Syrup

3.5 rounded up

I had lots of fun reading this aloud with family. It's an over-the-top farce, similar in style and setting to Agent to the Stars, my favorite of John Scalzi's books.

The warning label they forgot to print on the back:

WARNING: this book is manic, which may exhaust some people. The main character experiences the world by way of tortured metaphor and coked up whimsy. When there isn't red haze clouding his vision, or white spots crowding around peering into his eyes to see if he's OK, his heart is jumping, leaping, dropping out of his mouth, sinking into his toes, and performing other Cirque du Soleil acrobatics. He stumbles through the book, clutching his heart, grabbing onto walls, shuttering his eyes lest he's blinded by show more legs, smitten by hair, and rendered speechless by eyebrows. It's a hell of a ride, but you should know what you're getting into. And what you're riding towards: an underdeveloped ending.

That said, it's full of laughs. show less

I really really liked Syrup. I finished in only 3 days, but it wasn't as long as the 294 pages would lead you to believe what with huge margins and so many stylized paragraph headers. Maxx Barry's style of corporate humor started here, and backstabbing, and is it romance is it not, kept it moving. I never thought advertising could be anything but soul crushing. He even did a great job at portraying the nerds in editing, and the artists in film.

After reading Syrup I tried watching the movie but I turned it off not even half-way as it was so bad. Maybe having it not be Coke in the film made that much different? It just seemed weak sauce. So read this one and keep the DVD on the shelf.

For me this was absolute perfection. Fast, fun, supremely clever and with characters that were ethically dubious but still the kind of people that you wish you spent time with. Very little surprise that the novel itself is also an exercise in marketing genius (screenplay optioned) and you have to imagine that there's a soda company out there itching to make an ironic fortune from the screen adaptation.

I rarely re-read, but so great is my admiration of this book that I'm now out to return my library copy and buy the real thing. Love.

This book frustrated me. It's well-written, with good humor, but the characters were not at all likable. They kept making the same mistakes, over and over. In the end, they succeeded, but it felt forced, as if the victory wasn't achieved through their actions, but because the author made the succeed. A very annoying book. I'm questioning whether to give it two or three stars.

Brilliant satire about marketing/advertising with wonderfully developed characters (and names) - Scat, 6, Sneaky Pete, @ etc.

Our hero is Scat - yes his name is actually Scat although it's taken up in the whole snazzy marketing sort of way where 'perception is reality' (or something of the like). Scat believes that each person sits on three, million-dollar ideas each year but most people pass it by thinking that someone else already thought of it or don't follow through on it. This time Scat actually sits down and decides to propose his (first) million-dollar idea to Coke - for a new soda, called Fukk.

These are then forth spolier-ish but the synopsis/editorial reviews @ Amazon seemed to basically give you the whole picture of the story show more - I don't recommend that you read through them until you read this book (or if you plan to) because I enjoyed the little moments where Scat (and later 6) discover that they've been screwed over - for the first, second, third .. and so on .. time.

He meets up with 6, this 21-year-old marketing whiz kid at Coke who is assigned to listen to his proposal about Fukk. 6, or more like her age (21), was maybe the only unbelievable thing in the whole book - 21? her 'voice' showed a woman with an experience of maybe 10 - 15 years more. 6, the character (besides the age), was a stellar character all around .. a very strong female character, which was surprising - there were no loopholes about why she was like so or a cop-out where she suddenly did a 360 here to change into a girly girl. She's really slick and really good at her job - completely, to the point where you're not sure which is real or not. The anecdote about how she got the name, 6, completely classic.

At the opening of the book, Scat lives with a room-mate .. called .. Sneaky Pete. I bet you can see what's coming after that, yes? Just from the name? Believe me, Sneaky Pete does live up to his name. Again another super cool character, where it's just descriptive enough and cool enough that it's not lame i.e. sunglasses (you never see his eyes .. until ..), not talking much, overall badassness out of his every move/pore. The whole book is about Scat (and 6) trying to pull one over Sneaky Pete - before he does it on them (again) .. and everyone else in his way actually so he can climb up to the top at Coke.

Again, this is a book that just by reading it .. you can so picture it - like in a movie, and checking up on it .. it seems that someone picked up the option - if that's how you say it - to turn it into one. I just hope they don't screw it over and make it all funky - or cast someone so inappropriate for Scat or 6 or Sneaky Pete - or @, Tina, Cindy etc. Though not sure how they're going to do the whole thing with Tom, Winona, Gwyneth or even Brad Pitt (without top billing) - besides the cameo at the end, which could be workable .. i think they'd just reference them with dialogue but hopefully that would not detract from a large part of the ending.

Another favorite from Max Barry. [Btw it's listed as Maxx Barry - a twist on the whole marketing gimmicky name Scat, 6 etc., which apparently most people missed according to the author's blog notes on this book. I thought it was funny.] show less

As an advertising major, I really enjoyed all of the marketing references in this book, although I do hope that maybe the world isn't quite so harsh.

This was a good book, but not great. It kept you going, but not something you're going to write home about.

The characters were interesting, but not captivating. I found I had no one to really root for, just someone to root against.

I had bigger expectations for this book, but it was still a good read.

Max Barry does his thing and does it well. He offers an imaginative storyline, strange and intriguing characters and produces a book oozing with comedic wit. This is the second book of his that I have read (thanks to Arianna) and I have enjoyed them both. I would put this author and all his books on my "to read" list. So far the books have been consistent in style and quality. I would recommend this book to someone who likes finding humor in the corporate world, likes quirky characters and wants a book that is unique and adventurous.