Fiction, World Literature, Fiction Subjects

PopCo

Name: PopCo
Author: Scarlett Thomas
ISBN: 9780156031370

by Scarlett Thomas

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Overview

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?

Synopsis

Publishers Weekly

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. (Oct.) Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.

About the Author, Scarlett Thomas

SCARLETT THOMAS is the author of PopCo and The End of Mr. Y. She has been nominated for the Orange Prize and named Writer of the Year by Elle UK, one of the twenty best young writers by the Independent, and one of the Telegraph’s 20 best writers under 40.

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Editorials

Publishers Weekly

Library Journal

A treasure hunt, cryptanalysis, a mysterious necklace, romance, the present state of sales marketing, the evolution of consumer products, a call to awareness against human and animal exploitation-all are intertwined in this extremly ingenious novel. The very aptly named Alice is recruited by the PopCo Corporation, a toy manufacturer, because of her crossword puzzle- making abilities. Since then, she has worked as an "ideation creative" and designed a successful trio of toys that allow kids to do code-breaking, spying, and detective work. When she finally realizes how immoral PopCo really is, she eagerly agrees when asked to join "NoCo," a subversive global organization of corporate employees that do their best to undermine the companies they work for with the ultimate goal of bankrupting them. For the first time in her life, Alice feels like she truly belongs, and toward the end of the story she decides to write the novel we have just read. British author Thomas (Going Out) is without question a gifted writer, and many readers will certainly find her new work a mind-blowing experience. Strongly recommended for all libraries.-Lisa Rohrbaugh, East Palestine Memorial P.L., OH Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews

The author of the agreeable but aimless Going Out (2004) finds a sense of direction in this ambitious novel, which quietly but scathingly critiques consumerist society. Narrator Alice Butler, 29, invents new products for PopCo, a global toy company that sells "the things kids want"-or rather, creates those wants through such sinister marketing tactics as fake websites with fake kids "discovering" various PopCo products. Alice is mildly alienated by this as she heads to the company's annual brainstorming session at its luxurious "Thought Camp" in Devon. But over the course of her stay, childhood memories come flooding back to reveal how far she's strayed from the ideals of the grandparents who raised her after her mother died and her father vanished. Both were ace mathematicians and cryptographers: Her grandmother worked at Bletchley Park on cracking the Enigma code; her grandfather deciphered a manuscript that led to buried treasure, but refused to make use of it because the treasure lay in a wildlife preserve. He left the secret to Alice, who at "Thought Camp" finds herself increasingly repulsed by the shallow values of most of her fellow employees, who think that "no dress code, no rules and no set working hours" means they're free, when in fact they're as trapped as the workers who actually produce Popco's stuff in dangerous Third World factories. Thomas passes along a lot of surprisingly interesting information about math and cryptography, plus some highly creepy material on toy marketing, as she connects her heroine with fellow rebels and suggests an alternative to mindlessly feeding the corporate desire machine. The conclusion may not be terribly plausible, but it provides apleasing happy ending for morose but oddly lovable Alice-and a form of revolt that suits her wised-up, yet not entirely cynical, generation. 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.