Those That Wake

One time I went on a ghost hunt/walking tour. It was so stupidly bad that my partner and I enjoyed ourselves because we kept poking each other with our elbows and laughing at the absurdity.

This book was kind of similar, except I never once enjoyed it while I was reading. And sometimes the laughing that came out of me sounded like I was dying.

There was one point, near the beginning of Those That Wake, when a character named Laura tries to contact her parents and they act like they don't know her. They tell her they don't have a daughter and how did they get her number and please stop harassing them. That one chapter was super interesting and gave me hope this would be a decent, if at least average, sort of book.

Not much later the book show more explains that, yes, civilization is crumbling because EVIL CORPORATIONS have INFECTED SOCIETY WITH......MEMES!



“With the improvement of imaging technology and Internet capability in standard cells, people are exposed to this virulence every moment of every day. They now crave the stimulation, to the point that its absence feels undesirable. They are, in effect, addicted to meme transmission, and they don’t even know it.“ -pg. 236

Our intrepid heroes discover this because one of them was an employee for a shady company headed by someone who has hid his identity and location forever. Except after buying one map they find his house immediately where this man in-turn explains to them the entire plot of the book in one soul-melting chapter of boredom and eye rolls.

After anonymous men storm the house trying to kill them, they get out by using an ancient key to start a car. They then head straight to the hidden skyscraper and meet him: THE MEME HIMSELF.

“We are the evolved and evolving species homo sapiens,” Remak countered, “unique and unprecedented. You are only a genus of a species, just another form of meme.” -pg. 282



I’m pretty sure they work together to DEFEAT THE EVIL MEME, but I couldn’t for the life of me tell you how that is done, only that one of them doesn’t make it and then people start waking up as the meme starts dislodging itself from their minds.

Just a few days ago I wrote about how I think all books that are published are worth reading because they are the product of someone’s passion and hard work. Those That Wake is seriously messing with my theory. I honestly cannot imagine how this book was published (by Graphia, a subsidiary of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt). I feel like a lot of people have a lot of explaining to do. How on earth was this story pitched? Memes are destroying the world and the only ones that can stop them are a privileged white girl, a creepy teenage boxer, a disgruntled high school teacher, and an IRS agent! show less

Okay... so I'll admit that by the title ALONE- I kind of just assumed that this was a zombie book. Yeah, that'll teach to actually read the synopsis first right?

Any-non-zombiebook... I figured out this was a dystopian straight away. Which totally isn't a problem, because I LOVE dystopian! I'm going to try to give as clear a review as I possibly can about this book, because I'm not even sure WHAT just happened!

Apparently some years back there was a "ubiquitous" terrorist attack that plunged the city into darkness for two weeks and since then everything has been very grim and hopeless. (So if you're like me and don't know what "ubiquitous" is- don't bother opening a new tab for dictionary.com- it means: omnimous; or existing everywhere show more at once) DUDE. So say omnibus, I KNOW what that means!

Those That Wake is told in the alternating POV's of Mal and Laura. Mal has obviously had a hard life. Scars cover his face and body from fights he participates in voluntarily and he's in foster care because his father passed away after taking HIM but not his brother away from his abusive mother.

Laura on the other hand is a completely different story, she's grown up with nothing but unconditional love and support from her parents... which is why her life is turned upside down when NO ONE, not her perpetually over bearing parents, not her teachers, not even her best friends can seem to remember her.

On page 99 we are introduced to two entirely NEW main characters, Mike and Remak. Now to me it seems rather odd to introduce MAIN characters in the middle of a book... but that's me and I've been wrong before.

Suddenly Part 2 begins and I'm thinking, "WOW! This is TOTALLY starting to get good!" Mal, Brath, Isabel (a chick that Mal & Brath met earlier) Laura, Mike and Remak are all attacked in different ways, in different places at the same time and wake up in a forest that is actually some sort of 5th dimension.

WHAT?

It's surprisingly EASY to get out of this 5th dimension, and they arrive back to the real world basically unscathed but minus Isabel. No one remembers ANY of them now, so it seems that Laura's problem has now spread to everyone.

Seriously, this book was like watching a train wreck. The four of them then figure out that what has taken over the minds of people around them is "hopelessness". They try to fight it, because in THIS case it is a physical being and all. No really.

The ONLY good thing about this book was Mal. He is SUCH an intriguing character, I liked him from the start... all scarred, macho and muscles... heroic and chivalrous too.

I really contemplated giving this one 2 stars... but I just couldn't. I really DID love Mal, but one well written character in a book that was this bad, just isn't enough to compensate! show less

Set in a New York of the near future people are mostly oblivious of each other and the world around them. Instead they choose technology as a constant companion. Cell phones in particular have become essential in their day-to-day existance. Electronic devices have replaced human interaction and people are now reliant on digital media.

A terrorist attack some time after 9/11, called Big Black, caused huge explosions and power outages across New York and the resulting damage (both physical and mental) has never been repaired. The ground level damage has simply been covered over with a huge dome which can be seen for miles around. People say it now contains toxic substances, although there is no concrete evidence. The easiest way to deal show more with the decay and devestation is to keep their heads down and their eyes averted. The only thing guaranteed to get a person's attention are the huge HD screens which have replaced the windows in the old subway cars. These screens constantly bombard captive audiences on the transport system with advertising campaigns, slogans and infomercials. Corporations now run the entire world and the audiences, who are hooked on digital media, are easy targets.

The story is told from the perspective of 4 unconnected characters. Each has their own story to tell and gradually, by piecing each persons tale together, we come to realise they're all hold answers to help comlplete the big picture. Mal's brother Tommy has disappeared without a trace, Laura has ceased to exist for everyone who has ever known her - including her parents, Mike has found a door in the basement of his school which appears to lead to a place that can't exist and Remak is a secret agent investigating strange occurances in the neighbourhood. These four people are thrown together in strange circumstances and find themselves in a terrifying and bizarre situation and they will all have to work together if they are ever to discover what's really going on....and how to stop it.

The cover is gloomy and depressing and judging by cover alone it looked like it was right up my street. There wasn't a lot to go on, but the blurb led me to believe it might be on the dystopian side so I jumped at the chance to give it a go. This is a debut title so I went into it with an open mind and no high hopes...

It's the kind of book that makes you take a step back and think. It seems to be a cautionary tale and I couldn't help but compare the world I was reading about and our own that I live in. How many gadgets and electronic devices do you use on a daily basis? How quickly would you fall apart without them? Yeah. Me too.

This is a very hard book to pigeon-hole. It's a dystopian, dark fantasy, horror story with liberal doses of science fiction and weirdness thrown in.

From literally the first few pages I was grabbed by the scruff of the neck and flung into the story. As mentioned above I am the slowest reader. Usually. I read this whole book, all 300 pages of it, in a few hours and could not put it down.

I'm a huge dystopian fan, and I liked that this book had that feel to it. In fact, I thought it was purely dystopian at the beginning. As I read on though, things started to take on a menacing air and the horror started to seep in. However, it's not scary blood and gore type horror it's more of a sinister background horror that you only see glimpses of.

The character development is great and I really felt the terror that was bubbling just underneath the surface for each person as their story unfolded. I really felt like I knew these people. I cared about what happened to them and had my fingers crossed that things would work out for them. Likewise the world building is full and realised. I got a real feel for how hopeless and lost everything was. It all seemed dark and grey and dismal but by seeing it through the eyes of Mal, Laura, Mike and Remak I was hopeful that soloutions were just on the horizon if only they could piece together the puzzle. Their characters grew right before my eyes and even Mike (who I wasn't that fond of for most of the story) developed a depth of character that I hadn't seen in the beginning.

I was left guessing all the way through the story. Some new piece of info would be shared and I would think "Ah ha! That's what's behind it all. I bet I know what's coming...." Only to be foiled by another piece of info and taken back to square one.

Now then, the ending, the conclusion and the reveal of all... I have no clue what the hell happened there at the end. Not. A. Clue. It all sort of whooshed over my head and I had a hard time understanding what was said, far less what was happening. I think that has more to do with me than with the story though. The ending is really, really complex and to stop and re-read passages over and over again until I got it would have torn me out of the story so I just trusted that Mr Karp knew what he was on about and took things on trust. Better just to surrender to it and let things unfold.

The only little niggle I have with any of it was that it felt a little preachy at the end. A little bit... The internet and all things globally interactive seem to put us in a great position to interact with each other and broaden our horizons, but actually the world is shrinking and we're becoming even more isolated than when we started. Carry on the way we're going in this age of the internet and all hell will break loose. I get it.

This title is billed for ages 12 but I think it may hold more appeal for a slightly older audience. show less

Something has happened to New York City. The normally vibrant city streets are filled with people who act like drones. And, for Mal and Laura, their whole world has changed. For some reason, no one seems to remember who they are. Their parents, their friends, no one. It's like they never existed.

At first, this novel is told in alternating chapters between Mal, a tough city kid who is fights at the local gym and is in foster care now that his father has died and his abusive mother has disowned him. He loves his brother, but they aren't close because of horrible incidents that happened in their childhood. Mal receives a phone call from his estranged brother, Tommy, late one night. When he tries to find Tommy soon after, he's no where to show more be found. Fearing foul play, Mal starts looking.

Instead of finding Tommy, he meets Laura. She is a seemingly perfect girl. Great grades, all of the right clubs and such for her college application to Yale, only child of doting parents. That is until she tries to call her parents who are vacationing in New York City for the weekend. At first it seems like a joke, because her parents don't recognize her when she calls. They say they have no children. Laura leaves the suburbs and heads into the city to find prove to her parents that she exists.

And that's when she meets Mal. Both are having strange dreams and are finding that no one remembers who they are. They form an instant connection and have a shared purpose--To reclaim their lives and the people who are supposed to know them.

Sounds really good, right? Hm. I just didn't love it. At first, with the back and forth narration, I was pretty into Laura's story, but once the two stories combined and the book got weirder and more crazy, I lost interest. I kept reading just to find out what happened. but didn't have a ton of feelings for the characters or their plight. Which is unlike me. I usually connect with characters fairly quickly and stay with them throughout a novel. Not so much with this one.

I am a little scared. This is the second dystopia that I've read this month and I have not loved it. Have I entered some sort of parallel universe where I still appear to love this genre, but can't find a single book that will satisfy my tastes? Naw. That can't happen! Or can it...

So, I did not love this book. I didn't hate it, but I will not be gushing about it to other lovers of this genre. You're all welcome to go ahead and read it and love it and disagree with me. That's fine. I can take it. show less

Imagine what it would be like to wake up one day and none of your friends or family members knew you. In their minds you don’t exist. You and many others have been completely wiped from their memories. Why?

Mal has had no family for years. He’s been in one foster home after another. He has a brother who has never contacted him, until now. His brother Tommy needs his help. Mal would have liked to have had his brother’s help while he was being shipped around after his father died.
Laura has always had it pretty easy. When she goes to see her parents she is removed by security. They claim they don’t know her. She’s wondering what is going on.
All of their problems take place after “The Big Black”. Some people claim it was show more terrorists. After the Big Black, people are focused only on their technology, specifically their cell phones. Mal and Laura meet up with two others who must work together to try to figure out what has happened. They need to find out who is behind wiping them from everyone’s memory and why. This is a book that has deeper thought provoking issues and one that will stay with you long after you’ve read it. show less

I originally posted this review to my book blog: http://books4hearts.blogspot.com/2011/03/those-that-wake-by-jesse-karp.html

This book was another interesting dystopia (can you tell that Dystopias are definitely the next vampire craze? and also that I kind of love them?). This one, rather then being directly dictated what to do by a force like The Capitol in The Hunger Games or the society in Matched, the residents of New York are kind of letting themselves be controlled by their technology. That concept was a bit frightening, probably because people really can be like that- absorbed by their smartphones or the television when the people and interactions you should be involved with are right in front of you. I've experienced people doing show more things like that, just as I probably have before. So some of the elements in Those That Wake really weren't that far off.

What else? The book is rather dark and grim, the tone especially, all the way through (almost gothic!). I've read reviews from people that didn't like this and thought it took away from the book and while I agree that it was a bit of a tedious tone, the entire time, I also realize that's how the story was. It wasn't happy and exciting, it was suspenseful and grim. I liked the main characters (Mal and Laura). I enjoyed the story over all.

ARC through program at my awesome library. Thank you! show less

Note: This is a pre-pub. It will be released on 3/21/2011

There has been an upsurge in crime and suicide in the country recently, although it is difficult to detect since most citizens are tied to their cell phones 24/7. Very few people interact face to face now; only by phone. A young woman named Laura discovers that her parents don't even remember that she exists. A local fighter named Mal is urgently contacted by his brother, but the brother has now totally disappeared. A local high school teacher named Mike has noticed the problem, though. The students in his school are more violent and troublesome than usual. The lives of these three individuals eventually intersect and as a group, they must figure out what is going on to cause this show more amount of despair.

Karp has created a dystopia where no one interacts with each other; where buildings stand empty and there are even buildings that people can't see. The premise of the book is very interesting; an extension of the fear we feel now about becoming too dependent upon our technology. I found parts of the story a little disjointed with too many acronyms and the assumption that the reader knows and understands the world he has created. Teens will probably be drawn to the story ; it may provide a window into their future.

Galley provided by netgalley.com show less