Transmission

Author - Hari Kunzru ... [Goo?] [Posters]

This Hardcover Book item from Dutton Adult was reviewed on 27-Jun-2008.

Search ISBN:0525947604 offer from Abebooks or used books from Alibris. Transmission Reference Book. Classifications : Contemporary Literature & Fiction Subjects Books Psychological & Suspense Thrillers Mystery & Thrillers Subjects Books Technothrillers Thrillers Mystery & Thrillers Subjects Books Hardcover Binding (b . Click the following link to view the cover of Transmission.

Related topics: Contemporary. Subjects. Books. Thrillers. Mystery & Thrillers. Subjects. Books. Technothrillers. Thrillers. Mystery & Thrillers.

1) Hardcover Book Transmission by Dutton Adult. Pithy, witty writing; entertaining, touching, and funny view of American society by a provincial, dopey, riotously out-of-it young Indian engineer. Other characters were amusing. Couldn´t get enough of this book.¤

2) Hardcover Book Transmission by Dutton Adult. This is one of those books one wishes one hadn´t started. I couldn´t quite put it down for keeps, but I really wanted to. At times the text was so pedantic that I wondered will there be a quiz? Predicable from beginning to ending. Worse boring. Kunzru must have phoned it in from ultima Thule. I rarely keep checking to see how many pages are left to read, but I often did with this one.
This is especially disappointing because his first book, "The Impressionist" was everything this one wasn´t: gripping, riveting, engaging, charming and thrilling.
I had to wonder was Kunzru given a two-book contract? Was this the result of a legal agreement with a deadline? There´s really no other excuse for failing with such spectacular license.
The ending is a complex and wordy fizzle that seems fabricated by a writer who had no real ending in mind and so borrowed from all the B action movies ever made. Worse, there are multiple plots that seemed to be shuffled together from old outlines.
Kunzru has a new book coming out soon. I´ll approach it warily, hoping his original contract wasn´t for three books and the new one isn´t another boring flop.
Forewarned is forearmed. Beware.
¤

3) Hardcover Book Transmission by Dutton Adult. Having been gripped by Kunzru´s debut novel, The Impressionist, I was left disappointed by this follow-up novel. The contrast between the two novels could not be more stark. While the Impressionist was filled with detail, strong characterisation, and what seemed like a lot of background research, Transmission appeared rushed and cliched.

Arjun the central character as an Indian programmer lacks social skills and is a dreamer, Guy Swift is a shallow management consultant with a knack for good spin, while Leela Zahir is an Indian actress with an overbearing mother.No attempt was made to introduce any ambiguity into these characters, and so having any sympathy for them was difficult.

A strong plot could have made up for the lack of empathy towards the characters, but it was incredibly weak. The subject matter seemed more apt to the dot-com period, rather than now. There was no suspense. The fall-out from the Leela virus could have provided much, but simply allowed the characters to realise the ultimate dreams. Simplistic, cliched and unrewarding.

If you´ve read The Impressionist, don´t read this, it will only disappoint.
¤

4) Hardcover Book Transmission by Dutton Adult. I recently relocated from San Diego, CA to Noida, UP (India) - coincidentally both places are locations where portions of the book take place. I started reading it because a friend gave it to me when he came to visit. Apparently he had just read it on the plane or something. I have never read anything else by this author, so I didn´t quite know what to expect.

I finished the book in about 2 days of reading, and the only word I really have to describe the experience is "emptiness". Overall the characters are shallow, lacking any real depth. I just don´t care about any of them, or their plights. Nor did I find much of the book "funny" as some other reviewers have stated, and a lot of the plot is just plain silly (not to mention the dialogue). I felt like the author was trying to weave together the lives of a bunch of individuals from around the globe just to illustrate some point about the modern world and how technology (or the pitfalls of it) connects us all.

Astonishingly, the book seems to end right in the middle of the plot and finishes everything up hastily in an epilogue-like final chapter called "Noise". I really felt like more happened in this final chapter than happened in the rest of the book - all of it much more interesting! One of the main characters actually gets married, travels the world, and dies in the epilogue, almost as if it where a footnote to the rest of the story.

I wouldn´t recommend this book unless it happens to be lying around and you just need to kill some time.¤

5) Hardcover Book Transmission by Dutton Adult. Ever ramped up? Ramped down?
Diversified the bottom line or tapped into heretofore untapped emotive brand associations?

If you enjoy Ricky Gervais´ vacuous dialogue in The Office or even worse have to deal with middle managementglish 9-5 then Transmission will probably have you in stitches or at least a private, dry smile in the boardroom every now and then.

Most of the other reviews have covered the plot pretty well, diversified and homogenised the disparate plot-lines, pulled focus on key criteria for judging the book and fostered an emotive and recognise able outline of the synopsis spanning a well diversified demographic pertinent to the reading public.
What many of them have left out is the pointed commentary on the utter hilarity of some of the things that so many people take so very seriously every day and to me, that is what Transmission is about.

Transmission is an easy read, its very funny and the story does not disappoint as a frame for the punchy one liners that hang from it like designer tags on an overpriced handbag.¤

6) Hardcover Book Transmission by Dutton Adult. In a networked world, anything can change in an instant, and sometimes everything does…

Transmission, Hari Kunzru’s new novel of love and lunacy, immigration and immunity, introduces a daydreaming Indian computer geek whose luxurious fantasies about life in America are shaken when he accepts a California job offer.

Lonely and naďve, Arjun Mehta bides his time as a lowly assistant virus tester, pining away for his free-spirited colleague Christine. Despite building digital creatures in a feeble attempt to enhance his job security, Arjun gets laid-off like so many of his Silicon Valley peers. In an act of desperation to keep his job, he releases a mischievous but destructive virus around the globe that has major unintended consequences. As world order unravels, so does Arjun’s sanity, in a rollicking cataclysm that reaches Bollywood and, not so coincidentally, the glamorous star of Arjun’s favorite Indian movie.

Award-winning novelist Hari Kunzru was hailed as a “modern-day Kipling,” for his best-selling debut, The Impressionist. And now, with his exuberant follow-up, Transmission, Kunzru takes an ultracontemporary turn in a stylish, playful, and wicked exploration of life at the click of a mouse.¤

Page Updated: Robert N. Goolsby, 25-Jul-2008, 05259476049780525947608, 640-770-040-210-990-NEB-8

Transmission, Book, Image © Dutton Adult

Search: Dutton Adult, Book Posters, Book Art