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songwind's review
3.0
Gripped recounts the experiences of Marky McCarren, slacker and office clown. Before long, his clownish behavior has landed him in sufficient hot water at work to lose him his job.
Enter "The Program." After watching a late-night informercial and calling in for more information, Marky finds himself enrolled in the Program, for free. They immediately set about changing his habits for the better.
But all is not right in self-helpsville. The plan's instructions include some thinly veiled threats, and they know an awful lot about Marky's life.
Fans of the Stephen King story "Quitters, Inc." or the Michael Douglas movie The Game will see immediate similarities. But Gripped takes this tried-and-true beginning and turns into its own animal by the end. It's an enjoyable blend of humor, mystery, a dash of thriller, and wry observations about modern life.
The book isn't without its problems, however. The rising action is a bit too long of a slow build, in my opinion. Too much of the middle of the book is similar to what's around it, making it feel monotonous. The writing itself could be better, as well. Sentence structure is frequently awkward. Similes sometimes don't quite make sense. And the use of commas is absolutely atrocious.
All in all, I found Gripped an enjoyable read, and a decent freshman outing for Donnelly. I look forward to seeing where his wit takes us next.
Enter "The Program." After watching a late-night informercial and calling in for more information, Marky finds himself enrolled in the Program, for free. They immediately set about changing his habits for the better.
But all is not right in self-helpsville. The plan's instructions include some thinly veiled threats, and they know an awful lot about Marky's life.
Fans of the Stephen King story "Quitters, Inc." or the Michael Douglas movie The Game will see immediate similarities. But Gripped takes this tried-and-true beginning and turns into its own animal by the end. It's an enjoyable blend of humor, mystery, a dash of thriller, and wry observations about modern life.
The book isn't without its problems, however. The rising action is a bit too long of a slow build, in my opinion. Too much of the middle of the book is similar to what's around it, making it feel monotonous. The writing itself could be better, as well. Sentence structure is frequently awkward. Similes sometimes don't quite make sense. And the use of commas is absolutely atrocious.
All in all, I found Gripped an enjoyable read, and a decent freshman outing for Donnelly. I look forward to seeing where his wit takes us next.
apriltara's review
4.0
With an opening line like the one in Gripped, you know this story is going to be...well, weird. And it is. When Marky - wait, let me correct that. When Mark starts following the Program, it sounds like some sort of cult. It reminded me of Jared Leto's mom in Requiem for a Dream when she was glued to the TV buying that diet program but also a little bit of Fight Club because the first rule of the Program is that you're not supposed to talk about the Program. Mark is doing everything the Program tells him to do. He buys a Blu-Ray player, he starts drinking Evian, and he starts talking to random strangers about something he read in the paper to which he now subscribes as directed. And as you're reading, you're wondering why this seemingly intelligent guy is just blindly following this Program and doing what these people tell him to do. Is he being followed? Are people in the Program disappearing or worse? Is it a cult? No, it's just marketing. So we follow Mark as he struggles to comply with all of the rules of the program and as he gets a glimpse of what will happen if he doesn't. We watch him get into a new job and a new relationship, neither of which really make much sense. By the end, you start to realize that Mark is just a puppet and then it dawns on you...aren't we all? Excellent read for anyone involved in marketing and social media or even just curious about how and why it works.
rtimmorris's review
2.0
This is a tough one for me. There is enough of a solid concept and quirky humor in the book to make me enjoy it, but there was also more than enough repetitiveness and odd writing choices throughout to make me lose interest for brief lapses. When the writer gives running commentary on his character's dislike for poorly-spelled text messages, as well as varying masturbation slang, constant mention of the "Three S's", his judgmental cat, the nightly doses of sleeping pills, as well as the mention of what song comes on first thing in the morning, it really adds up after a while. Enough to make the reader question just how much material is really in the 270+ pages.
I enjoyed the chapter layout immensely. Too often when the events in a novel take place over a period of time, it's frustrating as a reader when you don't immediately know how much time has passed from chapter to chapter. In Gripped, each chapter is one day in a long span of consecutive days. Absolutely no confusion there. I found myself loving the main character (Marky) at the beginning of the book. His exploits at his menial office-type job are painful in a very entertaining way. You even want to root for the poor bastard.
What I found odd was that Marky seemed like a different character once he'd begun his relationship with Emily. It was too drastic a shift from the "downtrodden, can't-get-anything-right office schmuck" to the "upbeat, positive, full-of-hope-and-love boyfriend." But maybe that's intentional? Perhaps it's a commentary on how we change when we're in new relationships? There is some "future glimpsing" from Marky's standpoint at the beginning; when he first meets Emily he states how she will eventually "ruin everything." He notes, "I'm about to meet a mistake." However there is no such foresight into the nature of The Program itself (or at the very least, the more horrific aspects of it), which I found contradictory and confusing.
In the end, my best guess is that this is a story about a guy who sucks at life, is threatened by a subversive organization to turn things around - which he does, playing by their rules no less - and then realizes that he's happy and fulfilled in the end. Is there a life lesson here? Is this what satire is? Am I supposed to feel like I've just been the victim of social media propaganda? I'm really not sure, but maybe that's the whole point of it all.
Donnelly is a terrific writer, a young writer who embraces the use of technology in his work. He is superb at writing the "blossoming relationship" side of characters and I would not hesitate to read further works of his that tread into this realm.
I enjoyed the chapter layout immensely. Too often when the events in a novel take place over a period of time, it's frustrating as a reader when you don't immediately know how much time has passed from chapter to chapter. In Gripped, each chapter is one day in a long span of consecutive days. Absolutely no confusion there. I found myself loving the main character (Marky) at the beginning of the book. His exploits at his menial office-type job are painful in a very entertaining way. You even want to root for the poor bastard.
What I found odd was that Marky seemed like a different character once he'd begun his relationship with Emily. It was too drastic a shift from the "downtrodden, can't-get-anything-right office schmuck" to the "upbeat, positive, full-of-hope-and-love boyfriend." But maybe that's intentional? Perhaps it's a commentary on how we change when we're in new relationships? There is some "future glimpsing" from Marky's standpoint at the beginning; when he first meets Emily he states how she will eventually "ruin everything." He notes, "I'm about to meet a mistake." However there is no such foresight into the nature of The Program itself (or at the very least, the more horrific aspects of it), which I found contradictory and confusing.
In the end, my best guess is that this is a story about a guy who sucks at life, is threatened by a subversive organization to turn things around - which he does, playing by their rules no less - and then realizes that he's happy and fulfilled in the end. Is there a life lesson here? Is this what satire is? Am I supposed to feel like I've just been the victim of social media propaganda? I'm really not sure, but maybe that's the whole point of it all.
Donnelly is a terrific writer, a young writer who embraces the use of technology in his work. He is superb at writing the "blossoming relationship" side of characters and I would not hesitate to read further works of his that tread into this realm.
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