Good Fiction for Geeks
Monday, February 25th, 2008PopCo by Scarlett Thomas
This is a really fun book, if a bit unsubtle in its final messages. I have a feeling that each person who reads this book will come away with a different favorite part - whether the anti-corporate behemoth message, the “good people are vegetarians,” the cryptanalysis (as opposed to cryptology), the mathematical puzzles, the bits of history throughout, the loving references to Rescue Remedies, the romance, the cake recipe at the back or one of the two different “endings.”
The main character, Alice, had quite an unorthodox childhood, which we relive in bits and pieces throughout the 500+ pages. An intelligent person, she is raised by her mathmatician grandparents which in no small part affects her as an adult. What other child has the busywork task of solving prime numbers, writing puzzles and crosswords for the paper under her grandfather’s name, and ends up graduating as an English major but working at a toy company? The other characters are interesting as well, and there’s even a romantic interest involved.
All in all, it is a fascinating book, and one I am giving to my mathematically-minded, puzzle-loving sister for her enjoyment. I suppose it counts as Science Fiction, but it’s more math than science. In one of those oddities of books I get from the BEA, the cover was completely a different image, so don’t let that eerie doll put you off a good story, okay?
Released October 2005 by Harcourt Inc, HarcourtBooks.com