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lauraborkpower's review against another edition
1.0
This novel is trying to be a lot of things.
It's a political story about a group of possible-mystics and computer hackers protesting for Occupy; it's also a love story (or a few); it's also a tech-thriller; and it's a courtroom drama. And it's not successful in any of these weird sub-genres.
I didn't like any of the characters and none of their actions felt particularly believable. The historical parts weren't specific or vivid enough to be even informative about the movement and protests, and it wasn't interesting until the last 20 pages (the tech-thriller).
It's just a floundering blah. Don't waste your time.
It's a political story about a group of possible-mystics and computer hackers protesting for Occupy; it's also a love story (or a few); it's also a tech-thriller; and it's a courtroom drama. And it's not successful in any of these weird sub-genres.
I didn't like any of the characters and none of their actions felt particularly believable. The historical parts weren't specific or vivid enough to be even informative about the movement and protests, and it wasn't interesting until the last 20 pages (the tech-thriller).
It's just a floundering blah. Don't waste your time.
ridgewaygirl's review against another edition
3.0
Well, folks, the first Occupy novel is here and it's mostly fine, I guess. The novel begins when Matthew, a thirty-year-old graduate student working on his dissertation, meets Leif, a younger skater dude. Instead of hooking up, Leif takes him to meet a small group of people convinced that they can read people's minds, or at least Leif and Elspeth might be able to. They spend a lot of time over at Zucotti Park trying to recruit other Occupiers to their working group, but so far it's just a small group of six.
An encounter with police leads Leif to think he's read the mind of one of the authorities. Testing that leads the group into illegal corners and divides the group.
Each chapter, of widely varying lengths, focuses on one member of the working group. With one exception, they are not people I was interested in knowing, although the characters did not lack depth. Crain is a solid, if verbose writer, although his love of using obscure words when simpler ones would have served the novel better was annoying and pulled me out of the story again and again. Crain's portrayal of Elspeth, the quiet girlfriend, the provider of space and support, who only comes into her own once everyone else is gone and she discovers herself, was the most compelling character and I would have liked more of her and less of the others. This was a lot longer than it should have been, and I say that as someone who enjoys a long, discursive novel, but rambling is not a trait that suits what is, at heart, a thriller.
After all that, though, I wouldn't be entirely against reading another novel by this author.
An encounter with police leads Leif to think he's read the mind of one of the authorities. Testing that leads the group into illegal corners and divides the group.
Each chapter, of widely varying lengths, focuses on one member of the working group. With one exception, they are not people I was interested in knowing, although the characters did not lack depth. Crain is a solid, if verbose writer, although his love of using obscure words when simpler ones would have served the novel better was annoying and pulled me out of the story again and again. Crain's portrayal of Elspeth, the quiet girlfriend, the provider of space and support, who only comes into her own once everyone else is gone and she discovers herself, was the most compelling character and I would have liked more of her and less of the others. This was a lot longer than it should have been, and I say that as someone who enjoys a long, discursive novel, but rambling is not a trait that suits what is, at heart, a thriller.
After all that, though, I wouldn't be entirely against reading another novel by this author.
patrickwadden's review against another edition
1.0
So I was caught at a Cafe with two people that were working on high level medical schoolwork and I was there with nothing to do. Well, I did bring my notebook to write in but the strong urge to procastinate putting words down on a page & instead read words on a page was too strong. So I walked a couple blocks to the nearest library and grabbed this thing.
Was really hoping this was gonna be an engaging & insightful leftist novel based on the cover and the blurb but instead I ended up reading it out of spite for the remainder of my two week holiday. I continued on because I thought it was a cool premise that maybe one day I could adapt and make my own, a group of modern revolutionaries who try to fight the surveillance state by becoming psychic themselves.
Unfortunately, the whole thing is just confounding and dull. Shame really. Anyhow
Was really hoping this was gonna be an engaging & insightful leftist novel based on the cover and the blurb but instead I ended up reading it out of spite for the remainder of my two week holiday. I continued on because I thought it was a cool premise that maybe one day I could adapt and make my own, a group of modern revolutionaries who try to fight the surveillance state by becoming psychic themselves.
Unfortunately, the whole thing is just confounding and dull. Shame really. Anyhow
k2_hancock's review against another edition
1.0
The only way I got through this was because I had the audiobook version. I felt that the story was way too long for the content, and that if the “flowery” and melodramatic language was cut out, you could get to the point in half of the time.
Normally I could handle long winded content if I liked the characters. Unfortunately I don’t think there is a single likable character to be had. I especially didn’t like Matthew because he acted creepy and possessive of Leif, and referring to him as “the boy”.
It’s unfortunate that this book was terrible because the message of government surveillance and the new age of what privacy means is an important one that needs to have serious conversations.
Normally I could handle long winded content if I liked the characters. Unfortunately I don’t think there is a single likable character to be had. I especially didn’t like Matthew because he acted creepy and possessive of Leif, and referring to him as “the boy”.
It’s unfortunate that this book was terrible because the message of government surveillance and the new age of what privacy means is an important one that needs to have serious conversations.
cami19's review against another edition
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.5
stitching_ghost's review against another edition
3.0
I'm still not sure what I read and what was the point of it but I didn't hate it. In my reading updates I said this was probably the most millennial thing I had ever read, I still stand by that, for better or worse this is so elder millennial it hurts (I say that as an elder millennial myself).
The blurb on Goodreads is a lot more accurate than the one I read before I picked up the book, it's really not about events it's about the relationships between the characters as they deal with the events.
The blurb on Goodreads is a lot more accurate than the one I read before I picked up the book, it's really not about events it's about the relationships between the characters as they deal with the events.
sbufkin's review against another edition
Made it about 50 pages in. Was hoping for something more SF. Maybe it headed in that direction, but the detailed description of the life of a dissertating protagonist was just too much for me. I made it through one dissertation already--I don't want to re-live the experience.
riseandspine's review against another edition
4.0
This isn’t an action story. This won’t likely leave you on the edge of your seat waiting for what happens next. But that isn’t the point or the purpose of every story.
A lot of people give this book low ratings, and I understand why this book doesn’t instill the same feelings for many as it does for me. But that doesn’t mean that the story is bad or that the writing is terrible. I enjoyed both of these things, and I believe that many people will feel the same.
Having been of a similar age during the time when this novel takes place, I found myself thinking back to that time when I visited the Occupy movement, and to my group of friends and the relationships we shared. This novel is a very real look at what many people felt during that time, and really all the time since then. It is hard to look at the situations that are presented in this story and not see reflections of it with everything going on in the world today.
I encourage everyone who reads this to keep their mind open and active throughout, and to really try to put yourself into the shoes of and see the perspective of what each character feels and believes, as you might get something further out of it.
A lot of people give this book low ratings, and I understand why this book doesn’t instill the same feelings for many as it does for me. But that doesn’t mean that the story is bad or that the writing is terrible. I enjoyed both of these things, and I believe that many people will feel the same.
Having been of a similar age during the time when this novel takes place, I found myself thinking back to that time when I visited the Occupy movement, and to my group of friends and the relationships we shared. This novel is a very real look at what many people felt during that time, and really all the time since then. It is hard to look at the situations that are presented in this story and not see reflections of it with everything going on in the world today.
I encourage everyone who reads this to keep their mind open and active throughout, and to really try to put yourself into the shoes of and see the perspective of what each character feels and believes, as you might get something further out of it.
edzee_lcnm's review
1.0
My 18th (and final) read for the 2020 Tournament of Books (ToB) -- the first time, in 11 years of following ToB, that I have been a "completist"! It was some good fortune of having read 8 of the 18 books ahead of the short-list announcement and having enough time, interest, manageable book lengths left to read the rest. However, if you haven't already guessed from the star-rating, this book (among some others, to be fair!) may be the last time I ever do it again, ha!
Following the "if you have nothing nice to say" rule, I will keep this relatively brief but start by saying there were some redeeming features and good material/subject matter for a novel that almost made me reconsider to 2-star, but alas just could not do it and 'Overthrow' becomes only my 3rd one-star rated book in 520 books logged in here at Goodreads. It was just soooooo convoluted, too many narrator/perspective changes, characters I couldn't (and ultimately didn't care to) differentiate between (the exception being maybe Matthew and Lief), and just what after awhile just seemed like pages upon pages of meeting with lawyers.
And again, a somewhat disturbing personal trend of where I find myself not connecting to millennial-centric novels. There were three of them this year's ToB - this one, Oval, and Normal People - and I just found myself not having the patience for any of them! It's a rather odd experience as it's never been an issue in my reading history (even,YA novels).
I think I could have dealt better with this book if it was shorter. It felt like it could be. Something I do even less than give out 1-star ratings is to DNF a book, and I honestly think I would have done it if not for some stubbornness and to complete this ToB bucket-list item.