reading this novel - that the reason that there is some many nuggets of information about maths and codes is because she is desperately trying to stop this novel becoming a 'chick-lit'.As I said, I couldn't decide with this novel. I do however believe it is worth reading this book, it's does provide some interesting concepts and a fascinating story.

I really wanted to love this book in the same way I did 'The End Of Mr Y' but I just couldn't.The premise is interesting - an eccentric toy designer - Alice - and former crossword compiler is sent away by her company to a mysterious corporate brainstorming event where we find out about her childhood, learn that she's very clever and she spends half the book ill in bed with an unspecified illness.Parts of the book are very good but other parts are not and some of it is just downright annoying. For example, detailed explanations of codes and code-breaking were great in parts but then reams of numbers seemed to me to be merely page-fillers and of no use at all.SLIGHT SPOILER ALERT: I found the jump to the 18th century initially very interesting but after several pages began to feel it was far too detailed - yes, we get the point about what this relates to!I also did not understand the ending at all and agree with other reviewers who felt it was a bit of a fudge - 'Mmmm, not sure where to go with this next - I know! I'll go all meta-fictional and then it won't matter what I write!'.I felt some editing was in order as well. As with other novels of Thomas's I have read, the word 'just' is used to an extent that makes me want to scream.I became confused with a number of the characters as well - what was the difference between Chloe and Grace for example and did we really need both of these people?I wasn't convinced by the relationship with Ben - from the narrative, particularly relating to her childhood, I got the impression that Alice was a very quiet and self-contained person. She doesn't say much yet Ben wants to have a relationship as soon as he meets her - I couldn't understand why.I was irritated with repetitive descriptions of Alice's unruly hair and the products she had to use to try and tame it yet I had no idea what she looked like!I disagree with other reviewers about the heavy-handedness on veganism - I read the reviews before reading the book and thought there was going to be a lot more about it, but there was far less mention of animal rights and treatment than I was expecting.I only finished the book because I was at home unwell and had nothing else to read. I think if I'd read 'PopCo' prior to 'The End Of Mr Y', I would have thought more highly of it, but it was a complete come down for me.I feel guilty not giving this 5 stars but I can only write how I feel.

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!