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spridlewv's review against another edition
4.0
Another excellent and thought provoking story from Rupert.
zoes_human's review
2.0
This review is definitely not intended for anyone under the age of 18. Of course, the book really isn't either. In other words, NSFW, so don't start crying about the language in my review.
Spark is funny, intriguing, and fast-paced with a completely credible protagonist and a message worth saying. I literally laughed out loud several times and felt the visceral thrill one gets from well written suspense. The portrayal of corporate culture is spot fucking on and I FUCKING LOVE THE ENDING. I seriously need bigger caps for how much I love the ending.
Rupert has some incredible writing gifts. There are these brilliantly dynamic character sketches which, in a few brief sentences, tell not only how the characters look but who they are. His talent with dialogue is phenomenal. Every person has their own voice and is written so distinctly that you can visualize the body language which accompanies the words.
However, this great story runs into trouble through a combination of a lack of polish and being written in first person POV with a shifting tense; both of which are tremendously difficult to master.
The protagonist is at times narrated in a conversational tone which felt awkward and inappropriate. There were far too many 'tell you later' sort of statements ("...for reasons I'll tell you about later...", "...I'll tell you why my nose is bleeding later...", etc.). I frequently found myself pushed through the fourth wall in a most unpleasant way. This particularly shows up with segues - "Let me take you through the conversation I had with Vinnie...", "I will now take you through the downward spiral of job interview hell...", “Back to the story”, “but more of that in just a moment”, etc. I gotta tell you, stuff like that felt like being made love to by a man who announces every move before he does it and then verbalizes that it's finished - "First I'm going to lick your nipple.... I've licked your nipple, now I'm going to tweak it..."
Shifting tense can be very confusing to the reader, and I think <i>Spark</i> goes too far to the other extreme to try and avoid that. Using either a font style or interlude technique to create a distinction in times is far preferable to being subjected to the awkwardness of statements such as “I need to pause for a moment and give you an update”.
There is also an issue with repetitiveness which feels as though it might stem from the author not having enough faith in his writing. If you think of the old "show me, don't tell me" adage, you will find that this book sometimes shows you <i>and</i> tells you. For example, Vinnie is an prick. In fact, he is the world's biggest prick. I know this because I was told he was a prick 23 times, 12 of which specify world's biggest. The thing isn't we needn't be told this at all. Rupert writes characters and dialogue amazingly well; he shows in no uncertain terms that Vinnie is indeed a prick to a grand degree. In another case, we are told about someone that while they have "a talent for making people believe all kinds of nonsense, he's the most deluded fella I've ever met." Thing is, we know this already because the character is written so well and stating it again actually manages to diminish the irony.
I look forward to seeing this talent develop. To Rupert, I strongly recommend getting beta readers that push you harder. You’ve immense potential.
Spark is funny, intriguing, and fast-paced with a completely credible protagonist and a message worth saying. I literally laughed out loud several times and felt the visceral thrill one gets from well written suspense. The portrayal of corporate culture is spot fucking on and I FUCKING LOVE THE ENDING. I seriously need bigger caps for how much I love the ending.
Rupert has some incredible writing gifts. There are these brilliantly dynamic character sketches which, in a few brief sentences, tell not only how the characters look but who they are. His talent with dialogue is phenomenal. Every person has their own voice and is written so distinctly that you can visualize the body language which accompanies the words.
However, this great story runs into trouble through a combination of a lack of polish and being written in first person POV with a shifting tense; both of which are tremendously difficult to master.
The protagonist is at times narrated in a conversational tone which felt awkward and inappropriate. There were far too many 'tell you later' sort of statements ("...for reasons I'll tell you about later...", "...I'll tell you why my nose is bleeding later...", etc.). I frequently found myself pushed through the fourth wall in a most unpleasant way. This particularly shows up with segues - "Let me take you through the conversation I had with Vinnie...", "I will now take you through the downward spiral of job interview hell...", “Back to the story”, “but more of that in just a moment”, etc. I gotta tell you, stuff like that felt like being made love to by a man who announces every move before he does it and then verbalizes that it's finished - "First I'm going to lick your nipple.... I've licked your nipple, now I'm going to tweak it..."
Shifting tense can be very confusing to the reader, and I think <i>Spark</i> goes too far to the other extreme to try and avoid that. Using either a font style or interlude technique to create a distinction in times is far preferable to being subjected to the awkwardness of statements such as “I need to pause for a moment and give you an update”.
There is also an issue with repetitiveness which feels as though it might stem from the author not having enough faith in his writing. If you think of the old "show me, don't tell me" adage, you will find that this book sometimes shows you <i>and</i> tells you. For example, Vinnie is an prick. In fact, he is the world's biggest prick. I know this because I was told he was a prick 23 times, 12 of which specify world's biggest. The thing isn't we needn't be told this at all. Rupert writes characters and dialogue amazingly well; he shows in no uncertain terms that Vinnie is indeed a prick to a grand degree. In another case, we are told about someone that while they have "a talent for making people believe all kinds of nonsense, he's the most deluded fella I've ever met." Thing is, we know this already because the character is written so well and stating it again actually manages to diminish the irony.
I look forward to seeing this talent develop. To Rupert, I strongly recommend getting beta readers that push you harder. You’ve immense potential.
dennisjacobrosenfeld's review against another edition
4.0
I have a penchant for transgressive fiction and that's how Spark came to me. It definitely fits the bill and has several of the elements that I like about the genre. The story is told from the point of view of Jake in his dying moments as he recounts how he came to be shot by a counterterrorist soldier in London. Without revealing to much it involves a broken heart, a mind numbing job, a fair amount of paranoia and computer hacking. This is a really strong debut novel and I like the rebellious anti-authoritarian language the story is told in. Some of the developments take place a bit fast, stretching suspension of disbelief somewhat. The balance between making the hacking believable and not including enough information to make the sections bogged down with specifics is a tricky one, but the author manages for the most part to make it interesting and fast paced. I would've liked more of the philosophical parts that are sprinkled throughout the book. The anti-capitalist theme really appeals to me and I share the concerns expressed about today's society. Had the story progressed at a slower pace the main character could've spent more time exploring what makes modern society so problematic. A small problem for me was the spelling errors and missing words, but they did not ruin the overall experience.
(I was kindly given my copy of the book by the author himself.)
(I was kindly given my copy of the book by the author himself.)
blackoxford's review against another edition
3.0
Sarcasm Squared
What do you call sarcasm about sarcasm? Could it be sardony? If so Spark is way up there on the spectrum "irony, sarcasm, satire, sardony.” How far is it possible to send up yourself?
Spark is the self-proclaimed voice of the Y-bother generation. These are the millennial 'snowflakes' who feel betrayed and abandoned by the world but maintain an attitude of romantic love worthy of Byron. Because their metier is sarcasm, they present a real problem to the writer who wants to rub them up a bit.
For example, it is reported recently by the Wall Street Journal that many Y-bothers are jumping ship from Big Finance in London and New York. At first glance they might look a principled lot. But it is cash not ethics that matters. They are dissatisfied with the bonuses which don't allow the life style they expect. How do you get sarcastic in the face of such sarcasm?
The central theme of Spark is the repeated refrain of "our rubbish lives". Included is a manifesto of Y-bothersomness that covers gripes from the demand to participate in the phony (Salinger?) corporate rat-race to the bullshit (Vonnegut?) dictatorship of electricity metres. The disappearance of affordable yuppie city-accommodation sits somewhere in the middle (Lanchester?).
The irony at the low end of the spectrum can get lost in the whinging sardonic frequencies of the upper end. The protagonist is a computer-geek working, but not very hard, in a banking giant. For the moment he's travelling third class on the corporate gravy train. But his prospects? Well he gets offered promotion the first day on the job.
According to social science pundits, this is precisely the guy who has won in the globalisation stakes, the one who has beaten the bloke on the provincial assembly line into a pulp. Wasn't he the one voted against by Brexit and Trump supporters? Yet he too thinks the world is stacked against him. Someone seems to have driven a wedge between folk who have an awfully lot in common.
Y-bothers are hacktivists. That is, they dream about a social system that looks like the internet in which there are no adult responsibilities, no fixed identities, and lots of money in game-playing. They hang out on the internet waiting for the revolution until...well in Spark's case until he gets shot in the gut by the Counterterrorism Unit. From irony to sardony in one narrative jump.
A combination of The Young Ones, The Big Bang Theory, Live Free or Die Hard, and any one of a dozen rom-coms. Amusing but not meant to be taken seriously. When’s the last time you saw a digi-nerd using a Polaroid camera after all? I presume the three or four plot-recaps in what is a shortish book is more than an aid for those readers who might get lost in a toilet stall.
What do you call sarcasm about sarcasm? Could it be sardony? If so Spark is way up there on the spectrum "irony, sarcasm, satire, sardony.” How far is it possible to send up yourself?
Spark is the self-proclaimed voice of the Y-bother generation. These are the millennial 'snowflakes' who feel betrayed and abandoned by the world but maintain an attitude of romantic love worthy of Byron. Because their metier is sarcasm, they present a real problem to the writer who wants to rub them up a bit.
For example, it is reported recently by the Wall Street Journal that many Y-bothers are jumping ship from Big Finance in London and New York. At first glance they might look a principled lot. But it is cash not ethics that matters. They are dissatisfied with the bonuses which don't allow the life style they expect. How do you get sarcastic in the face of such sarcasm?
The central theme of Spark is the repeated refrain of "our rubbish lives". Included is a manifesto of Y-bothersomness that covers gripes from the demand to participate in the phony (Salinger?) corporate rat-race to the bullshit (Vonnegut?) dictatorship of electricity metres. The disappearance of affordable yuppie city-accommodation sits somewhere in the middle (Lanchester?).
The irony at the low end of the spectrum can get lost in the whinging sardonic frequencies of the upper end. The protagonist is a computer-geek working, but not very hard, in a banking giant. For the moment he's travelling third class on the corporate gravy train. But his prospects? Well he gets offered promotion the first day on the job.
According to social science pundits, this is precisely the guy who has won in the globalisation stakes, the one who has beaten the bloke on the provincial assembly line into a pulp. Wasn't he the one voted against by Brexit and Trump supporters? Yet he too thinks the world is stacked against him. Someone seems to have driven a wedge between folk who have an awfully lot in common.
Y-bothers are hacktivists. That is, they dream about a social system that looks like the internet in which there are no adult responsibilities, no fixed identities, and lots of money in game-playing. They hang out on the internet waiting for the revolution until...well in Spark's case until he gets shot in the gut by the Counterterrorism Unit. From irony to sardony in one narrative jump.
A combination of The Young Ones, The Big Bang Theory, Live Free or Die Hard, and any one of a dozen rom-coms. Amusing but not meant to be taken seriously. When’s the last time you saw a digi-nerd using a Polaroid camera after all? I presume the three or four plot-recaps in what is a shortish book is more than an aid for those readers who might get lost in a toilet stall.
kingjason's review
5.0
SPARK LIVES!!!!
Thoroughly enjoyed reading this book, having the London riots still fresh in your mind makes this all feel more real, it seems that everything in this book is possible... all it needs for Spark to step up and start the ball rolling.
When I first started this book I thought I was going to be reading a modern day version of fight club, but after a few chapters the book found its own way.
There are some brilliant ideas and I thought Jake's method of therapy was genius, I might have to try it out one day.
It took me a little while to figure out that this book is not just about a nerd but is in fact also full of psychology, all that paranoia and the rise of Spark. Plato is a brilliant character, as soon as he starts talking you know he is gonna same something wise.
Really looking forward to the next novel.
New review after a second reading is on my blog> https://felcherman.wordpress.com/2018/06/23/spark-by-rupert-dreyfus/
Thoroughly enjoyed reading this book, having the London riots still fresh in your mind makes this all feel more real, it seems that everything in this book is possible... all it needs for Spark to step up and start the ball rolling.
When I first started this book I thought I was going to be reading a modern day version of fight club, but after a few chapters the book found its own way.
There are some brilliant ideas and I thought Jake's method of therapy was genius, I might have to try it out one day.
It took me a little while to figure out that this book is not just about a nerd but is in fact also full of psychology, all that paranoia and the rise of Spark. Plato is a brilliant character, as soon as he starts talking you know he is gonna same something wise.
Really looking forward to the next novel.
New review after a second reading is on my blog> https://felcherman.wordpress.com/2018/06/23/spark-by-rupert-dreyfus/
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