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More copies of this ISBNPopCoby Scarlett Thomas
Synopses & ReviewsPublisher Comments:PopCo tells the story of Alice Butler — a subversively smart girl in our commercial-soaked world who grows from recluse orphan to burgeoning vigilante, buttressed by mystery, codes, math, and the sense her grandparents gave her that she could change the world.
Alice — slight introvert, crossword compositor — works at PopCo, a globally successful and slightly sinister toy company. Lured by their CEO to a Thought Camp out on the moors, PopCo's creatives must invent the ultimate product for teenage girls. Meanwhile, Alice receives bizarre, encrypted messages she suspects relate to her grandfather's decoding of a centuries-old manuscript that many — including her long-disappeared father — believe leads to buried treasure. Its key, she's sure, is engraved on the necklace she's been wearing since she was ten. Using the skills she learned from her grandparents and teaching us aspects of cryptanalysis, Alice discovers the source of these creepy codes. Will this lead her to the mysterious treasure or another, even more carefully guarded secret? Review:"The code-breaking and -making heroine of Thomas's latest smart, engaging novel (after Going Out) takes a critical view of the corporate marketing of cool, an exploit she knows from inside the rapaciously hip boardrooms of the titular British toy company, the third largest in the world. Twenty-nine-year-old Alice Butler has parlayed her expertise in 'crosswords, cryptography, and cryptanalysis' — talents she gained from her mathematically inclined grandparents — into a job at PopCo's Ideation and Design department, where she creates sleuthing kits for kids (KidSpy, KidTec and KidCracker). At a companywide countryside retreat (aka 'Thought Camp'), the CEO selects Alice to help invent a product that will spark a craze for teenage girls. While Alice looks into her past for insight to this inadequately tapped market — and for clues to her own identity — she also ponders a locket from her grandfather that may contain the code to a centuries-old puzzle. As Alice works on PopCo's blockbuster product and decodes the ancient brainteaser, as well as encrypted messages from an anonymous PopCo colleague, she becomes increasingly disenchanted with her employer's ubiquitous branding, advertising and exploitation of young consumers. Thomas delivers a captivating heroine and a pointed cultural critique that will especially resonate with the No Logo crowd." Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.) Review:"[A]mbitious....Thomas has always been a sharp observer and deft creator of character; it's a pleasure to see those skills employed in the context of a strong plot and stronger point of view. Thought-provoking fiction for the Digital Age." Kirkus Reviews Review:"[An] extremly ingenious novel....British author Thomas is without question a gifted writer, and many readers will certainly find her new work a mind-blowing experience. Strongly recommended." Library Journal Review:"Thomas' latest has a chronic case of attention deficit disorder....Although Thomas' premise is clever, her digressions into esoteric topics (Godel, anyone?) are likely to leave readers more exhausted than amused." Booklist Review:"How many novels can you think of that leave the reader with an intriguing puzzle to solve, plus a cake recipe, plus a crossword and a list of the first thousand prime numbers? Clever, likeable, frothy, zeitgeist-chasing." Time Out London Review:"No heroine this year was more beguiling than Alice in Scarlett Thomas's PopCo. This book might just change your life." Independent on Sunday (London) Synopsis:BACK COVER
"This book might just change your life." — Independent on Sunday
PFTACJVPRDN? ARE YOU HAPPY? Alice Butler has been receiving some very odd messages—all anonymous, all written in code. Are they from someone at PopCo, the profit-hungry toy company that employs her? From her long-lost father? Or does someone else know her family secret? Through codes, math, and the sense her grandparents gave her that she could change the world, Alice grows from recluse orphan to burgeoning vigilante, and may even uncover the meaning of the key inscribed on the necklace she has worn since she was ten. Can we fit author photo and one line bio as such: Scarlett Thomas is the author of Bright Young Things, Going Out, PopCo, and Our Tragic Universe. Praise for PopCo. "Enough code-breaking tips, puzzles and graphs, charts, postscripts and appendixes to satisfy that other mathematician storyteller, Lewis Carroll." –The New York Times Book Review "A sort of Harriet-the-Spy-meets-Douglas-Coupland with a Treasure Island twist." --Daily Candy ----------------------------- ORIGINAL 2005 COPY PFTACJVPRDN? ARE YOU HAPPY? Alice Butler has been receiving some pretty odd messages--all anonymous, all written in simple code, all eerily vague but pointed enough to show the sender has been watching her closely. Are the messages from someone at PopCo-- the slightly sinister, profit-hungry toy company that has herded Alice and its other top creatives out to a secluded Thought Camp? Are they from Alice's long-disappeared, treasure-hunting father? Are they from someone who knows that her cryptanalyst grandfather left her the key to finding that treasure? And then there is quiet Ben, Alice's new love, who might be hiding something. Could it be that all this will lead Alice to a secret even more carefully guarded than her own? PopCo is the story of a subversively smart girl who grows from recluse orphan to burgeoning vigilante, buttressed by mystery, codes, math, and the sense her grandparents gave her that she could change the world. Praise for PopCo. "How many novels can you think of that leave the reader with an intriguing puzzle to solve, plus a cake recipe, plus a crossword and a list of the first thousand prime numbers? Clever, likeable, frothy, zeitgeist-chasing."--Time Out London "No heroine this year was more beguiling than Alice in Scarlett Thomas's PopCo. This book might just change your life." — Independent on Sunday "Thomas restores the novel to its primary purpose: a blueprint for a revolution. It is an outright amazement." --Scotland on Sunday Scarlett Thomas is the author of BRIGHT YOUNG THINGS and GOING OUT. She writes for the Independent on Sunday and contributes to many other magazines; in 2002 she won an Elle Style Award. She currently lives and teaches in Canterbury, Kent, where she enjoys recreational mathematics, 1960s architecture, and artistic manifestoes of any sort. Synopsis:"PopCo" tells the story of Alice Butler--a subversively smart girl in the commercial-soaked world who grows from recluse orphan to burgeoning vigilante, buttressed by mystery, codes, math, and the sense her grandparents gave her that she could change the world.
About the AuthorScarlett Thomas is the author of several novels, including Bright Young Things and Going Out. She writes for the Independent on Sunday and contributes to many other magazines; in 2002 she won an Elle Style Award. She lives and teaches in Canterbury, England. What Our Readers Are SayingAdd a comment for a chance to win!Average customer rating based on 1 comment:
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