A review by ceallaighsbooks
PopCo by Scarlett Thomas

challenging funny informative mysterious reflective slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.75

“‘Hmm,’ is all he says. I know what that Hmm means. It means Maybe not mathematically; but then you can’t explain ghosts mathematically, or telepathy. He has been interested in such things only since we began working on the Voynich Manuscript, but it is almost an obsession now: that there might be ‘things’ out there that we don’t have the tools to understand. Is the Voynich Manuscript then one of the tools, or one of the things?”

TITLE—PopCo
AUTHOR—Scarlett Thomas
PUBLISHED—2004

GENRE—literary fiction; mystery
SETTING—modernday England with flashbacks to the MC’s childhood
MAIN THEMES/SUBJECTS—ciphers, codes, & puzzles; corporate jobs & work retreats; the “cult” in “workplace culture“; neurodivergency; buried treasure; capitalism and consumerism; mathematics; homeopathy; teenage girldom/formative childhood experiences; the heteronormative brainwashing of children; undependable, unreliable, and abusive adults; white socialism/Marxism; friendship & the ones who know the real you; philosophy of ships, shipwrecks, crews, & sailing; environmentalism

WRITING STYLE—⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
CHARACTERS—⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
STORY/PLOT—⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
BONUS ELEMENT/S—The ciphers!
PHILOSOPHY—⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️—it just got a tiny bit messy in some places…

“I am alone most of the time, which is OK. At least I am not shipwrecked any more.”

This is the perfect book to read to when you’re stuck home sick in bed but still with the brainpower that makes you feel bored enough to want to read something a bit challenging. And I’m so sorry but you do kind of need to read this 480-page book like as seamlessly as possible because there is SO much heavy mathematical theory and the deeper philosophical implications of that theory that if you spread out reading it over too long a period of time idk how you’d be able to remember it all well enough to connect all the dots. I also recommend using postit tabs to mark the particular various plot clues for easy back and forth referencing. Reading this book is like solving two mysteries: the mystery explicit in the book and the mystery of the implicit deeper philosophical messages of the story. Also the writing is fantastic. Loved this one!

“‘We all have to fight the system,’ he said to me. ‘Otherwise no one will.’”

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.75

TW // sexual content, brief mention of pedophilia, adults bullying children (Please feel free to DM me for more specifics!)

Further Reading—
  • everything else by Scarlett Thomas 
  • Helen Oyeyemi 
  • Jitterbug Perfume, by Tom Robbins
  • Alice in Wonderland, by Lewis Carroll
  • After Alice, by Gregory Maguire—TBR