Mixed thoughts.
Am I the only one with mixed feelings towards Scarlett Thomas' PopCo?
I really enjoyed the first three quarters of the book. I have enjoyed math fiction before, and this particular book also included treasure, mystery, love triangles...I really enjoyed it up until the point where some of the characters explain that in order to defeat rampant consumerism everyone needs to make a shift towards veganism.
I'm not sure if that's the author's personal take, or if that was just a character device, but it raised my eyebrow. Also, while the book makes a compelling point about how companies do market research and how they use their products to control consumers, I think it took too much of an all or nothing stance. There was also a really annoying scene where the main character gets totally disgusted when her boss suggests she take some antibiotics for an illness lasting several days. She sneers at him and says all she needs are her flower remedies and her miso soup.
Number one---without marketing or advertising, this young lady would never have sold her book. Furthermore, she capitalizes on MANY trends in her writing, with the veganism and homeopathy. Market research, anyone? The very thing you're bitching about?
Also, while I agree that we are often too quick to pop pills, some of us rely on pills to do a little thing called surviving from day to day.
I wouldn't have minded if the main character had been more moderate towards the whole thing, but I came away feeling as though the point of the novel was that we should eschew all capitalism all become herbalists. Capitalism isn't always evil. And herbalists can still get staph infections and need modern medical treatment. It's OK to dabble in both.
I may be whining about a point the author wasn't intending to make, and maybe some of the extreme opinions were written to be taken with a grain of salt. However, I wonder if anyone else felt that way after reading the book or if I am the only one who got this final message from it.
It's a good book---I'd recommend it to a friend. I'd just be a little cautious with what seemed (to me) to be an extreme political message.
I really enjoyed the first three quarters of the book. I have enjoyed math fiction before, and this particular book also included treasure, mystery, love triangles...I really enjoyed it up until the point where some of the characters explain that in order to defeat rampant consumerism everyone needs to make a shift towards veganism.
I'm not sure if that's the author's personal take, or if that was just a character device, but it raised my eyebrow. Also, while the book makes a compelling point about how companies do market research and how they use their products to control consumers, I think it took too much of an all or nothing stance. There was also a really annoying scene where the main character gets totally disgusted when her boss suggests she take some antibiotics for an illness lasting several days. She sneers at him and says all she needs are her flower remedies and her miso soup.
Number one---without marketing or advertising, this young lady would never have sold her book. Furthermore, she capitalizes on MANY trends in her writing, with the veganism and homeopathy. Market research, anyone? The very thing you're bitching about?
Also, while I agree that we are often too quick to pop pills, some of us rely on pills to do a little thing called surviving from day to day.
I wouldn't have minded if the main character had been more moderate towards the whole thing, but I came away feeling as though the point of the novel was that we should eschew all capitalism all become herbalists. Capitalism isn't always evil. And herbalists can still get staph infections and need modern medical treatment. It's OK to dabble in both.
I may be whining about a point the author wasn't intending to make, and maybe some of the extreme opinions were written to be taken with a grain of salt. However, I wonder if anyone else felt that way after reading the book or if I am the only one who got this final message from it.
It's a good book---I'd recommend it to a friend. I'd just be a little cautious with what seemed (to me) to be an extreme political message.
posted at 8:52 PM
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