PopCo

I bought this one because it was recommended by the Atlantic, which included it on a list of "Books that Feel Like Puzzles". They're not wrong about that, and while I enjoyed reading "Popco", I'm not sure it met all of my expectations. The book certainly has its strengths. It took me just a few pages to realize that Alice, the novel's narrator and main character, was a unique and believable individual, an odd fit in a creative industry that's full of careerists posing as eccentrics. I enjoyed the book's feel, too: the author describes a setting that is comfortable and beautiful but suffused with menace and mystery. "Popco" is full of interesting stuff, from tidbits about cryptography and math to stories about buried treasure and show more personal tragedy. To her credit, the author explains most of these subjects in a way that non-STEM majors will find easy to grasp. Well, I did get a bit lost when Alice discussed Kurt Gödel's theories, but that might have been inevitable. Lastly, for a book that discusses math and puzzles and length and has more than a few genre-fiction tendencies, this one has a lot to say about growing up as an outsider, about loss, and about the struggle to find your true place in the world. Improbable as it seems, for a book that has a lot to say about cryptography, "Popco" has a surprising amount to say about the affairs of the heart. I'm glad that the author even attempted to combine these elements, and I was pleasantly surprised that she pulled it off as well as she did.

I didn't necessarily have a problem with this novel's politics, which, to be honest, are somewhat close to my own. And Thomas makes good points about the consumerism, competition, and media manipulation that seem endemic to today's modern world throughout. The book's big reveal, however, and the political logic behind it, was rather too much for me to take. I'm only willing to suspend my disbelief for so long, and, after finishing this one, I got the impression that the the author included the solution -- if we can call it that -- described in book's final chapters for lack of any better, more practical options. Also, as much as I enjoyed reading this one -- Popco Towers is a fun, comfortable place to hang out, from a reader's perspective -- I felt that the plot was a bit slack for a book that revolves around puzzles. Mind you, I enjoyed spending time with Alice and the other Popco employees, and I'd recommend this one to any anglophile out there, but there were times I wished it was a more streamlined affair. For all that, this is still a good read, and I have a feeling that readers with interests different than mine might enjoy it more than I did. show less

Alice Butler works at PopCo, the world's third-largest toy company, where she designs code-breaking and detective kits. She has a lifetime of experience in code-breaking, having been raised by her grandfather, a cryptoanalysist, and grandmother, a mathematician and former Bletchley Park cryptographer.

The novel takes place at a corporate retreat centre, where Alice is a assigned to a new project which leads her to question the ethics of her job. At the retreat she starts to receive anonymous coded messages, which she thinks may be connected to a treasure map her grandfather decoded years earlier. The novel moves between Alice's present life at a corporate retreat centre and her childhood with her grandparents.

I absolutely loved this show more book most of the way through. The characters, especially Alice, were engaging, and the book deals with some interesting subjects including math, marketing and pirates. Unfortunately, I found the ending really unsatisfying. While I agree with the book's anti-corporate message, I found the resolution to that part of the story didactic and oversimplified. The resolution to the part of the story about Alice's grandfather and the map was more satisfying, but was rather strangely structured. Overall, I still liked the book alot and think it was worth reading, but was disappointed that it didn't come together better at the end. show less

PopCo by Scarlett Thomas is one of those books that is a revelation. Every now and then, I come across a book wherein I know the author’s ideas and beliefs line up so well with mine that it is very nearly eerie. PopCo encapsulated so many of my own thoughts that I likely annoyed everyone around me as I recommended this book to one and all, even going so far as to purchase several copies at a book clearance store so I could give copies away.

PopCo is hard to categorize. While the heroine, a certain Alice Butler, solves two mysteries, she also contemplates veganism and the ethics of marketing to children. She discusses her knowledge of homeopathic medicine, crossword puzzles, high level math, cryptography and cryptanalysis, and the show more Voynich Manuscript. Her attempts at developing her own identity ring truer to me than any other coming-of-age descriptions in recent memory. And far from finding her childhood with her grandparents boring, I wondered what I would be like had I been raised by genius, eccentric grandparents, and found the prospect attractive. Alice has within her head the Vigenère square, Gödel’s code and prime factorization in the same manner as I have the world’s best chocolate chip cookie recipe memorized. Alice is self-contained, cool under pressure, utterly geeky and wholly earnest – in short, a heroine unlike anyone I have ever read before. Read my entire discussion here: http://ireadoddbooks.com/popco1-by-scarlett-thomas/ show less

PopCo is a little like Apple - An enigmatic and messianic CEO, Senior Executives with eccentricities bordering on whimsy all veiling a maniacal obsession with market domination. Alice Butler finds herself in the creative department of a PopCo division via a job setting crosswords for a provincial weekly. When you’ve been raised by your grandparents, one a pure mathematician, the other a cryptanalyst it’s probably inevitable that your breakthrough product is a spy kit. With that kind of pedigree and a day-job in junior code-breaking she’s a walking illustration of geek-chic.

The invite to the annual PopCo conference may come from left-of-field but we find there was some fuzzy-logic to this decision. With references to planned show more obsolescence, viral marketing, negative-brands and ideation this is a novel with ambition, but not over-burdened by it. The childhood reminiscences, a vehicle for the introduction of the Maths and cryptanalysis, are a perfectly pitched relief. PopCo’s “Thought Camp” has its eye on the holy grail of marketing – the killer product for teenage girls. Alice eventually unearths a more literal treasure - Her grandfather placed the key to the location of a 17th century pirate’s booty in her locket and when she finds it it makes PopCo's "market-cap" look tiny.

A book dealing with corporate cyncism could be as soul-less as it's subject matter. Fortunately PopCo's flashbacks to childhood add emotional depth. Alice’s grandparents may have effectively bequeathed a multi-billion pound fortune but there’s more than a suggestion that the real treasure is the memory of the time spent with them. show less

The cover told me that this book might change my life. It didn’t quite manage that, although it did tempt me to commit petty acts of vandalism in my local supermarket. Alice works for an international toy company, and is happy in her work until a curious work trip takes her and her colleagues to Devon, where she is asked to work on a special project. Alice’s fascination with numbers and cryptography is piqued by a series of mysterious notes, which lead her eventually to question all that she had previously supposed about her employer, about big business, and the world around her.

I found Alice to be a fantastically likable character, and I see elements of her in myself, or vice versa. She never quite follows the crowd, but seems to show more exist on the edge. A little bit kooky, and not quite in touch with her inner self, she suddenly finds her world tipped upside down over the course of a few days. Scarlett Thomas has produced an intriguing story, although perhaps not quite as gripping as The End of Mr Y.

To end, a small disclaimer, and a word of reassurance; I won’t lie to you. There’s quite a lot of maths-talk in this, about which I was a bit worried before I started reading. I’m an incredibly unmathematical person, but I found Thomas’ way of explaining things quite interesting, and definitely on my level. My fears that I was going to need to do a maths degree to understand what was happening were unfounded, and in the end, this was a thoroughly enjoyable read. (Please don’t tell my high school maths teacher that I liked a book with maths in it.) show less

Wow, this was good. Brilliant engaging story, intelligent characters and very well written. You could take this as a but preachy but you could also see past that. Was this a YA novel? It had that essential vitality and pathos that inhabits those creations. Either way that doesn’t lessen the impact of this book. You would know in the first twenty pages if this book is for you or not. You can also learn interesting stuff by reading this. I made lots of notes on the Kindle.

On the strength of this novel I am now reading am now reading The End of Mr Y.

oh what a vexing, frustrating, almost brilliant book. i came to this after "the end of mr y" and had high, high hopes which for 300 odd pages were paying off... and then it all sort of fritters away that promise. such a frustrating book. i don't begrudge having spent so much time with it - thomas is always a beguiling writer, and brilliant at getting quite incredibly meaty concepts over in a reasonably simple manner - but i do wish it had amounted to more. i did feel a little bit like i'd climbed a narrative mountain only to be preached at a bit about consumerism. i kind of agree on a lot of her viewpoints, but because i feel thomas has been a tiny bit dishonest with what she promised the book initially to be and how it eventually pans show more out... i sort of ended up feeling quite profoundly annoyed with a lot of those viewpoints which i don't really think was the idea. i'll stick to "the end of mr y" i think... show less