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Turn of the Century

Turn of the Century

List Price: $25.95
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Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 2 stars
Summary: I was very disappointed
Review: Like others have said I also found the plot to be rather thin. Anderson is a gifted writer and I believe he will write a great novel someday. It isn't a waste of time to read, but don't expect too much.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: George Will scewers this thing! Absolutely barbeques it!
Review: I'm writing this as a public service announcement: George Will, syndicated columnist, labels this book, "The Snobs Guide To The Millenium" in his latest column. Very funny commentary on sheer, unadulterated shallowness sold as reading material. Great commentary! A novel that aspires to be read by people caught up with their own self-indulgent self-importance.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Most boring book I've ever read
Review: This is a boring, pretentious book which, for me, did not in any way live up to its great reviews. I purchased the book based on what I had read about it, and if I say that I am disappointed, that is the understatement of the century, both the twentieth and the twenty-first. If one is not into computerese, the book does not make sense. The characters are one dimensional and cartoon-like. Wish I had my money back from amazon.com.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Ambitious, but it misses the mark for dumb reasons
Review: This book tries to capsulize a particular moment, wrap it in portent and a prayer that it keep for 10 or 20 years. That won't happen. If Anderson had stuck merely to the anthropological, he could have been profound. In fact, much of the novel approaches and sometimes achieves this brilliance. However, there's too many brand names and inside jokes, not to mention red herrings, weighing down this book's rise to greatness.

I'll give him credit for one thing - the book's message seems to be "appearances are everything, and they mostly lie". Combine this axiom with the abundance of information flying around (ChopperCam is a great example of the syndrome), and Anderson perfectly nails the modern condition. Would that he were to follow his own example. Turn of the Century could have been a masterpiece at 400 pages. At 659, it's merely interesting. I recommend reading it in any case.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: A Celebration of Shallowness
Review: This is a shallow, nauseating book that suffers from the very qualities it ostensibly critiques -- shallowness, emptiness, lack of values. It does capture these money-obsessed, depth-free times, but inadvertantly -- by mirroring them.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: A brilliant, exhausting account of The Way We Live Now
Review: Though I didn't understand many of the business strategies detailed herein, there was enough narrative drive to keep me hurtling through this massive document of the idiocies and venalities of 2000 A.D. The style is so densely packed with proper names and acronyms, my eyes ached after a while. Still, the story of George and Lizzie and their careers, ideals, morals, etc., tapped enough of My Issues to keep me going. An unsatisfying ending undercuts what is in every other way a virtuoso narrative performance.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: The View is not Worth the Climb
Review: After thrilling to the first 100 pages or so, I waited for some semblance of a plot to begin. I'd seen Charlie Rose interview the author, became intrigued, and bought this book in hardcover, breaking one of my cardinal rules. After 400 pages of snide media references and product placements,I gave up, realizing that the characters were too steeped in their cliches to become 3 dimensional, and if any plot were to develop this late in the game, it would not be worth it. All Style, no substance.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: A fun book which lacks real depth and focus
Review: Although Mr. Andersen's book delivers a fun experience because it's full of brand names and high technology topics, it doesn't have any explicit point or focus. The implicit gist of the novel is contained within the first 100 pages, and those are fun to read. Thus the last 600 are sometimes laborious to read and boring.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Kurt Andersen hits the bull's eye!
Review: This book is high entertainment for anyone who is up on the modern media. The constant chuckles are from the recognition of The Truth. If you loved Spy at its best you must read this book. Kuddos to a true humorist!

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Prescient and a Great Read
Review: I loved this book. I couldn't put it down. It is reality in spades, taking you into the heart of today's digital, media, high-tech world. My only complaint, which cost it a star, was too many insider references to today's pop TV shows, which many readers won't get. Likely readers aren't of the same demographic category as those watching prime-time TV on a daily basis, I suspect. But otherwise, this is a must have.


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