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The End Of Mr. Y
Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
*Best price found from Amazon Marketplace seller
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*Amazon: £1.89
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 Customer Reviews
yawn!!!!!!, 16 Nov 2008
I had high hopes for this book, based on previous reviews and the fab, gothic-style cover. I haven't been so disappointed in a book for a long time. The main character is deeply unlikeable and the plot doesn't even get going until mid-way through; after much navel-gazing and "look how clever I am" rubbish about various authors, scientific theories etc.
A "high" (hem, hem) point is a blow by blow account of a dinner party which no-one with an ounce of personality would wish to find themselves at....discriptions of the menu, what people are drinking etc...really necessary??Hmm? Found myself skipping large chunks of the book and still managed to keep up with the plodding plot.
Maybe I just "didn't get it", but I found nothing at all enthralling about this book and I agree with previous reviews...this seems to be an excuse for the author to relate how clever she is whilst looking down her nose at us poor, ignorant mortals....yawn..............
An acquired taste, 09 Nov 2008
Scarlett Thomas is one of those authors who writes polarising books. They are complex, intentionally disjointed in places and concerned with metaphysical issues. If this doesn't seem like your cup of tea then there's no point in reading this book or PopCo.
I loved the End of Mr Y for its ambition. It's the author's ideas of the nature of reality ensconced in a sprawling narrative. I would say it's loosely inspired by Edgar Alan Poe's Eureka "prose poem". Meaning it presents an a priori theory of consciousness with reference to physics but without mathematical analysis of experimental data. I was fascinated at how the plot was woven together. It really was most ingenious how the different strands of the author's thoughts on reality, existence and thought itself are brought together over the many plot arcs. This is the chief strength and weakness of the book, depending on your perspective. The chief protagonist is Ariel Manto which I believe is a deliberate anagram of I Am Not Real. Ariel's mind is full of metaphysical chatter. It's relentless. If you don't think this way you'll hate this book. It really is as simple as that. If you're not someone who engages in thought experiments and has spent nights lying awake pondering the origins of the universe this is not the book for you. If you're the kind of person who feels Phil Pullman's Dark Materials trilogy is uncomfortably godless or can't cope with obscene sex scenes in books then don't read this book. If you think philosophical discussions are indulgent then stay away. This book will just annoy you and may compel you to write another negative review here :)
On the plus side this is one of the most inventive books I've ever read which combines a decent insight into physics with solid philosophical discussion and some likeably neurotic characters. The plot is engaging which helps turns the pages. Some of the existentialist meanderings are overwrought and unnecessary. Some of the sex is contrived. Some of the science is trite, in my opinion anyway. It could have done with some of Alan Sokal's skepticism of grand yet pseudo-scientific metaphysics. You're left under no illusions that the author is witty and autodidactically brilliant. Mostly however, it's daring and very clever. I even loved the ending which I thought was a great piece of mischief.
The End Of Mr Y., 09 Nov 2008
This book was a fairly good read, however very confusing at times often going on and on about things that seemed quite irrelevant to the actual story line. Saying that it did keep my interest (which is hard for me when it comes to reading) and often reminded me of a very wacky version of The Matrix. Odd ending which wasn't expected. A very thick book which could of been edited down a bit better as had a tendency to loose you sometimes but would recommend to people.
Great to read on the train, 05 Nov 2008
I really enjoyed this book as it made a nice change from the usual chick lit, murder mystery and travel books I usually find myself reading.
Great to read on the train commuting into work - though sometimes it was difficult to put down.
End was a bit odd, but otherwise a great read.
Loved it...but really it helps if you are already aware of ideas about language and consciousness, 01 Nov 2008
I loved this book, the troposphere is such a cool creation...a place where thought and time can be 'travelled'. I also enjoyed the way the author managed to find a way to story the various bits of philosophical thought, it made me understand some in a new light. However I did wonder whilst I was reading how much sense this would make to someone who hadn't come across Heidegger or Lacan for example. Excellent story, its not just philosophy, has loadsa different facets to it...
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The End of Mr Y
Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
*Best price found from Amazon Marketplace seller
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*Amazon: £0.01
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Customer Reviews
yawn!!!!!!, 16 Nov 2008
I had high hopes for this book, based on previous reviews and the fab, gothic-style cover. I haven't been so disappointed in a book for a long time. The main character is deeply unlikeable and the plot doesn't even get going until mid-way through; after much navel-gazing and "look how clever I am" rubbish about various authors, scientific theories etc.
A "high" (hem, hem) point is a blow by blow account of a dinner party which no-one with an ounce of personality would wish to find themselves at....discriptions of the menu, what people are drinking etc...really necessary??Hmm? Found myself skipping large chunks of the book and still managed to keep up with the plodding plot.
Maybe I just "didn't get it", but I found nothing at all enthralling about this book and I agree with previous reviews...this seems to be an excuse for the author to relate how clever she is whilst looking down her nose at us poor, ignorant mortals....yawn..............
An acquired taste, 09 Nov 2008
Scarlett Thomas is one of those authors who writes polarising books. They are complex, intentionally disjointed in places and concerned with metaphysical issues. If this doesn't seem like your cup of tea then there's no point in reading this book or PopCo.
I loved the End of Mr Y for its ambition. It's the author's ideas of the nature of reality ensconced in a sprawling narrative. I would say it's loosely inspired by Edgar Alan Poe's Eureka "prose poem". Meaning it presents an a priori theory of consciousness with reference to physics but without mathematical analysis of experimental data. I was fascinated at how the plot was woven together. It really was most ingenious how the different strands of the author's thoughts on reality, existence and thought itself are brought together over the many plot arcs. This is the chief strength and weakness of the book, depending on your perspective. The chief protagonist is Ariel Manto which I believe is a deliberate anagram of I Am Not Real. Ariel's mind is full of metaphysical chatter. It's relentless. If you don't think this way you'll hate this book. It really is as simple as that. If you're not someone who engages in thought experiments and has spent nights lying awake pondering the origins of the universe this is not the book for you. If you're the kind of person who feels Phil Pullman's Dark Materials trilogy is uncomfortably godless or can't cope with obscene sex scenes in books then don't read this book. If you think philosophical discussions are indulgent then stay away. This book will just annoy you and may compel you to write another negative review here :)
On the plus side this is one of the most inventive books I've ever read which combines a decent insight into physics with solid philosophical discussion and some likeably neurotic characters. The plot is engaging which helps turns the pages. Some of the existentialist meanderings are overwrought and unnecessary. Some of the sex is contrived. Some of the science is trite, in my opinion anyway. It could have done with some of Alan Sokal's skepticism of grand yet pseudo-scientific metaphysics. You're left under no illusions that the author is witty and autodidactically brilliant. Mostly however, it's daring and very clever. I even loved the ending which I thought was a great piece of mischief.
The End Of Mr Y., 09 Nov 2008
This book was a fairly good read, however very confusing at times often going on and on about things that seemed quite irrelevant to the actual story line. Saying that it did keep my interest (which is hard for me when it comes to reading) and often reminded me of a very wacky version of The Matrix. Odd ending which wasn't expected. A very thick book which could of been edited down a bit better as had a tendency to loose you sometimes but would recommend to people.
Great to read on the train, 05 Nov 2008
I really enjoyed this book as it made a nice change from the usual chick lit, murder mystery and travel books I usually find myself reading.
Great to read on the train commuting into work - though sometimes it was difficult to put down.
End was a bit odd, but otherwise a great read.
Loved it...but really it helps if you are already aware of ideas about language and consciousness, 01 Nov 2008
I loved this book, the troposphere is such a cool creation...a place where thought and time can be 'travelled'. I also enjoyed the way the author managed to find a way to story the various bits of philosophical thought, it made me understand some in a new light. However I did wonder whilst I was reading how much sense this would make to someone who hadn't come across Heidegger or Lacan for example. Excellent story, its not just philosophy, has loadsa different facets to it...
yawn!!!!!!, 16 Nov 2008
I had high hopes for this book, based on previous reviews and the fab, gothic-style cover. I haven't been so disappointed in a book for a long time. The main character is deeply unlikeable and the plot doesn't even get going until mid-way through; after much navel-gazing and "look how clever I am" rubbish about various authors, scientific theories etc.
A "high" (hem, hem) point is a blow by blow account of a dinner party which no-one with an ounce of personality would wish to find themselves at....discriptions of the menu, what people are drinking etc...really necessary??Hmm? Found myself skipping large chunks of the book and still managed to keep up with the plodding plot.
Maybe I just "didn't get it", but I found nothing at all enthralling about this book and I agree with previous reviews...this seems to be an excuse for the author to relate how clever she is whilst looking down her nose at us poor, ignorant mortals....yawn..............
An acquired taste, 09 Nov 2008
Scarlett Thomas is one of those authors who writes polarising books. They are complex, intentionally disjointed in places and concerned with metaphysical issues. If this doesn't seem like your cup of tea then there's no point in reading this book or PopCo.
I loved the End of Mr Y for its ambition. It's the author's ideas of the nature of reality ensconced in a sprawling narrative. I would say it's loosely inspired by Edgar Alan Poe's Eureka "prose poem". Meaning it presents an a priori theory of consciousness with reference to physics but without mathematical analysis of experimental data. I was fascinated at how the plot was woven together. It really was most ingenious how the different strands of the author's thoughts on reality, existence and thought itself are brought together over the many plot arcs. This is the chief strength and weakness of the book, depending on your perspective. The chief protagonist is Ariel Manto which I believe is a deliberate anagram of I Am Not Real. Ariel's mind is full of metaphysical chatter. It's relentless. If you don't think this way you'll hate this book. It really is as simple as that. If you're not someone who engages in thought experiments and has spent nights lying awake pondering the origins of the universe this is not the book for you. If you're the kind of person who feels Phil Pullman's Dark Materials trilogy is uncomfortably godless or can't cope with obscene sex scenes in books then don't read this book. If you think philosophical discussions are indulgent then stay away. This book will just annoy you and may compel you to write another negative review here :)
On the plus side this is one of the most inventive books I've ever read which combines a decent insight into physics with solid philosophical discussion and some likeably neurotic characters. The plot is engaging which helps turns the pages. Some of the existentialist meanderings are overwrought and unnecessary. Some of the sex is contrived. Some of the science is trite, in my opinion anyway. It could have done with some of Alan Sokal's skepticism of grand yet pseudo-scientific metaphysics. You're left under no illusions that the author is witty and autodidactically brilliant. Mostly however, it's daring and very clever. I even loved the ending which I thought was a great piece of mischief.
The End Of Mr Y., 09 Nov 2008
This book was a fairly good read, however very confusing at times often going on and on about things that seemed quite irrelevant to the actual story line. Saying that it did keep my interest (which is hard for me when it comes to reading) and often reminded me of a very wacky version of The Matrix. Odd ending which wasn't expected. A very thick book which could of been edited down a bit better as had a tendency to loose you sometimes but would recommend to people.
Great to read on the train, 05 Nov 2008
I really enjoyed this book as it made a nice change from the usual chick lit, murder mystery and travel books I usually find myself reading.
Great to read on the train commuting into work - though sometimes it was difficult to put down.
End was a bit odd, but otherwise a great read.
Loved it...but really it helps if you are already aware of ideas about language and consciousness, 01 Nov 2008
I loved this book, the troposphere is such a cool creation...a place where thought and time can be 'travelled'. I also enjoyed the way the author managed to find a way to story the various bits of philosophical thought, it made me understand some in a new light. However I did wonder whilst I was reading how much sense this would make to someone who hadn't come across Heidegger or Lacan for example. Excellent story, its not just philosophy, has loadsa different facets to it...
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Customer Reviews
yawn!!!!!!, 16 Nov 2008
I had high hopes for this book, based on previous reviews and the fab, gothic-style cover. I haven't been so disappointed in a book for a long time. The main character is deeply unlikeable and the plot doesn't even get going until mid-way through; after much navel-gazing and "look how clever I am" rubbish about various authors, scientific theories etc.
A "high" (hem, hem) point is a blow by blow account of a dinner party which no-one with an ounce of personality would wish to find themselves at....discriptions of the menu, what people are drinking etc...really necessary??Hmm? Found myself skipping large chunks of the book and still managed to keep up with the plodding plot.
Maybe I just "didn't get it", but I found nothing at all enthralling about this book and I agree with previous reviews...this seems to be an excuse for the author to relate how clever she is whilst looking down her nose at us poor, ignorant mortals....yawn..............
An acquired taste, 09 Nov 2008
Scarlett Thomas is one of those authors who writes polarising books. They are complex, intentionally disjointed in places and concerned with metaphysical issues. If this doesn't seem like your cup of tea then there's no point in reading this book or PopCo.
I loved the End of Mr Y for its ambition. It's the author's ideas of the nature of reality ensconced in a sprawling narrative. I would say it's loosely inspired by Edgar Alan Poe's Eureka "prose poem". Meaning it presents an a priori theory of consciousness with reference to physics but without mathematical analysis of experimental data. I was fascinated at how the plot was woven together. It really was most ingenious how the different strands of the author's thoughts on reality, existence and thought itself are brought together over the many plot arcs. This is the chief strength and weakness of the book, depending on your perspective. The chief protagonist is Ariel Manto which I believe is a deliberate anagram of I Am Not Real. Ariel's mind is full of metaphysical chatter. It's relentless. If you don't think this way you'll hate this book. It really is as simple as that. If you're not someone who engages in thought experiments and has spent nights lying awake pondering the origins of the universe this is not the book for you. If you're the kind of person who feels Phil Pullman's Dark Materials trilogy is uncomfortably godless or can't cope with obscene sex scenes in books then don't read this book. If you think philosophical discussions are indulgent then stay away. This book will just annoy you and may compel you to write another negative review here :)
On the plus side this is one of the most inventive books I've ever read which combines a decent insight into physics with solid philosophical discussion and some likeably neurotic characters. The plot is engaging which helps turns the pages. Some of the existentialist meanderings are overwrought and unnecessary. Some of the sex is contrived. Some of the science is trite, in my opinion anyway. It could have done with some of Alan Sokal's skepticism of grand yet pseudo-scientific metaphysics. You're left under no illusions that the author is witty and autodidactically brilliant. Mostly however, it's daring and very clever. I even loved the ending which I thought was a great piece of mischief.
The End Of Mr Y., 09 Nov 2008
This book was a fairly good read, however very confusing at times often going on and on about things that seemed quite irrelevant to the actual story line. Saying that it did keep my interest (which is hard for me when it comes to reading) and often reminded me of a very wacky version of The Matrix. Odd ending which wasn't expected. A very thick book which could of been edited down a bit better as had a tendency to loose you sometimes but would recommend to people.
Great to read on the train, 05 Nov 2008
I really enjoyed this book as it made a nice change from the usual chick lit, murder mystery and travel books I usually find myself reading.
Great to read on the train commuting into work - though sometimes it was difficult to put down.
End was a bit odd, but otherwise a great read.
Loved it...but really it helps if you are already aware of ideas about language and consciousness, 01 Nov 2008
I loved this book, the troposphere is such a cool creation...a place where thought and time can be 'travelled'. I also enjoyed the way the author managed to find a way to story the various bits of philosophical thought, it made me understand some in a new light. However I did wonder whilst I was reading how much sense this would make to someone who hadn't come across Heidegger or Lacan for example. Excellent story, its not just philosophy, has loadsa different facets to it...
yawn!!!!!!, 16 Nov 2008
I had high hopes for this book, based on previous reviews and the fab, gothic-style cover. I haven't been so disappointed in a book for a long time. The main character is deeply unlikeable and the plot doesn't even get going until mid-way through; after much navel-gazing and "look how clever I am" rubbish about various authors, scientific theories etc.
A "high" (hem, hem) point is a blow by blow account of a dinner party which no-one with an ounce of personality would wish to find themselves at....discriptions of the menu, what people are drinking etc...really necessary??Hmm? Found myself skipping large chunks of the book and still managed to keep up with the plodding plot.
Maybe I just "didn't get it", but I found nothing at all enthralling about this book and I agree with previous reviews...this seems to be an excuse for the author to relate how clever she is whilst looking down her nose at us poor, ignorant mortals....yawn..............
An acquired taste, 09 Nov 2008
Scarlett Thomas is one of those authors who writes polarising books. They are complex, intentionally disjointed in places and concerned with metaphysical issues. If this doesn't seem like your cup of tea then there's no point in reading this book or PopCo.
I loved the End of Mr Y for its ambition. It's the author's ideas of the nature of reality ensconced in a sprawling narrative. I would say it's loosely inspired by Edgar Alan Poe's Eureka "prose poem". Meaning it presents an a priori theory of consciousness with reference to physics but without mathematical analysis of experimental data. I was fascinated at how the plot was woven together. It really was most ingenious how the different strands of the author's thoughts on reality, existence and thought itself are brought together over the many plot arcs. This is the chief strength and weakness of the book, depending on your perspective. The chief protagonist is Ariel Manto which I believe is a deliberate anagram of I Am Not Real. Ariel's mind is full of metaphysical chatter. It's relentless. If you don't think this way you'll hate this book. It really is as simple as that. If you're not someone who engages in thought experiments and has spent nights lying awake pondering the origins of the universe this is not the book for you. If you're the kind of person who feels Phil Pullman's Dark Materials trilogy is uncomfortably godless or can't cope with obscene sex scenes in books then don't read this book. If you think philosophical discussions are indulgent then stay away. This book will just annoy you and may compel you to write another negative review here :)
On the plus side this is one of the most inventive books I've ever read which combines a decent insight into physics with solid philosophical discussion and some likeably neurotic characters. The plot is engaging which helps turns the pages. Some of the existentialist meanderings are overwrought and unnecessary. Some of the sex is contrived. Some of the science is trite, in my opinion anyway. It could have done with some of Alan Sokal's skepticism of grand yet pseudo-scientific metaphysics. You're left under no illusions that the author is witty and autodidactically brilliant. Mostly however, it's daring and very clever. I even loved the ending which I thought was a great piece of mischief.
The End Of Mr Y., 09 Nov 2008
This book was a fairly good read, however very confusing at times often going on and on about things that seemed quite irrelevant to the actual story line. Saying that it did keep my interest (which is hard for me when it comes to reading) and often reminded me of a very wacky version of The Matrix. Odd ending which wasn't expected. A very thick book which could of been edited down a bit better as had a tendency to loose you sometimes but would recommend to people.
Great to read on the train, 05 Nov 2008
I really enjoyed this book as it made a nice change from the usual chick lit, murder mystery and travel books I usually find myself reading.
Great to read on the train commuting into work - though sometimes it was difficult to put down.
End was a bit odd, but otherwise a great read.
Loved it...but really it helps if you are already aware of ideas about language and consciousness, 01 Nov 2008
I loved this book, the troposphere is such a cool creation...a place where thought and time can be 'travelled'. I also enjoyed the way the author managed to find a way to story the various bits of philosophical thought, it made me understand some in a new light. However I did wonder whilst I was reading how much sense this would make to someone who hadn't come across Heidegger or Lacan for example. Excellent story, its not just philosophy, has loadsa different facets to it...
Cosy but not hip, 22 Nov 2001
Lily, the amateur detective hero, arrives in Devon and gets a job via her mum (who works there) at a local university, where a murder has just happened. The writing's terrible (working-class characters who end every sentence with "love", drug dealers who say "Wicked! Cool party") but despite some truly bad bits (like a scene where the main character uses a credit card to open a latch. Oh, come on!) the plot's quite good and there's an exciting climax. My main gripe, though, is that I was misled completely by the blurb saying 'hip'. The book's attitudes to drugs are from the Daily Mail, the family sentiment is gooey, and there's a truly cringeworthy raves-and-sinister-cults subplot. The main trouble is that the heroine, who's twenty-five going on sixty, is constantly buttonholing us on everything from embryology to music to 'the one time I did an E' (please!) to 'being a 'young person', and patronisingly saying things like "That had never been a sentiment I subscribed to". From my perspective, it all makes her rather unlikeable, not to say annoying. I'd say it's a possible read if you're looking for a cosy crime story about what the young people are doing these days, but don't want your traditional values challenged. If you're actually looking for a genuinely hip and contemporary crime book with ideas in it, can I point you instead to say, Nicholas Blincoe's Acid Casuals?
Brilliant, 21 Jan 2001
This is a brilliant crime novel. There are too many detective novels about with aged grumpy middle-aged policeman in macs, it was refreshing to read about Lily, a sexy young and sharp-minded heroine. I've only made a few ventures in reading crime novels by girls, and while I did not enjoy Lauren Henderson's novels, which I got at the same time, Scarlett Thomas had a good, pageturning style and well-constructed plot. Neat stuff...and roll on Bright Young Things which like the last reviewer I have heard is meant to be cool
Brilliant, cool, misunderstood, 25 Nov 2000
I can see why this book has a couple of bad reviews - it's a love it or hate it kind of a thing. If you are looking for a run of the mill crime novel, you won't find what you're looking for here. Dead Clever is a very cool book, an obvious spoof of both the crime and b-movie genres - it even has a mad scientist. I don't know what Scarlett Thomas intended, but from what I can make out, she seems to be very aware of the conventions she's disrupting, and has just had a right laugh writing this. It does come over as a bit first-novelly, and she was quite young when she wrote it. I'm just desperately waiting for Bright Young Things to come out. It's Scarlett Thomas's first serious non-crime book, apparently, and I've read the first couple of chapters on her website... It's FANTASTIC. Anyway, if you're looking for the best book in the Lily Pascal series, read Seaside. But if you're looking for a well written, sideways-take on the crime/horror genre, read this.
Wow! What a terrible book, 20 Nov 2000
I'm always on the lookout for new crime writers and I picked this up with some hope, but my goodness is it ever awful. Nothing in this poorly written volume works: the characters are not believable, the plot is idiotic and the whole tone of the book is just plain silly. The search for new talent goes on. Don't waste your money on this one.
A truly first-rate crime novel!, 13 Aug 2000
Scarlett Thomas' 'Dead Clever' is one of the best books I have come across in recent years. The characters are utterly believable, the plot extremely clever, and the setting a refreshing change from the usual London/Paris/New York scenario. All in all a thoroughly enjoyable read and one I highly recommend. Needless to say I cannot wait to get hold of the next two Lily Pascale novels!
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PopCo
Not yet published
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Amazon: £5.99
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Customer Reviews
yawn!!!!!!, 16 Nov 2008
I had high hopes for this book, based on previous reviews and the fab, gothic-style cover. I haven't been so disappointed in a book for a long time. The main character is deeply unlikeable and the plot doesn't even get going until mid-way through; after much navel-gazing and "look how clever I am" rubbish about various authors, scientific theories etc.
A "high" (hem, hem) point is a blow by blow account of a dinner party which no-one with an ounce of personality would wish to find themselves at....discriptions of the menu, what people are drinking etc...really necessary??Hmm? Found myself skipping large chunks of the book and still managed to keep up with the plodding plot.
Maybe I just "didn't get it", but I found nothing at all enthralling about this book and I agree with previous reviews...this seems to be an excuse for the author to relate how clever she is whilst looking down her nose at us poor, ignorant mortals....yawn..............
An acquired taste, 09 Nov 2008
Scarlett Thomas is one of those authors who writes polarising books. They are complex, intentionally disjointed in places and concerned with metaphysical issues. If this doesn't seem like your cup of tea then there's no point in reading this book or PopCo.
I loved the End of Mr Y for its ambition. It's the author's ideas of the nature of reality ensconced in a sprawling narrative. I would say it's loosely inspired by Edgar Alan Poe's Eureka "prose poem". Meaning it presents an a priori theory of consciousness with reference to physics but without mathematical analysis of experimental data. I was fascinated at how the plot was woven together. It really was most ingenious how the different strands of the author's thoughts on reality, existence and thought itself are brought together over the many plot arcs. This is the chief strength and weakness of the book, depending on your perspective. The chief protagonist is Ariel Manto which I believe is a deliberate anagram of I Am Not Real. Ariel's mind is full of metaphysical chatter. It's relentless. If you don't think this way you'll hate this book. It really is as simple as that. If you're not someone who engages in thought experiments and has spent nights lying awake pondering the origins of the universe this is not the book for you. If you're the kind of person who feels Phil Pullman's Dark Materials trilogy is uncomfortably godless or can't cope with obscene sex scenes in books then don't read this book. If you think philosophical discussions are indulgent then stay away. This book will just annoy you and may compel you to write another negative review here :)
On the plus side this is one of the most inventive books I've ever read which combines a decent insight into physics with solid philosophical discussion and some likeably neurotic characters. The plot is engaging which helps turns the pages. Some of the existentialist meanderings are overwrought and unnecessary. Some of the sex is contrived. Some of the science is trite, in my opinion anyway. It could have done with some of Alan Sokal's skepticism of grand yet pseudo-scientific metaphysics. You're left under no illusions that the author is witty and autodidactically brilliant. Mostly however, it's daring and very clever. I even loved the ending which I thought was a great piece of mischief.
The End Of Mr Y., 09 Nov 2008
This book was a fairly good read, however very confusing at times often going on and on about things that seemed quite irrelevant to the actual story line. Saying that it did keep my interest (which is hard for me when it comes to reading) and often reminded me of a very wacky version of The Matrix. Odd ending which wasn't expected. A very thick book which could of been edited down a bit better as had a tendency to loose you sometimes but would recommend to people.
Great to read on the train, 05 Nov 2008
I really enjoyed this book as it made a nice change from the usual chick lit, murder mystery and travel books I usually find myself reading.
Great to read on the train commuting into work - though sometimes it was difficult to put down.
End was a bit odd, but otherwise a great read.
Loved it...but really it helps if you are already aware of ideas about language and consciousness, 01 Nov 2008
I loved this book, the troposphere is such a cool creation...a place where thought and time can be 'travelled'. I also enjoyed the way the author managed to find a way to story the various bits of philosophical thought, it made me understand some in a new light. However I did wonder whilst I was reading how much sense this would make to someone who hadn't come across Heidegger or Lacan for example. Excellent story, its not just philosophy, has loadsa different facets to it...
yawn!!!!!!, 16 Nov 2008
I had high hopes for this book, based on previous reviews and the fab, gothic-style cover. I haven't been so disappointed in a book for a long time. The main character is deeply unlikeable and the plot doesn't even get going until mid-way through; after much navel-gazing and "look how clever I am" rubbish about various authors, scientific theories etc.
A "high" (hem, hem) point is a blow by blow account of a dinner party which no-one with an ounce of personality would wish to find themselves at....discriptions of the menu, what people are drinking etc...really necessary??Hmm? Found myself skipping large chunks of the book and still managed to keep up with the plodding plot.
Maybe I just "didn't get it", but I found nothing at all enthralling about this book and I agree with previous reviews...this seems to be an excuse for the author to relate how clever she is whilst looking down her nose at us poor, ignorant mortals....yawn..............
An acquired taste, 09 Nov 2008
Scarlett Thomas is one of those authors who writes polarising books. They are complex, intentionally disjointed in places and concerned with metaphysical issues. If this doesn't seem like your cup of tea then there's no point in reading this book or PopCo.
I loved the End of Mr Y for its ambition. It's the author's ideas of the nature of reality ensconced in a sprawling narrative. I would say it's loosely inspired by Edgar Alan Poe's Eureka "prose poem". Meaning it presents an a priori theory of consciousness with reference to physics but without mathematical analysis of experimental data. I was fascinated at how the plot was woven together. It really was most ingenious how the different strands of the author's thoughts on reality, existence and thought itself are brought together over the many plot arcs. This is the chief strength and weakness of the book, depending on your perspective. The chief protagonist is Ariel Manto which I believe is a deliberate anagram of I Am Not Real. Ariel's mind is full of metaphysical chatter. It's relentless. If you don't think this way you'll hate this book. It really is as simple as that. If you're not someone who engages in thought experiments and has spent nights lying awake pondering the origins of the universe this is not the book for you. If you're the kind of person who feels Phil Pullman's Dark Materials trilogy is uncomfortably godless or can't cope with obscene sex scenes in books then don't read this book. If you think philosophical discussions are indulgent then stay away. This book will just annoy you and may compel you to write another negative review here :)
On the plus side this is one of the most inventive books I've ever read which combines a decent insight into physics with solid philosophical discussion and some likeably neurotic characters. The plot is engaging which helps turns the pages. Some of the existentialist meanderings are overwrought and unnecessary. Some of the sex is contrived. Some of the science is trite, in my opinion anyway. It could have done with some of Alan Sokal's skepticism of grand yet pseudo-scientific metaphysics. You're left under no illusions that the author is witty and autodidactically brilliant. Mostly however, it's daring and very clever. I even loved the ending which I thought was a great piece of mischief.
The End Of Mr Y., 09 Nov 2008
This book was a fairly good read, however very confusing at times often going on and on about things that seemed quite irrelevant to the actual story line. Saying that it did keep my interest (which is hard for me when it comes to reading) and often reminded me of a very wacky version of The Matrix. Odd ending which wasn't expected. A very thick book which could of been edited down a bit better as had a tendency to loose you sometimes but would recommend to people.
Great to read on the train, 05 Nov 2008
I really enjoyed this book as it made a nice change from the usual chick lit, murder mystery and travel books I usually find myself reading.
Great to read on the train commuting into work - though sometimes it was difficult to put down.
End was a bit odd, but otherwise a great read.
Loved it...but really it helps if you are already aware of ideas about language and consciousness, 01 Nov 2008
I loved this book, the troposphere is such a cool creation...a place where thought and time can be 'travelled'. I also enjoyed the way the author managed to find a way to story the various bits of philosophical thought, it made me understand some in a new light. However I did wonder whilst I was reading how much sense this would make to someone who hadn't come across Heidegger or Lacan for example. Excellent story, its not just philosophy, has loadsa different facets to it...
Cosy but not hip, 22 Nov 2001
Lily, the amateur detective hero, arrives in Devon and gets a job via her mum (who works there) at a local university, where a murder has just happened. The writing's terrible (working-class characters who end every sentence with "love", drug dealers who say "Wicked! Cool party") but despite some truly bad bits (like a scene where the main character uses a credit card to open a latch. Oh, come on!) the plot's quite good and there's an exciting climax. My main gripe, though, is that I was misled completely by the blurb saying 'hip'. The book's attitudes to drugs are from the Daily Mail, the family sentiment is gooey, and there's a truly cringeworthy raves-and-sinister-cults subplot. The main trouble is that the heroine, who's twenty-five going on sixty, is constantly buttonholing us on everything from embryology to music to 'the one time I did an E' (please!) to 'being a 'young person', and patronisingly saying things like "That had never been a sentiment I subscribed to". From my perspective, it all makes her rather unlikeable, not to say annoying. I'd say it's a possible read if you're looking for a cosy crime story about what the young people are doing these days, but don't want your traditional values challenged. If you're actually looking for a genuinely hip and contemporary crime book with ideas in it, can I point you instead to say, Nicholas Blincoe's Acid Casuals?
Brilliant, 21 Jan 2001
This is a brilliant crime novel. There are too many detective novels about with aged grumpy middle-aged policeman in macs, it was refreshing to read about Lily, a sexy young and sharp-minded heroine. I've only made a few ventures in reading crime novels by girls, and while I did not enjoy Lauren Henderson's novels, which I got at the same time, Scarlett Thomas had a good, pageturning style and well-constructed plot. Neat stuff...and roll on Bright Young Things which like the last reviewer I have heard is meant to be cool
Brilliant, cool, misunderstood, 25 Nov 2000
I can see why this book has a couple of bad reviews - it's a love it or hate it kind of a thing. If you are looking for a run of the mill crime novel, you won't find what you're looking for here. Dead Clever is a very cool book, an obvious spoof of both the crime and b-movie genres - it even has a mad scientist. I don't know what Scarlett Thomas intended, but from what I can make out, she seems to be very aware of the conventions she's disrupting, and has just had a right laugh writing this. It does come over as a bit first-novelly, and she was quite young when she wrote it. I'm just desperately waiting for Bright Young Things to come out. It's Scarlett Thomas's first serious non-crime book, apparently, and I've read the first couple of chapters on her website... It's FANTASTIC. Anyway, if you're looking for the best book in the Lily Pascal series, read Seaside. But if you're looking for a well written, sideways-take on the crime/horror genre, read this.
Wow! What a terrible book, 20 Nov 2000
I'm always on the lookout for new crime writers and I picked this up with some hope, but my goodness is it ever awful. Nothing in this poorly written volume works: the characters are not believable, the plot is idiotic and the whole tone of the book is just plain silly. The search for new talent goes on. Don't waste your money on this one.
A truly first-rate crime novel!, 13 Aug 2000
Scarlett Thomas' 'Dead Clever' is one of the best books I have come across in recent years. The characters are utterly believable, the plot extremely clever, and the setting a refreshing change from the usual London/Paris/New York scenario. All in all a thoroughly enjoyable read and one I highly recommend. Needless to say I cannot wait to get hold of the next two Lily Pascale novels!
Bridget Jones goes intellectual, 04 Jun 2008
despite the obvious literary merits, the book does not really do enough, the plot is a bit far fetched (all that amateur code breaking), the almost Don Quixote's notion of defending the helpless and destroying the wicked comes across rather naive and unsophisticated in places what with the whole advocating of extreme vegetarianism by way of protesting to corporate exploitation of young consumers and cow milking....really it's creating a trend in itself, I can just see some disenchanted young female who's grown out of the Kinsella's fluff turning on the social consciousness and becoming vegan and slightly non conformist not through an educated choice but after reading PopCo....
Scarlett Thomas writes great books... until the end!, 10 Apr 2008
OK - first time I've been moved to writing a review, but having done the same thing as an earlier reviewer (read The End of Mr Y and then come to Popco), I have found myself getting frustrated with how the first 90% of Ms Thomas's work is thought-provoking, interesting - in a geeky way and especially if you like homeopathy (not so much) or cross-overs to popular science (very much) - but the last 10% seems to just stop. The endings in both books are less than satisfactory and seem to come quite suddenly - neither fizzles out, both just end with no conclusion. To be fair, this could be me just looking for a certain neatness that one expects in literature but could never hope for in real life.
Plot lines are not fully resolved - certainly not to my satisfaction, although I do like some of the more quirky features - recipes for cakes featured in the text and also frequency tables (it'll make sense when you read the book).
Having cast a bit of a shadow, let me now say that this is a fantastic book which my old mum may well have described as a page turner. There are some nice twists and turns along the way, and for me a real strength of Thomas's writing is in her characters, which always strike me as being completely believable. The pace of the work is spot on - it really is a joy to read.
In conclusion, I would 100% recommend this book, but please do not expect a neat conclusion.
Good book, but ..., 24 Mar 2008
After really enjoying The End of Mr Y I decided to buy this book.
I found it truly enjoyable, that is until the end.
Most of the book had great character development and discussion, but when it came to the end it felt a bit rushed, as if she was saying to herself "I'm about the reach my page limit, so I'll just stop here". If it wasn't for this then I would have been able to give 5 stars.
I am especially thankful for the book, as it finally gave the the push I needed to become a Vegan - and for that I thank Scarlett Thomas for the book.
Don't be put off by the..., 26 Jul 2007
...other reviewers mentioning the mathematics and cryptography and dismiss this book as boring for that reason. I find those things boring, and I do confess, I skimmed through those parts rather than put the book down, because the rest of the story was just so damn enjoyable that it more than made up for it!
Thomas could have made the novel much more marketable and commercial by editing these parts out, but I thoroughly respect her decision not to have done this, because it would seem somewhat hypocritical given the moral of the story (which challenges capitalism and our consumer-driven society) and a character who feels disappointed that the toys she has designed with "geeky" intellectual kids in mind have been dumbed down for more commercial appeal. From the other reviews, it appears many readers loved these parts, but even if like me, you don't, they're easy enough to skim through without distracting from the story.
This is nothing like anything else I've ever read, so it's impossible to put it in a box, but I think it might appeal to fans of Chuck Palahniuk, Aldous Huxley or George Orwell.
An unputdownable, thought-provoking book.
So much, 09 Nov 2006
This book was great. It had so much to it and it felt so true. From pirates to mathematics. Big business and politics, toys, children's culture, gaming. I almost feel like I cannot describe this book's wonderfulness enough.
After reading I felt as if I had just read about ten great books.
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Customer Reviews
yawn!!!!!!, 16 Nov 2008
I had high hopes for this book, based on previous reviews and the fab, gothic-style cover. I haven't been so disappointed in a book for a long time. The main character is deeply unlikeable and the plot doesn't even get going until mid-way through; after much navel-gazing and "look how clever I am" rubbish about various authors, scientific theories etc.
A "high" (hem, hem) point is a blow by blow account of a dinner party which no-one with an ounce of personality would wish to find themselves at....discriptions of the menu, what people are drinking etc...really necessary??Hmm? Found myself skipping large chunks of the book and still managed to keep up with the plodding plot.
Maybe I just "didn't get it", but I found nothing at all enthralling about this book and I agree with previous reviews...this seems to be an excuse for the author to relate how clever she is whilst looking down her nose at us poor, ignorant mortals....yawn..............
An acquired taste, 09 Nov 2008
Scarlett Thomas is one of those authors who writes polarising books. They are complex, intentionally disjointed in places and concerned with metaphysical issues. If this doesn't seem like your cup of tea then there's no point in reading this book or PopCo.
I loved the End of Mr Y for its ambition. It's the author's ideas of the nature of reality ensconced in a sprawling narrative. I would say it's loosely inspired by Edgar Alan Poe's Eureka "prose poem". Meaning it presents an a priori theory of consciousness with reference to physics but without mathematical analysis of experimental data. I was fascinated at how the plot was woven together. It really was most ingenious how the different strands of the author's thoughts on reality, existence and thought itself are brought together over the many plot arcs. This is the chief strength and weakness of the book, depending on your perspective. The chief protagonist is Ariel Manto which I believe is a deliberate anagram of I Am Not Real. Ariel's mind is full of metaphysical chatter. It's relentless. If you don't think this way you'll hate this book. It really is as simple as that. If you're not someone who engages in thought experiments and has spent nights lying awake pondering the origins of the universe this is not the book for you. If you're the kind of person who feels Phil Pullman's Dark Materials trilogy is uncomfortably godless or can't cope with obscene sex scenes in books then don't read this book. If you think philosophical discussions are indulgent then stay away. This book will just annoy you and may compel you to write another negative review here :)
On the plus side this is one of the most inventive books I've ever read which combines a decent insight into physics with solid philosophical discussion and some likeably neurotic characters. The plot is engaging which helps turns the pages. Some of the existentialist meanderings are overwrought and unnecessary. Some of the sex is contrived. Some of the science is trite, in my opinion anyway. It could have done with some of Alan Sokal's skepticism of grand yet pseudo-scientific metaphysics. You're left under no illusions that the author is witty and autodidactically brilliant. Mostly however, it's daring and very clever. I even loved the ending which I thought was a great piece of mischief.
The End Of Mr Y., 09 Nov 2008
This book was a fairly good read, however very confusing at times often going on and on about things that seemed quite irrelevant to the actual story line. Saying that it did keep my interest (which is hard for me when it comes to reading) and often reminded me of a very wacky version of The Matrix. Odd ending which wasn't expected. A very thick book which could of been edited down a bit better as had a tendency to loose you sometimes but would recommend to people.
Great to read on the train, 05 Nov 2008
I really enjoyed this book as it made a nice change from the usual chick lit, murder mystery and travel books I usually find myself reading.
Great to read on the train commuting into work - though sometimes it was difficult to put down.
End was a bit odd, but otherwise a great read.
Loved it...but really it helps if you are already aware of ideas about language and consciousness, 01 Nov 2008
I loved this book, the troposphere is such a cool creation...a place where thought and time can be 'travelled'. I also enjoyed the way the author managed to find a way to story the various bits of philosophical thought, it made me understand some in a new light. However I did wonder whilst I was reading how much sense this would make to someone who hadn't come across Heidegger or Lacan for example. Excellent story, its not just philosophy, has loadsa different facets to it...
yawn!!!!!!, 16 Nov 2008
I had high hopes for this book, based on previous reviews and the fab, gothic-style cover. I haven't been so disappointed in a book for a long time. The main character is deeply unlikeable and the plot doesn't even get going until mid-way through; after much navel-gazing and "look how clever I am" rubbish about various authors, scientific theories etc.
A "high" (hem, hem) point is a blow by blow account of a dinner party which no-one with an ounce of personality would wish to find themselves at....discriptions of the menu, what people are drinking etc...really necessary??Hmm? Found myself skipping large chunks of the book and still managed to keep up with the plodding plot.
Maybe I just "didn't get it", but I found nothing at all enthralling about this book and I agree with previous reviews...this seems to be an excuse for the author to relate how clever she is whilst looking down her nose at us poor, ignorant mortals....yawn..............
An acquired taste, 09 Nov 2008
Scarlett Thomas is one of those authors who writes polarising books. They are complex, intentionally disjointed in places and concerned with metaphysical issues. If this doesn't seem like your cup of tea then there's no point in reading this book or PopCo.
I loved the End of Mr Y for its ambition. It's the author's ideas of the nature of reality ensconced in a sprawling narrative. I would say it's loosely inspired by Edgar Alan Poe's Eureka "prose poem". Meaning it presents an a priori theory of consciousness with reference to physics but without mathematical analysis of experimental data. I was fascinated at how the plot was woven together. It really was most ingenious how the different strands of the author's thoughts on reality, existence and thought itself are brought together over the many plot arcs. This is the chief strength and weakness of the book, depending on your perspective. The chief protagonist is Ariel Manto which I believe is a deliberate anagram of I Am Not Real. Ariel's mind is full of metaphysical chatter. It's relentless. If you don't think this way you'll hate this book. It really is as simple as that. If you're not someone who engages in thought experiments and has spent nights lying awake pondering the origins of the universe this is not the book for you. If you're the kind of person who feels Phil Pullman's Dark Materials trilogy is uncomfortably godless or can't cope with obscene sex scenes in books then don't read this book. If you think philosophical discussions are indulgent then stay away. This book will just annoy you and may compel you to write another negative review here :)
On the plus side this is one of the most inventive books I've ever read which combines a decent insight into physics with solid philosophical discussion and some likeably neurotic characters. The plot is engaging which helps turns the pages. Some of the existentialist meanderings are overwrought and unnecessary. Some of the sex is contrived. Some of the science is trite, in my opinion anyway. It could have done with some of Alan Sokal's skepticism of grand yet pseudo-scientific metaphysics. You're left under no illusions that the author is witty and autodidactically brilliant. Mostly however, it's daring and very clever. I even loved the ending which I thought was a great piece of mischief.
The End Of Mr Y., 09 Nov 2008
This book was a fairly good read, however very confusing at times often going on and on about things that seemed quite irrelevant to the actual story line. Saying that it did keep my interest (which is hard for me when it comes to reading) and often reminded me of a very wacky version of The Matrix. Odd ending which wasn't expected. A very thick book which could of been edited down a bit better as had a tendency to loose you sometimes but would recommend to people.
Great to read on the train, 05 Nov 2008
I really enjoyed this book as it made a nice change from the usual chick lit, murder mystery and travel books I usually find myself reading.
Great to read on the train commuting into work - though sometimes it was difficult to put down.
End was a bit odd, but otherwise a great read.
Loved it...but really it helps if you are already aware of ideas about language and consciousness, 01 Nov 2008
I loved this book, the troposphere is such a cool creation...a place where thought and time can be 'travelled'. I also enjoyed the way the author managed to find a way to story the various bits of philosophical thought, it made me understand some in a new light. However I did wonder whilst I was reading how much sense this would make to someone who hadn't come across Heidegger or Lacan for example. Excellent story, its not just philosophy, has loadsa different facets to it...
Cosy but not hip, 22 Nov 2001
Lily, the amateur detective hero, arrives in Devon and gets a job via her mum (who works there) at a local university, where a murder has just happened. The writing's terrible (working-class characters who end every sentence with "love", drug dealers who say "Wicked! Cool party") but despite some truly bad bits (like a scene where the main character uses a credit card to open a latch. Oh, come on!) the plot's quite good and there's an exciting climax. My main gripe, though, is that I was misled completely by the blurb saying 'hip'. The book's attitudes to drugs are from the Daily Mail, the family sentiment is gooey, and there's a truly cringeworthy raves-and-sinister-cults subplot. The main trouble is that the heroine, who's twenty-five going on sixty, is constantly buttonholing us on everything from embryology to music to 'the one time I did an E' (please!) to 'being a 'young person', and patronisingly saying things like "That had never been a sentiment I subscribed to". From my perspective, it all makes her rather unlikeable, not to say annoying. I'd say it's a possible read if you're looking for a cosy crime story about what the young people are doing these days, but don't want your traditional values challenged. If you're actually looking for a genuinely hip and contemporary crime book with ideas in it, can I point you instead to say, Nicholas Blincoe's Acid Casuals?
Brilliant, 21 Jan 2001
This is a brilliant crime novel. There are too many detective novels about with aged grumpy middle-aged policeman in macs, it was refreshing to read about Lily, a sexy young and sharp-minded heroine. I've only made a few ventures in reading crime novels by girls, and while I did not enjoy Lauren Henderson's novels, which I got at the same time, Scarlett Thomas had a good, pageturning style and well-constructed plot. Neat stuff...and roll on Bright Young Things which like the last reviewer I have heard is meant to be cool
Brilliant, cool, misunderstood, 25 Nov 2000
I can see why this book has a couple of bad reviews - it's a love it or hate it kind of a thing. If you are looking for a run of the mill crime novel, you won't find what you're looking for here. Dead Clever is a very cool book, an obvious spoof of both the crime and b-movie genres - it even has a mad scientist. I don't know what Scarlett Thomas intended, but from what I can make out, she seems to be very aware of the conventions she's disrupting, and has just had a right laugh writing this. It does come over as a bit first-novelly, and she was quite young when she wrote it. I'm just desperately waiting for Bright Young Things to come out. It's Scarlett Thomas's first serious non-crime book, apparently, and I've read the first couple of chapters on her website... It's FANTASTIC. Anyway, if you're looking for the best book in the Lily Pascal series, read Seaside. But if you're looking for a well written, sideways-take on the crime/horror genre, read this.
Wow! What a terrible book, 20 Nov 2000
I'm always on the lookout for new crime writers and I picked this up with some hope, but my goodness is it ever awful. Nothing in this poorly written volume works: the characters are not believable, the plot is idiotic and the whole tone of the book is just plain silly. The search for new talent goes on. Don't waste your money on this one.
A truly first-rate crime novel!, 13 Aug 2000
Scarlett Thomas' 'Dead Clever' is one of the best books I have come across in recent years. The characters are utterly believable, the plot extremely clever, and the setting a refreshing change from the usual London/Paris/New York scenario. All in all a thoroughly enjoyable read and one I highly recommend. Needless to say I cannot wait to get hold of the next two Lily Pascale novels!
Bridget Jones goes intellectual, 04 Jun 2008
despite the obvious literary merits, the book does not really do enough, the plot is a bit far fetched (all that amateur code breaking), the almost Don Quixote's notion of defending the helpless and destroying the wicked comes across rather naive and unsophisticated in places what with the whole advocating of extreme vegetarianism by way of protesting to corporate exploitation of young consumers and cow milking....really it's creating a trend in itself, I can just see some disenchanted young female who's grown out of the Kinsella's fluff turning on the social consciousness and becoming vegan and slightly non conformist not through an educated choice but after reading PopCo....
Scarlett Thomas writes great books... until the end!, 10 Apr 2008
OK - first time I've been moved to writing a review, but having done the same thing as an earlier reviewer (read The End of Mr Y and then come to Popco), I have found myself getting frustrated with how the first 90% of Ms Thomas's work is thought-provoking, interesting - in a geeky way and especially if you like homeopathy (not so much) or cross-overs to popular science (very much) - but the last 10% seems to just stop. The endings in both books are less than satisfactory and seem to come quite suddenly - neither fizzles out, both just end with no conclusion. To be fair, this could be me just looking for a certain neatness that one expects in literature but could never hope for in real life.
Plot lines are not fully resolved - certainly not to my satisfaction, although I do like some of the more quirky features - recipes for cakes featured in the text and also frequency tables (it'll make sense when you read the book).
Having cast a bit of a shadow, let me now say that this is a fantastic book which my old mum may well have described as a page turner. There are some nice twists and turns along the way, and for me a real strength of Thomas's writing is in her characters, which always strike me as being completely believable. The pace of the work is spot on - it really is a joy to read.
In conclusion, I would 100% recommend this book, but please do not expect a neat conclusion.
Good book, but ..., 24 Mar 2008
After really enjoying The End of Mr Y I decided to buy this book.
I found it truly enjoyable, that is until the end.
Most of the book had great character development and discussion, but when it came to the end it felt a bit rushed, as if she was saying to herself "I'm about the reach my page limit, so I'll just stop here". If it wasn't for this then I would have been able to give 5 stars.
I am especially thankful for the book, as it finally gave the the push I needed to become a Vegan - and for that I thank Scarlett Thomas for the book.
Don't be put off by the..., 26 Jul 2007
...other reviewers mentioning the mathematics and cryptography and dismiss this book as boring for that reason. I find those things boring, and I do confess, I skimmed through those parts rather than put the book down, because the rest of the story was just so damn enjoyable that it more than made up for it!
Thomas could have made the novel much more marketable and commercial by editing these parts out, but I thoroughly respect her decision not to have done this, because it would seem somewhat hypocritical given the moral of the story (which challenges capitalism and our consumer-driven society) and a character who feels disappointed that the toys she has designed with "geeky" intellectual kids in mind have been dumbed down for more commercial appeal. From the other reviews, it appears many readers loved these parts, but even if like me, you don't, they're easy enough to skim through without distracting from the story.
This is nothing like anything else I've ever read, so it's impossible to put it in a box, but I think it might appeal to fans of Chuck Palahniuk, Aldous Huxley or George Orwell.
An unputdownable, thought-provoking book.
So much, 09 Nov 2006
This book was great. It had so much to it and it felt so true. From pirates to mathematics. Big business and politics, toys, children's culture, gaming. I almost feel like I cannot describe this book's wonderfulness enough.
After reading I felt as if I had just read about ten great books.
Brilliant expositions of Woolf's theory, 17 May 2007
These short 'sketches' are particularly useful examples of Woolf's narrative theory which can be applied to her [more famous] novels. 'A Mark on the Wall' exhibits many of her ideas on history and narrative, male versus female perspectives, temporality and crossing boundaries. They show how Woolf is propelled as a writer by a desire to reach greater empathy with the previously ignored or unknown aspects of consciousness which have been forced into the background. The themes of isolation and protection can be paralleled with different perceptions (all of which are 'limited' in their own way), but most of all with female writerly identity.
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Customer Reviews
yawn!!!!!!, 16 Nov 2008
I had high hopes for this book, based on previous reviews and the fab, gothic-style cover. I haven't been so disappointed in a book for a long time. The main character is deeply unlikeable and the plot doesn't even get going until mid-way through; after much navel-gazing and "look how clever I am" rubbish about various authors, scientific theories etc.
A "high" (hem, hem) point is a blow by blow account of a dinner party which no-one with an ounce of personality would wish to find themselves at....discriptions of the menu, what people are drinking etc...really necessary??Hmm? Found myself skipping large chunks of the book and still managed to keep up with the plodding plot.
Maybe I just "didn't get it", but I found nothing at all enthralling about this book and I agree with previous reviews...this seems to be an excuse for the author to relate how clever she is whilst looking down her nose at us poor, ignorant mortals....yawn..............
An acquired taste, 09 Nov 2008
Scarlett Thomas is one of those authors who writes polarising books. They are complex, intentionally disjointed in places and concerned with metaphysical issues. If this doesn't seem like your cup of tea then there's no point in reading this book or PopCo.
I loved the End of Mr Y for its ambition. It's the author's ideas of the nature of reality ensconced in a sprawling narrative. I would say it's loosely inspired by Edgar Alan Poe's Eureka "prose poem". Meaning it presents an a priori theory of consciousness with reference to physics but without mathematical analysis of experimental data. I was fascinated at how the plot was woven together. It really was most ingenious how the different strands of the author's thoughts on reality, existence and thought itself are brought together over the many plot arcs. This is the chief strength and weakness of the book, depending on your perspective. The chief protagonist is Ariel Manto which I believe is a deliberate anagram of I Am Not Real. Ariel's mind is full of metaphysical chatter. It's relentless. If you don't think this way you'll hate this book. It really is as simple as that. If you're not someone who engages in thought experiments and has spent nights lying awake pondering the origins of the universe this is not the book for you. If you're the kind of person who feels Phil Pullman's Dark Materials trilogy is uncomfortably godless or can't cope with obscene sex scenes in books then don't read this book. If you think philosophical discussions are indulgent then stay away. This book will just annoy you and may compel you to write another negative review here :)
On the plus side this is one of the most inventive books I've ever read which combines a decent insight into physics with solid philosophical discussion and some likeably neurotic characters. The plot is engaging which helps turns the pages. Some of the existentialist meanderings are overwrought and unnecessary. Some of the sex is contrived. Some of the science is trite, in my opinion anyway. It could have done with some of Alan Sokal's skepticism of grand yet pseudo-scientific metaphysics. You're left under no illusions that the author is witty and autodidactically brilliant. Mostly however, it's daring and very clever. I even loved the ending which I thought was a great piece of mischief.
The End Of Mr Y., 09 Nov 2008
This book was a fairly good read, however very confusing at times often going on and on about things that seemed quite irrelevant to the actual story line. Saying that it did keep my interest (which is hard for me when it comes to reading) and often reminded me of a very wacky version of The Matrix. Odd ending which wasn't expected. A very thick book which could of been edited down a bit better as had a tendency to loose you sometimes but would recommend to people.
Great to read on the train, 05 Nov 2008
I really enjoyed this book as it made a nice change from the usual chick lit, murder mystery and travel books I usually find myself reading.
Great to read on the train commuting into work - though sometimes it was difficult to put down.
End was a bit odd, but otherwise a great read.
Loved it...but really it helps if you are already aware of ideas about language and consciousness, 01 Nov 2008
I loved this book, the troposphere is such a cool creation...a place where thought and time can be 'travelled'. I also enjoyed the way the author managed to find a way to story the various bits of philosophical thought, it made me understand some in a new light. However I did wonder whilst I was reading how much sense this would make to someone who hadn't come across Heidegger or Lacan for example. Excellent story, its not just philosophy, has loadsa different facets to it...
yawn!!!!!!, 16 Nov 2008
I had high hopes for this book, based on previous reviews and the fab, gothic-style cover. I haven't been so disappointed in a book for a long time. The main character is deeply unlikeable and the plot doesn't even get going until mid-way through; after much navel-gazing and "look how clever I am" rubbish about various authors, scientific theories etc.
A "high" (hem, hem) point is a blow by blow account of a dinner party which no-one with an ounce of personality would wish to find themselves at....discriptions of the menu, what people are drinking etc...really necessary??Hmm? Found myself skipping large chunks of the book and still managed to keep up with the plodding plot.
Maybe I just "didn't get it", but I found nothing at all enthralling about this book and I agree with previous reviews...this seems to be an excuse for the author to relate how clever she is whilst looking down her nose at us poor, ignorant mortals....yawn..............
An acquired taste, 09 Nov 2008
Scarlett Thomas is one of those authors who writes polarising books. They are complex, intentionally disjointed in places and concerned with metaphysical issues. If this doesn't seem like your cup of tea then there's no point in reading this book or PopCo.
I loved the End of Mr Y for its ambition. It's the author's ideas of the nature of reality ensconced in a sprawling narrative. I would say it's loosely inspired by Edgar Alan Poe's Eureka "prose poem". Meaning it presents an a priori theory of consciousness with reference to physics but without mathematical analysis of experimental data. I was fascinated at how the plot was woven together. It really was most ingenious how the different strands of the author's thoughts on reality, existence and thought itself are brought together over the many plot arcs. This is the chief strength and weakness of the book, depending on your perspective. The chief protagonist is Ariel Manto which I believe is a deliberate anagram of I Am Not Real. Ariel's mind is full of metaphysical chatter. It's relentless. If you don't think this way you'll hate this book. It really is as simple as that. If you're not someone who engages in thought experiments and has spent nights lying awake pondering the origins of the universe this is not the book for you. If you're the kind of person who feels Phil Pullman's Dark Materials trilogy is uncomfortably godless or can't cope with obscene sex scenes in books then don't read this book. If you think philosophical discussions are indulgent then stay away. This book will just annoy you and may compel you to write another negative review here :)
On the plus side this is one of the most inventive books I've ever read which combines a decent insight into physics with solid philosophical discussion and some likeably neurotic characters. The plot is engaging which helps turns the pages. Some of the existentialist meanderings are overwrought and unnecessary. Some of the sex is contrived. Some of the science is trite, in my opinion anyway. It could have done with some of Alan Sokal's skepticism of grand yet pseudo-scientific metaphysics. You're left under no illusions that the author is witty and autodidactically brilliant. Mostly however, it's daring and very clever. I even loved the ending which I thought was a great piece of mischief.
The End Of Mr Y., 09 Nov 2008
This book was a fairly good read, however very confusing at times often going on and on about things that seemed quite irrelevant to the actual story line. Saying that it did keep my interest (which is hard for me when it comes to reading) and often reminded me of a very wacky version of The Matrix. Odd ending which wasn't expected. A very thick book which could of been edited down a bit better as had a tendency to loose you sometimes but would recommend to people.
Great to read on the train, 05 Nov 2008
I really enjoyed this book as it made a nice change from the usual chick lit, murder mystery and travel books I usually find myself reading.
Great to read on the train commuting into work - though sometimes it was difficult to put down.
End was a bit odd, but otherwise a great read.
Loved it...but really it helps if you are already aware of ideas about language and consciousness, 01 Nov 2008
I loved this book, the troposphere is such a cool creation...a place where thought and time can be 'travelled'. I also enjoyed the way the author managed to find a way to story the various bits of philosophical thought, it made me understand some in a new light. However I did wonder whilst I was reading how much sense this would make to someone who hadn't come across Heidegger or Lacan for example. Excellent story, its not just philosophy, has loadsa different facets to it...
Cosy but not hip, 22 Nov 2001
Lily, the amateur detective hero, arrives in Devon and gets a job via her mum (who works there) at a local university, where a murder has just happened. The writing's terrible (working-class characters who end every sentence with "love", drug dealers who say "Wicked! Cool party") but despite some truly bad bits (like a scene where the main character uses a credit card to open a latch. Oh, come on!) the plot's quite good and there's an exciting climax. My main gripe, though, is that I was misled completely by the blurb saying 'hip'. The book's attitudes to drugs are from the Daily Mail, the family sentiment is gooey, and there's a truly cringeworthy raves-and-sinister-cults subplot. The main trouble is that the heroine, who's twenty-five going on sixty, is constantly buttonholing us on everything from embryology to music to 'the one time I did an E' (please!) to 'being a 'young person', and patronisingly saying things like "That had never been a sentiment I subscribed to". From my perspective, it all makes her rather unlikeable, not to say annoying. I'd say it's a possible read if you're looking for a cosy crime story about what the young people are doing these days, but don't want your traditional values challenged. If you're actually looking for a genuinely hip and contemporary crime book with ideas in it, can I point you instead to say, Nicholas Blincoe's Acid Casuals?
Brilliant, 21 Jan 2001
This is a brilliant crime novel. There are too many detective novels about with aged grumpy middle-aged policeman in macs, it was refreshing to read about Lily, a sexy young and sharp-minded heroine. I've only made a few ventures in reading crime novels by girls, and while I did not enjoy Lauren Henderson's novels, which I got at the same time, Scarlett Thomas had a good, pageturning style and well-constructed plot. Neat stuff...and roll on Bright Young Things which like the last reviewer I have heard is meant to be cool
Brilliant, cool, misunderstood, 25 Nov 2000
I can see why this book has a couple of bad reviews - it's a love it or hate it kind of a thing. If you are looking for a run of the mill crime novel, you won't find what you're looking for here. Dead Clever is a very cool book, an obvious spoof of both the crime and b-movie genres - it even has a mad scientist. I don't know what Scarlett Thomas intended, but from what I can make out, she seems to be very aware of the conventions she's disrupting, and has just had a right laugh writing this. It does come over as a bit first-novelly, and she was quite young when she wrote it. I'm just desperately waiting for Bright Young Things to come out. It's Scarlett Thomas's first serious non-crime book, apparently, and I've read the first couple of chapters on her website... It's FANTASTIC. Anyway, if you're looking for the best book in the Lily Pascal series, read Seaside. But if you're looking for a well written, sideways-take on the crime/horror genre, read this.
Wow! What a terrible book, 20 Nov 2000
I'm always on the lookout for new crime writers and I picked this up with some hope, but my goodness is it ever awful. Nothing in this poorly written volume works: the characters are not believable, the plot is idiotic and the whole tone of the book is just plain silly. The search for new talent goes on. Don't waste your money on this one.
A truly first-rate crime novel!, 13 Aug 2000
Scarlett Thomas' 'Dead Clever' is one of the best books I have come across in recent years. The characters are utterly believable, the plot extremely clever, and the setting a refreshing change from the usual London/Paris/New York scenario. All in all a thoroughly enjoyable read and one I highly recommend. Needless to say I cannot wait to get hold of the next two Lily Pascale novels!
Bridget Jones goes intellectual, 04 Jun 2008
despite the obvious literary merits, the book does not really do enough, the plot is a bit far fetched (all that amateur code breaking), the almost Don Quixote's notion of defending the helpless and destroying the wicked comes across rather naive and unsophisticated in places what with the whole advocating of extreme vegetarianism by way of protesting to corporate exploitation of young consumers and cow milking....really it's creating a trend in itself, I can just see some disenchanted young female who's grown out of the Kinsella's fluff turning on the social consciousness and becoming vegan and slightly non conformist not through an educated choice but after reading PopCo....
Scarlett Thomas writes great books... until the end!, 10 Apr 2008
OK - first time I've been moved to writing a review, but having done the same thing as an earlier reviewer (read The End of Mr Y and then come to Popco), I have found myself getting frustrated with how the first 90% of Ms Thomas's work is thought-provoking, interesting - in a geeky way and especially if you like homeopathy (not so much) or cross-overs to popular science (very much) - but the last 10% seems to just stop. The endings in both books are less than satisfactory and seem to come quite suddenly - neither fizzles out, both just end with no conclusion. To be fair, this could be me just looking for a certain neatness that one expects in literature but could never hope for in real life.
Plot lines are not fully resolved - certainly not to my satisfaction, although I do like some of the more quirky features - recipes for cakes featured in the text and also frequency tables (it'll make sense when you read the book).
Having cast a bit of a shadow, let me now say that this is a fantastic book which my old mum may well have described as a page turner. There are some nice twists and turns along the way, and for me a real strength of Thomas's writing is in her characters, which always strike me as being completely believable. The pace of the work is spot on - it really is a joy to read.
In conclusion, I would 100% recommend this book, but please do not expect a neat conclusion.
Good book, but ..., 24 Mar 2008
After really enjoying The End of Mr Y I decided to buy this book.
I found it truly enjoyable, that is until the end.
Most of the book had great character development and discussion, but when it came to the end it felt a bit rushed, as if she was saying to herself "I'm about the reach my page limit, so I'll just stop here". If it wasn't for this then I would have been able to give 5 stars.
I am especially thankful for the book, as it finally gave the the push I needed to become a Vegan - and for that I thank Scarlett Thomas for the book.
Don't be put off by the..., 26 Jul 2007
...other reviewers mentioning the mathematics and cryptography and dismiss this book as boring for that reason. I find those things boring, and I do confess, I skimmed through those parts rather than put the book down, because the rest of the story was just so damn enjoyable that it more than made up for it!
Thomas could have made the novel much more marketable and commercial by editing these parts out, but I thoroughly respect her decision not to have done this, because it would seem somewhat hypocritical given the moral of the story (which challenges capitalism and our consumer-driven society) and a character who feels disappointed that the toys she has designed with "geeky" intellectual kids in mind have been dumbed down for more commercial appeal. From the other reviews, it appears many readers loved these parts, but even if like me, you don't, they're easy enough to skim through without distracting from the story.
This is nothing like anything else I've ever read, so it's impossible to put it in a box, but I think it might appeal to fans of Chuck Palahniuk, Aldous Huxley or George Orwell.
An unputdownable, thought-provoking book.
So much, 09 Nov 2006
This book was great. It had so much to it and it felt so true. From pirates to mathematics. Big business and politics, toys, children's culture, gaming. I almost feel like I cannot describe this book's wonderfulness enough.
After reading I felt as if I had just read about ten great books.
Brilliant expositions of Woolf's theory, 17 May 2007
These short 'sketches' are particularly useful examples of Woolf's narrative theory which can be applied to her [more famous] novels. 'A Mark on the Wall' exhibits many of her ideas on history and narrative, male versus female perspectives, temporality and crossing boundaries. They show how Woolf is propelled as a writer by a desire to reach greater empathy with the previously ignored or unknown aspects of consciousness which have been forced into the background. The themes of isolation and protection can be paralleled with different perceptions (all of which are 'limited' in their own way), but most of all with female writerly identity.
Cosy but not hip, 22 Nov 2001
Lily, the amateur detective hero, arrives in Devon and gets a job via her mum (who works there) at a local university, where a murder has just happened. The writing's terrible (working-class characters who end every sentence with "love", drug dealers who say "Wicked! Cool party") but despite some truly bad bits (like a scene where the main character uses a credit card to open a latch. Oh, come on!) the plot's quite good and there's an exciting climax. My main gripe, though, is that I was misled completely by the blurb saying 'hip'. The book's attitudes to drugs are from the Daily Mail, the family sentiment is gooey, and there's a truly cringeworthy raves-and-sinister-cults subplot. The main trouble is that the heroine, who's twenty-five going on sixty, is constantly buttonholing us on everything from embryology to music to 'the one time I did an E' (please!) to 'being a 'young person', and patronisingly saying things like "That had never been a sentiment I subscribed to". From my perspective, it all makes her rather unlikeable, not to say annoying. I'd say it's a possible read if you're looking for a cosy crime story about what the young people are doing these days, but don't want your traditional values challenged. If you're actually looking for a genuinely hip and contemporary crime book with ideas in it, can I point you instead to say, Nicholas Blincoe's Acid Casuals?
Brilliant, 21 Jan 2001
This is a brilliant crime novel. There are too many detective novels about with aged grumpy middle-aged policeman in macs, it was refreshing to read about Lily, a sexy young and sharp-minded heroine. I've only made a few ventures in reading crime novels by girls, and while I did not enjoy Lauren Henderson's novels, which I got at the same time, Scarlett Thomas had a good, pageturning style and well-constructed plot. Neat stuff...and roll on Bright Young Things which like the last reviewer I have heard is meant to be cool
Brilliant, cool, misunderstood, 25 Nov 2000
I can see why this book has a couple of bad reviews - it's a love it or hate it kind of a thing. If you are looking for a run of the mill crime novel, you won't find what you're looking for here. Dead Clever is a very cool book, an obvious spoof of both the crime and b-movie genres - it even has a mad scientist. I don't know what Scarlett Thomas intended, but from what I can make out, she seems to be very aware of the conventions she's disrupting, and has just had a right laugh writing this. It does come over as a bit first-novelly, and she was quite young when she wrote it. I'm just desperately waiting for Bright Young Things to come out. It's Scarlett Thomas's first serious non-crime book, apparently, and I've read the first couple of chapters on her website... It's FANTASTIC. Anyway, if you're looking for the best book in the Lily Pascal series, read Seaside. But if you're looking for a well written, sideways-take on the crime/horror genre, read this.
Wow! What a terrible book, 20 Nov 2000
I'm always on the lookout for new crime writers and I picked this up with some hope, but my goodness is it ever awful. Nothing in this poorly written volume works: the characters are not believable, the plot is idiotic and the whole tone of the book is just plain silly. The search for new talent goes on. Don't waste your money on this one.
A truly first-rate crime novel!, 13 Aug 2000
Scarlett Thomas' 'Dead Clever' is one of the best books I have come across in recent years. The characters are utterly believable, the plot extremely clever, and the setting a refreshing change from the usual London/Paris/New York scenario. All in all a thoroughly enjoyable read and one I highly recommend. Needless to say I cannot wait to get hold of the next two Lily Pascale novels!
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