Zed by Juanna Kavenna

[Gone2far]

Has anyone else read this? I consumed it in 2 days - I found it so compelling. It's about a company called Beetle taking over our lives in the near future, and is disturbing, but also very funny, IMO. Very very clever.
I hope someone else has read it, because, for a start , I think everybody should read it, but I also want to discuss the ending

Yes, I have read it. I agree it’s compelling, though possibly a little too long. I think she’s more interested in the ideas than the characters.It reminded me a little of Dave Eggers’ The Circle, which has a similar all powerful corporation in it.

Yes, perhaps too long. What were the golden beetles that kept on turning up?

Yes I found it compelling too and scary!

It reminded me of 1984 with all the double speak.

I really enjoyed the imposition of filtered speech and writing, and it made it so difficult to communicate .

I was never sure about the golden beetles. It was very clever and convincing the way the corporation justified everything they did by saying it was really for everyone’s benefit.You could absolutely believe that Google, say, might do that.

I thought it was completely amazing - and has been utterly overshadowed by the bigger names out there...my novel of the year

Ending reminded me of Samuel Beckett....none of your happy ever afters