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masonlou8's review
1.0
I received a copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
This novel is set in London in a society where Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is on the rise. Ritalin is a drug that is used to calm children/teens with ADHD, however there is a new wonder drug Concentr8 which has the same desired effects but better and cheaper
The concentr8 program has been abandoned! as a result London is in chaos with riots, looting, and fires.
The novel starts off with 5 teenagers Blaze, Troy, Femi, Lee and Karen, on a whim they to decide to kidnap an employee from the Mayors offices and tie him to a radiator, but they don't really know why. It just happens.
I hadn't heard much about this book or the author when I requested it and the synopsis intrigued me or maybe it was the blinding yellow of the book that drew me in (who knows).
I really didn't like the writing style of this book, every chapter was told by a different person and because they were so short, I had to go back to remind myself who the narrator was. I have never seen writing like this before either, the words are mashed together, eg "It's like all your lifeyou knowwhat's fantasyand whats solid..." It is
like this throughout the book and I had to make sure what i was reading as could be confusing at times.There are lack of comma's, full stops and pretty appalling grammar with thick London accents.
So I researched ADHD and some of the symptoms are impulsiveness, little or no sense of danger, excessive talking, unable to concentrate, short attention span and many more. Which does come across in the characters.
This is one of the mental health issues that hasn't really be discussed in books that much and I was looking forward to it being touched upon. There are also excerpts in every chapter that has been taken from real life twitter accounts, magazines and other sources regarding Ritalin.
The book is very thought-provoking about ADHD, medications that are used, their side effects and diagnosis.
If you are interested in Mental Health and diverse books then have a look.
I personally didn't enjoy this book but made myself finish it (DNF is a rarity)
This novel is set in London in a society where Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is on the rise. Ritalin is a drug that is used to calm children/teens with ADHD, however there is a new wonder drug Concentr8 which has the same desired effects but better and cheaper
The concentr8 program has been abandoned! as a result London is in chaos with riots, looting, and fires.
The novel starts off with 5 teenagers Blaze, Troy, Femi, Lee and Karen, on a whim they to decide to kidnap an employee from the Mayors offices and tie him to a radiator, but they don't really know why. It just happens.
I hadn't heard much about this book or the author when I requested it and the synopsis intrigued me or maybe it was the blinding yellow of the book that drew me in (who knows).
I really didn't like the writing style of this book, every chapter was told by a different person and because they were so short, I had to go back to remind myself who the narrator was. I have never seen writing like this before either, the words are mashed together, eg "It's like all your lifeyou knowwhat's fantasyand whats solid..." It is
like this throughout the book and I had to make sure what i was reading as could be confusing at times.There are lack of comma's, full stops and pretty appalling grammar with thick London accents.
So I researched ADHD and some of the symptoms are impulsiveness, little or no sense of danger, excessive talking, unable to concentrate, short attention span and many more. Which does come across in the characters.
This is one of the mental health issues that hasn't really be discussed in books that much and I was looking forward to it being touched upon. There are also excerpts in every chapter that has been taken from real life twitter accounts, magazines and other sources regarding Ritalin.
The book is very thought-provoking about ADHD, medications that are used, their side effects and diagnosis.
If you are interested in Mental Health and diverse books then have a look.
I personally didn't enjoy this book but made myself finish it (DNF is a rarity)
lizeee's review against another edition
So disappointing. I can't even say I am proud for having the patience to complete the whole exhausting 200 and-something-rather-pages of this irritable book.
I never knew how satisfying it would be to literally chuck this horrible book across the room.
It's very therapeutic.
I never knew how satisfying it would be to literally chuck this horrible book across the room.
It's very therapeutic.
imjustcupcake's review against another edition
2.0
Have you ever put off a review because you don't want to write it? That is how it has been with me and my review for Concentr8. I have been trying to get myself to write it for weeks. Actually, to be totally honest, this is not the only review I have been putting off. Well, I decided that I am going to open up where I write my reviews and just write it. I need to get it done.
Concentr8 takes place in London England in the not so distant future. Or maybe it is distant. It is kind of hard to tell. The city is currently under going a riot of epic proportions. Why? The government decided that it would stop supplying the medication Concentr8, used to treat ADHD, to the people. This medication is so wide spread and used by so many people that they all freak out and riot. A lot of them being teenagers.
Teenagers like our main characters. Our story follows a group of them. We start out at the riot, where they aren't doing much at all, and then the ring leader decides to kidnap a random government employee. The other kids don't know why, but they follow along anyways.
Then they take the kidnapped employee into an abandoned warehouse. They become public news. The mayor gets involved. Things happen. The whole story takes place over the course of 6 days.
I personally thought that this story sounded like an interesting one. I had such faith going into it that it was going to be good. I was so bitterly disappointed.
There are a lot of different narratives to follow with in this story. While this is not normally a thing that turns me off, when all the narratives essentially sound like I am following the same person when I am not supposed to be, I find them a horrible drag. And that is how they were in Concentr8. Unfortunately, I found them to be very poorly executed. To make matters worse, I felt like the author had tried too hard with it. So many of the sentences ended with "?"s when they really didn't need to. It made that particular person's narrative very hard to read in my personal opinion.
Aside from the narration, the whole story felt very flat. As I was reading along I kept waiting for something to happen, but nothing ever really did. I felt like I read a whole book where nothing really ever went down. It was quite disappointing.
I will give Concentr8 and William Sutcliffe this though. There was a message to his story, and I think it was a great message. Unfortunately though, I think it was just not executed very well.
My Rating
2 stars
This review is based on an eARC provided by the publisher in exchange for a fair and honest review.
Find more of my reviews here:
http://readingwithcupcakes.blogspot.com/
Concentr8 takes place in London England in the not so distant future. Or maybe it is distant. It is kind of hard to tell. The city is currently under going a riot of epic proportions. Why? The government decided that it would stop supplying the medication Concentr8, used to treat ADHD, to the people. This medication is so wide spread and used by so many people that they all freak out and riot. A lot of them being teenagers.
Teenagers like our main characters. Our story follows a group of them. We start out at the riot, where they aren't doing much at all, and then the ring leader decides to kidnap a random government employee. The other kids don't know why, but they follow along anyways.
Then they take the kidnapped employee into an abandoned warehouse. They become public news. The mayor gets involved. Things happen. The whole story takes place over the course of 6 days.
I personally thought that this story sounded like an interesting one. I had such faith going into it that it was going to be good. I was so bitterly disappointed.
There are a lot of different narratives to follow with in this story. While this is not normally a thing that turns me off, when all the narratives essentially sound like I am following the same person when I am not supposed to be, I find them a horrible drag. And that is how they were in Concentr8. Unfortunately, I found them to be very poorly executed. To make matters worse, I felt like the author had tried too hard with it. So many of the sentences ended with "?"s when they really didn't need to. It made that particular person's narrative very hard to read in my personal opinion.
Aside from the narration, the whole story felt very flat. As I was reading along I kept waiting for something to happen, but nothing ever really did. I felt like I read a whole book where nothing really ever went down. It was quite disappointing.
I will give Concentr8 and William Sutcliffe this though. There was a message to his story, and I think it was a great message. Unfortunately though, I think it was just not executed very well.
My Rating
2 stars
This review is based on an eARC provided by the publisher in exchange for a fair and honest review.
Find more of my reviews here:
http://readingwithcupcakes.blogspot.com/
iblamewizards's review against another edition
Made it about 75 pages in and put it down. Annoying language choices, unrelatable characters and a boring plot. I expected something Melvynn Burgess-esque from the cover. Was disappointed.
zaheerah's review against another edition
3.0
~ARC provided by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review~
Concentr8 takes us into London, where the increase of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in children and adolescents have reached epidemic levels. Concentr8 has been used by the government as a form of social control until the use of Concentr8 was abolished, wiping out the availability of its supply to the public. A group of teens kidnap a random worker from the Mayor's office for hostage although it is clear that they don't know why they did it or what they actually want by doing it.
Personally, Concentr8 had the potential to be so great, but it really wasn't a readable novel. The multiple POV change too quickly for my liking, and at some points, I didn't know if it was really that necessary to capture the perspective of every other character in the story. I hoped it would give a clearer picture, but it just didn't work. The narrative voices all sounded alike and would have been better off with one or two POVs rather than the mashup we got.
However, this book does have some strong points that are interesting to read in a YA novel. The psychology of nature versus nurture is a longstanding debate and this novel really work with the issues of ADHD and Ritalin. It's a quick read, with an intriguing premise and well-imagined story, but it could have been executed better for me. Still worth a read though, for anyone interested.
Concentr8 takes us into London, where the increase of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in children and adolescents have reached epidemic levels. Concentr8 has been used by the government as a form of social control until the use of Concentr8 was abolished, wiping out the availability of its supply to the public. A group of teens kidnap a random worker from the Mayor's office for hostage although it is clear that they don't know why they did it or what they actually want by doing it.
Personally, Concentr8 had the potential to be so great, but it really wasn't a readable novel. The multiple POV change too quickly for my liking, and at some points, I didn't know if it was really that necessary to capture the perspective of every other character in the story. I hoped it would give a clearer picture, but it just didn't work. The narrative voices all sounded alike and would have been better off with one or two POVs rather than the mashup we got.
However, this book does have some strong points that are interesting to read in a YA novel. The psychology of nature versus nurture is a longstanding debate and this novel really work with the issues of ADHD and Ritalin. It's a quick read, with an intriguing premise and well-imagined story, but it could have been executed better for me. Still worth a read though, for anyone interested.
xsophiehoughton's review against another edition
1.0
I received an Advance Reader Copy from the publisher via NetGalley. This in no way impacted on my view.
This is a Did Not Finish (DNF) review, and about 20% into the book. Unfortunately this just didn't work for me, for a few reasons.
Firstly, it was a bit of an impulse request, via NetGalley, and I hadn't really looked at the synopsis much. I have absolutely no experience with ADHD, and honesty don't really understand what it is. I know it means Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, and means people with it can't keep focused on one thing at a time. That's about it. I know there are drugs that are used to help the condition, but how, I have absolutely no clue.
Secondly, the characters were completely unrelatable. I hated each and everyone of them, and couldn't bare to read any more about them. The only chapter that was palatable was that of the journalist, and that wasn't exactly enjoyable. At least it had proper punctuation. The lack of commas, speech marks, etc. in the other chapters/ points of views were too distracting, as was the language. I understand that some people won't mind these things, but for me, they ruined the whole reading experience.
Thirdly, I couldn't care less about the plot. All that had happened so far were some rioting in London, because the government banned Concentr8 for ADHD patients. The protagonists, lead by a guy named Blaze, abducted a civil servant who worked for the Mayor. They robbed him, and held him at 'shank'-point, and then sat in an abandoned building, drinking, etc. The Mayor and Journalist had a meeting, and the kidnapping was mentioned, but they didn't seem bothered about it. Nothing really gripped me, and I didn't want to waste time reading for any longer.
I'm sorry, I really am. I wanted to enjoy this, but just couldn't. Perhaps other people might enjoy this much better, just not me.
This is a Did Not Finish (DNF) review, and about 20% into the book. Unfortunately this just didn't work for me, for a few reasons.
Firstly, it was a bit of an impulse request, via NetGalley, and I hadn't really looked at the synopsis much. I have absolutely no experience with ADHD, and honesty don't really understand what it is. I know it means Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, and means people with it can't keep focused on one thing at a time. That's about it. I know there are drugs that are used to help the condition, but how, I have absolutely no clue.
Secondly, the characters were completely unrelatable. I hated each and everyone of them, and couldn't bare to read any more about them. The only chapter that was palatable was that of the journalist, and that wasn't exactly enjoyable. At least it had proper punctuation. The lack of commas, speech marks, etc. in the other chapters/ points of views were too distracting, as was the language. I understand that some people won't mind these things, but for me, they ruined the whole reading experience.
Thirdly, I couldn't care less about the plot. All that had happened so far were some rioting in London, because the government banned Concentr8 for ADHD patients. The protagonists, lead by a guy named Blaze, abducted a civil servant who worked for the Mayor. They robbed him, and held him at 'shank'-point, and then sat in an abandoned building, drinking, etc. The Mayor and Journalist had a meeting, and the kidnapping was mentioned, but they didn't seem bothered about it. Nothing really gripped me, and I didn't want to waste time reading for any longer.
I'm sorry, I really am. I wanted to enjoy this, but just couldn't. Perhaps other people might enjoy this much better, just not me.
catsandvegetables's review
3.0
3.5 stars
So I know a lot of people weren’t so keen on this but I liked it. It was no earth-shattering masterpiece but it was enjoyable and fast-paced, despite being set over a period of just 6 days.
Concentr8 is set during an outbreak of rioting, much like the London riots of 2011, but these riots were triggered by the withdrawal of a drug called Concentr8, used to treat schoolchildren with ADHD. The book follows 5 teenagers, as well as a few other characters, who all take turns narrating. Throughout the book, we follow the events that unfold when the teenagers take advantage of the chaos of the rioting to kidnap and hold captive a man they see leaving the building where the mayor works. I quite liked the plot but I’m not entirely sure what the author was trying to say with it – does he think ADHD isn’t real or is he just saying that the measures taken in his fictional world are too extreme? I was just rather confused by that whole aspect of the novel.
I liked the characters – especially the contrast between Troy and Femi, two boys who may initially be viewed as very similar, but who we come to see have had very different lives, and very different feelings on their situation. Then we have Karen, who only seems to care about the consequences for her, and Lee, who doesn’t really seem to realise there are consequences at all, or at least he chooses not to think about them. That only leaves Blaze, and I do think the way he was written was very clever and interesting – we mostly learn about him from the viewpoints of other characters and we really do seem to get to know him this way, to the extent that, despite him only having one chapter, he definitely feels like one of the most major characters. I really did like the way the book was written so that you see all these contrasting views, different people with different opinions and motives, all reflecting on the same situation – it was definitely my favourite thing about Concentr8.
Though I did like getting the viewpoints of the journalist and the mayor (I’m not sure about the hostage and the negotiator was completely pointless in my opinion), I think it may have been more interesting to only follow the kids, and have more of a chance to go in depth with them, learn more about their lives and what led them to their situation and their feelings on it – a little more character development. I do feel that, although I came to like the characters, none of them were as developed as I would have liked. Lee, especially, only has 3 chapters, in which all we seem to learn about his character is what we’ve learned from the other characters’ assessments of him – that he’s not so clever. I do think this was done quite well, to be fair, with his focus on other things and a lack of ability to seem to understand the gravity of the situation he’s in, but there must be more to his character and background than him being a bit thick.
I did think the book was quite good but it just had the potential to be so much more, to give that view of different people who have ended up in this situation, how they came to be there, their feelings on it, how they’re such vastly different people despite how society – and the reader at first – kind of views them as all the same. I also think it would have been interesting if Sutcliffe had pulled more on the idea of seeing one character from the point of view of the others i.e. how everyone views Blaze, kind of making the whole book about him without him narrating until the very end. This was kind of done a little bit but a stronger focus on it could have made for a more intriguing read.
I know some people gave up on the book very early on because they were annoyed by the way some of the characters speak in bad English but this wasn’t a problem for me, though it takes a little while to get the hang of it. It would have really bothered me if, say, there were apostrophes in the wrong place or words were spelled wrong but it wasn’t like that, it was written how the characters would speak and I think that helps some to help you get to know the character a little quicker, plus it helps you to separate them in your head even before you learn enough about them to distinguish them by their character traits.
This is definitely a book where you need to stick with it for a little bit to really get into it but, if you do manage that, and don’t let prejudices about bad English get in the way, it is an enjoyable and interesting read.
So I know a lot of people weren’t so keen on this but I liked it. It was no earth-shattering masterpiece but it was enjoyable and fast-paced, despite being set over a period of just 6 days.
Concentr8 is set during an outbreak of rioting, much like the London riots of 2011, but these riots were triggered by the withdrawal of a drug called Concentr8, used to treat schoolchildren with ADHD. The book follows 5 teenagers, as well as a few other characters, who all take turns narrating. Throughout the book, we follow the events that unfold when the teenagers take advantage of the chaos of the rioting to kidnap and hold captive a man they see leaving the building where the mayor works. I quite liked the plot but I’m not entirely sure what the author was trying to say with it – does he think ADHD isn’t real or is he just saying that the measures taken in his fictional world are too extreme? I was just rather confused by that whole aspect of the novel.
I liked the characters – especially the contrast between Troy and Femi, two boys who may initially be viewed as very similar, but who we come to see have had very different lives, and very different feelings on their situation. Then we have Karen, who only seems to care about the consequences for her, and Lee, who doesn’t really seem to realise there are consequences at all, or at least he chooses not to think about them. That only leaves Blaze, and I do think the way he was written was very clever and interesting – we mostly learn about him from the viewpoints of other characters and we really do seem to get to know him this way, to the extent that, despite him only having one chapter, he definitely feels like one of the most major characters. I really did like the way the book was written so that you see all these contrasting views, different people with different opinions and motives, all reflecting on the same situation – it was definitely my favourite thing about Concentr8.
Though I did like getting the viewpoints of the journalist and the mayor (I’m not sure about the hostage and the negotiator was completely pointless in my opinion), I think it may have been more interesting to only follow the kids, and have more of a chance to go in depth with them, learn more about their lives and what led them to their situation and their feelings on it – a little more character development. I do feel that, although I came to like the characters, none of them were as developed as I would have liked. Lee, especially, only has 3 chapters, in which all we seem to learn about his character is what we’ve learned from the other characters’ assessments of him – that he’s not so clever. I do think this was done quite well, to be fair, with his focus on other things and a lack of ability to seem to understand the gravity of the situation he’s in, but there must be more to his character and background than him being a bit thick.
I did think the book was quite good but it just had the potential to be so much more, to give that view of different people who have ended up in this situation, how they came to be there, their feelings on it, how they’re such vastly different people despite how society – and the reader at first – kind of views them as all the same. I also think it would have been interesting if Sutcliffe had pulled more on the idea of seeing one character from the point of view of the others i.e. how everyone views Blaze, kind of making the whole book about him without him narrating until the very end. This was kind of done a little bit but a stronger focus on it could have made for a more intriguing read.
I know some people gave up on the book very early on because they were annoyed by the way some of the characters speak in bad English but this wasn’t a problem for me, though it takes a little while to get the hang of it. It would have really bothered me if, say, there were apostrophes in the wrong place or words were spelled wrong but it wasn’t like that, it was written how the characters would speak and I think that helps some to help you get to know the character a little quicker, plus it helps you to separate them in your head even before you learn enough about them to distinguish them by their character traits.
This is definitely a book where you need to stick with it for a little bit to really get into it but, if you do manage that, and don’t let prejudices about bad English get in the way, it is an enjoyable and interesting read.