Rating: 
Summary: Don't bother
Review: Why bother writing, let alone reading, a book with a paper thin plot, truncated characterizations and no direction? I bought this book based on the obviously hyped up editorial reviews I had read. A big disappointment. I expected much better.
Rating: 
Summary: Turn of the Century
Review: Brilliant. Simply brilliant. I can't think of any other writer who could have pulled this off. It's the best reading I've had in the past year or so.
Rating: 
Summary: Hello Diminishing Returns
Review: What starts off as a compelling blend of characters and situation rapidly becomes confusing, unrealistic, and worse, boring. Heck, I can work up sympathy for our female lead when we think she's going to have to sell out her company for $13 million instead of the expected $35 million, as Anderson asks us to. I can even work up a little sympathy for the travails of our male lead, even though "failing" in his case means he'll have to fall back on the profits of the "Homicide"-esque show he co-created. But what's with boring me, Kurt? I don't want to give away anything in this review -- the above has been discussed in numerous reviews -- but the plot utterly fails to achieve anything like a dramatic apogee. Instead, the otherwise-fascinating Mr. Anderson relies on a narrative that twists and turns without ever attempting anything as straightforward as liftoff. Is the author afraid of allowing himself to simply tell us a story? From such promising beginnings, I expected better.
Rating:
Summary: Protracted Boredom
Review: Encouraged by glowing literary reviews, I persisted in plowing through this flat and oddly unfunny satire long after reason told me to stop. Unlike good social satire, in which characters are engaging despite their vanities and foibles, the characters here are bereft of life, and serve only as portals through which the writer cudgels us with his allegedly trenchant observances. Thus it was that I read the entire 600 and something pages without ever being genuinely amused or entertained. The observances seem dated -- haven't we all had our nouvelle cuisine experiences by now? -- and devoid of the imaginative twists one looks for as leavening. Turn back unless you have low expectations and lots of time to kill.
Rating:
Summary: Engaging Characters, Clever Writing, Meandering Story
Review: It was an exquisitely painful experience getting through Turn of the Century. The story never grabbed my full attention -- but the characters -- with all of their quirks -- and Andersen's way of using pen as sword to take on all that is holy in our "digital," media-driven culture kept me turning the pages. The most memorable passage is the interview of contestants in the 2000 Miss America Pageant..."Miss Mississippi is blind, and will use her seeing-eye dog during the pageant. That will be good television, George thinks. Miss Oregon has one leg, and her talent is modern dance. Miss Nebraska has no apparent handicap herself, but says her dream is to use ventriloquism to aid the deaf."
Rating:
Summary: Downsright insulting
Review: How does a book like this get published? That is the distressing thing. This barely qualifies as a novel; it's more of a package, a ready-to-wear event. Why was this book written? Does the author actually know or like literature, or was it just the thing to do at this stage of his life? To compare this resoundingly dull thud of a book to the glorious work of Trollope shows remarkable ignorance. Trollope was no Dickens, but the former knew how to animate his characters and to entertain his readers. The final question is: will this book be remembered in five years or will we look back at it -- if we do so at all -- the way we do now at pet rocks?
Rating: 
Summary: There's a decent book in the middle....
Review: of this way too long novel. The first 100 pages nearly bored me to death. The last 100 pages suffered from predictability. The editor must have died and was never replaced. I know this is satire, but do the characters have to be so paper thin? George is the only character I can stand at all. There is excessive techno/industry speak throughout. Sorry...but Mr. Anderson is no Tom Wolfe.
Rating:
Summary: Lousy audiobook
Review: I can't speak for the actual text, but the audiobook was really crummy. Between John Rubinstein's grating voices, the story-chopping abridgement and the unlikeable characters, I found "Turn of the Century" more of a chore than anything. I love audiobooks, but I really, really disliked this one. Blech.
Rating:
Summary: A big disappointment
Review: Enough already! Don't we hear enough about the pretentious preciousness and self-consciousness of Anderson's folk in Vanity Fair and Talk? I found this book to be very un-interesting and had to restrain myself from throwing it across the room. Should have been written (if at all) 10 years ago - or it already was once, and better, by Tom Wolfe. Sorry, Kurt, I love your stuff for the New Yorker. Maybe next time.
Rating: 
Summary: Great book for the turn of the century
Review: Sure there are plenty of comparisons to Tom Wolfe. Yes, the book may be a bit long for some. But what a great story Kurt Anderson has put together. And it finishes just as strong as it starts. Remember all the television coverage ringing in the new year? How we all became glued to the hype and hoopla? Now imagine all those TV and marketing and software execs spinning their wheels right now trying to come up with the Next Big Thing. Basically, that's where Anderson takes you with Turn of the Century. I personally liked the character of George McTier a great deal (most of the time). Harold Mose offers reminders of those media titans we all read about in the magazines and see on TV. And the world Anderson creates really isn't that far off the mark. This novel moves at top speed. And speed kills... at least careers and brain cells for some characters. A great (and long) read that kept me entertained from start to finish.
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