Of Mice and Maltesers - Dysgu's book

[Dysgu]

I bought this book on the way to catch the ferry to France. Have not read anything else by the author but thought it was quite an intriguing idea/plot so thought I would select it as my choice to see what other people thought of it.

To be honest, there were times when I almost considered giving it up ... but will wait to see what others think before I say why.

Dysgu,the book arrived this morning (and the fab chocolate-many thanks!) Am planning on starting it later but I must say it looks a interesting read,something I wouldn't usually pick up.I haven't heard of the author before (She shares same name as my daughter ).

Will update more soon.

(oh and thanks for the note,hmmmm )

I've finished your book Dysgu.

I see what you mean about giving up on it,I must admit to lagging on about page 70 and wondering if I could get to grips with it,but carried on as I was intrigued as to how the story would pan out.

I didn't find the plot confusing,it just seemed all over the place(at first) and quite weak and I found the cryptography was difficult for me get to grips with (I am crapola with numbers though).

How did you find the characters Dysgu?

Alice was written with a devoid personality I felt,very matter of fact and no depth really.Veganism and Homeopathy was pushed pretty hard in the novel too.

I did enjoy the softer sides to the book like the close relationship Alice shared with her Grandparents and her reminscing her school days (author must have been at school late 80's or early 90's as it sounds as vile as when I was at secondary).

Some parts did remind me of my book choice actually but I won't discuss that .

Yes, I agree. Alice was not a character that I particularly linked to. I do prefer books where you occasionally find yourself wondering what the character is doing once you have finished the book. This is not one of those books!

Quite a lot of the 'philosophies' are pushed pretty heavily. It would be interesting to see how they are perceived by anyone who is into such life choices. Not me - although the ideas about milk did make me think - briefly!

The aspect of this book that has stayed with me though is the idea of marketing. I teach some secondary English which includes media studies and the marketing at teenagers was what gripped me. Having two girls - both pre-school right now - it made me think about how products are so targeted at children. Not necessarily true to life but worth thinking about when we get to the 'I want...' stage.

Well done for persevering with the numbers - I love numbers and found myself checking some of the things in the book to see if they were true....

Next book coming your way is very different type of read... still looking for the next chocolate.

Just bumping my thread so it is easy to find for whoever currently has my book...

Hi Dysgu, it's me. I'm saving it to take on holiday next week - I almost bought it during my last perusal around Borders, so looking forward to it.

Sorry it's taken me so long to get round to posting!

I enjoyed this book very much. I didn't feel like giving up at any point, although I think the book has quite a lot of flaws. The major one for me was the abrupt ending. What happened to Alice's father? And I also wanted to know what happened to both Ben and Dan, and Alice's friend Rachel.

I like the premise of NoCo, and also how the writer based some of the NoCo campaigns and information on real life marketing campaigns. I also liked the bits about Alice growing up and at school. I think the author could have missed out some things though, about homeopathy for example, and fleshed out some of the parts of the book that felt decidedly 'holey'.

All in all, a good read, and I liked the conundrums and puzzles and number stuff!

The book made me a bit cross in the end, because I think it could have been a very good book. Right up to the end I was reading it enthusiastically, waiting for that moment that brought all the themes together... I was to be disappointed!

I agree with Whinegums, the ending was extraordinarily abrupt (almost like she was asked to "put down your pens and stop writing now please"). And I agree with Dysgu about the pushing of "philosophies" - it was a bit angsty undergraduate, imo.

It was nice to read a book that was excited by numbers - but Lewis Carroll she ain't. It was as if she'd just read this really exciting book about prime numbers, and another book about anti-capitalism, and another one about Stanley Milgram's experiments and another about veganism and another about homeopathy (in fact it's only the last "philosophy" that I have any personal problem with!) and thought hey I can make a novel out of this without actually thinking very deeply about any of it myself! I agree that the characters were a bit flat too. It seems very odd that she herself lectures in creative writing... perhaps her later books justify that? That whole conversation with Chloe when she's explaining NoCo was laughable - who would have been convinced by that? It just sounded so silly to me.

Funny how the "being a teenager in the 80s" theme cropped up in both Poshwellies' and Dysgu's book. I thought P's taught me a lot about being a teenage boy (dp confirmed a lot of these experiences!) but was also was much more vivid.

One thing tho - that recipe looked nice and I meant to copy it. Must check her website to see if it's there!

Just marking my spot - didn't have time to finish this book, but I'll order it from the library and post a review when I've done so.

Did you manage to finish the book MrsMuddle?
What did you think?

Just finished this book and I enjoyed it. Another book that I probably wouldn't have chosen for myself but that's the beauty of the book-club. Also I found it a slow book, only just finished it this weekend but that was probably a lot down to lack of time as much as anything.

I found the number stuff hard-going but I am v much not a maths/numbers person so rather than working too hard to understand it, I just took it at face value and noted its significance to the story. I would also agree with the slightly abrupt ending. I remember thinking with about 50 pages to go - how are they going to tie all this up together because there's not that much book left to read? I would have liked to have read a more detailed ending to the book but I guess the main mysteries were solved.

Also, as Dysgu says above, it was quite thought provoking about marketing and children. Quite sinister in some ways ...

Finally, I seemed to get on better with the 80's theme in this book than P's - I guess it's all about the boy v girl perspective!

Sorry - meant to come back ages ago and post on this. I didn't finish it when I had it for the month, but I did get it out the library and read on a bit further.

I didn't finish it because I just couldn't get my head round all the number stuff. It was like reading another language.

I worked in marketing the in the late 80s, early 90s, and I really wanted to like this book, but I just didn't get on with it. If it had been shorter, I might have ploughed on but I had other books to finish that month too.

Warning - contains spoilers.....

Well i have just finished it - read it all in one day and i loved it!!

I would have liked to have read if Alice and Ben actually did go to the island and find the treasure first hand - or did she just send an email to the bird sanctuary. Ending far too abrupt as others have said. Also - i was kind of disappointed we had no resolution about her father - where the hell did he go and what happened to him? I had half hoped the notes were from him.

I enjoyed all of it - her childhood, learning about codes and numbers, the popco training exercises - the whole lot! The whole subject of consumerism and the pointless manufacture of products no one needs resonates with me. My main reading for a couple of years has been about living simply - i actually have read Naomi Klein's "No Logo" and other books about not buying stuff. (of course this doesnt apply to books ).

Im also a long term veggie and lapsed vegan - although homeopathy leaves my scientifically trained mind cold. Therefore most of the themes that others thought were pushed a bit hard seemed very sensible and obvious to me!

I have a teeshirt (which i no longer fit into- and not just because im hefty with child!) which says in the style of the coca-cola logo "destroy capitalism" - that pretty much gives my philosophy away. So all in all - i think that book was written for me, i felt very comfortable with the protagonist and now want to join NoCo!! Go on - give me a secret mission.....

Im definitely going to read "The end of Mr Y" or whatever her other book is called. Loved it. Thanks Dysgu!

This book really annoyed me.
It felt to me like the author knows lots of stuff that she thought was really cool and wanted to tell us about. For the bits that were linked to the plot this was fine, but most of the time it felt like she was just using the characters as a way to set up conversations about "cool stuff". Now I am enough of a geek to like all this stuff about codes and paradoxes and goats in boxes etc etc and I could quite happily sit down and read a non-fiction book about all this but for me this just didn't work as a novel. The characters were pretty flimsy, the who concept of NoCo was really not thought out very well at all. I totally agree with SLF's verdict of "angsty undergraduate" and that the explanation of NoCo was "laughable". So we can break the system by being a bit crap at our jobs (but not so crap that we get fired).
The only bits I did enjoy were the reminiscences, but there was hardly enough there for a whole novel.

still a thought provoking read and a good excuse to think about some stff that has been dormant in my brain for a long time.

thanks.

Anyone reading this at the moment?

Bump

Hi Dysgu, I have your book. I received two from Ladybee yesterday so decided to read Aristocat's first as it's quite short and I need to post one to Maria at the end of the month. So I will be reading yours over May. I've read The End of Mr Y so am interested to see how this compares. I have to say that some of the ideas in Mr Y made my head ache, I didn't really feel like I fully understood it. Hope to have better luck with this one.

I meant to keep this one to read over May but started it and couldn't put it down. I loved it, mostly because I am a bit of spod who likes learning new things. I really enjoyed finding out about cryptanalysis and even homeopathy. I can understand why it felt as if ST had read a load of books on various subjects and then fitted in a plot around these but it was still interesting to me nonetheless.

I didn't really warm to the contemporary Alice - I couldn't understand why Georges was in love with her, that seemed somewhat flimsy - but the relationship with her grandparents and the anxieties she had about fitting in at school struck a chord with me.

The only weak part, IMO, was when the secret correspondent was revealed and Alice was recruited into NoCo. The long explanation about it all was like a Sixth Form pamphlet and fairly dull.

Thanks for a great choice Dysgu. ST's next novel is out soon!

hi.
at the use of 'spod'

haven't heard that for many many years. I too am definitely a spod!

Just trying to up-date my posts so bumping this. Not sure who has it right now but it must be getting close to coming home.

I have yet to read the 'Mr Y' book but might look it up and see how it compares. Also might check out the new one by this author.

Clearly something of a marmite book - love it or hate it.

I neither loved nor hated this one but I found it hard to put down.

I agree with much that other have said. I loved all the bits where she was growing up - trying to find the strength of character to not condone bullying to make her own life easier. And when she goes to college and gets into indie music and French films to be cool - I remember doing all that shit!

I quite liked all the code stuff - although much of it went over my head. But, for me, when it started to get preachy about veganism, homeopathy and even some of the consumerism stuff, part of me thought 'Oh, do shut up!'

Her character was never very well-defined in the end and I couldn't see why all these men were tripping over themselves to fall in love with her.

But the most annoying thing I think was the unresolved backstory about her father - why even start that one if you're not going to tie it up. Plain irritating.

So on the whole I enjoyed this one But could have done without the sixth-form anti-capitalism guff.

Thanks Dysgu!