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Stockholm
A struggling and not-so-young advertising creative, Anakin Carver meets Natasha von Ottmann, an up and coming actress working on his new campaign, and accidentally makes her famous.
Now romantically involved with a celebrity, Carver finds himself connected into the landscape of popular media and entertainment; a labyrinth of mistrust, petty politics and desperate grasps for power. As he becomes instrumental in the struggle for cultural dominance, Natasha must choose between fame and idealism.
"Everything Is True. Nothing Is Permitted."
In a time of unrest and social change, Anakin Carver may become one of the most influential figures never known. As civilization moves toward both utopia and ruin, all it may need is a subtle push in either direction.
Written in an exciting new format of thirteen "episodes", rather than traditional chapters, STOCKHOLM is designed to be enjoyed like a full season of a cable television series. Each episode satirizes our culture's obsessions with social connection, class conflict, the evolving role of celebrity, the reaches of government and how one man's choices can either help enlighten or destroy our way of life.
Now romantically involved with a celebrity, Carver finds himself connected into the landscape of popular media and entertainment; a labyrinth of mistrust, petty politics and desperate grasps for power. As he becomes instrumental in the struggle for cultural dominance, Natasha must choose between fame and idealism.
"Everything Is True. Nothing Is Permitted."
In a time of unrest and social change, Anakin Carver may become one of the most influential figures never known. As civilization moves toward both utopia and ruin, all it may need is a subtle push in either direction.
Written in an exciting new format of thirteen "episodes", rather than traditional chapters, STOCKHOLM is designed to be enjoyed like a full season of a cable television series. Each episode satirizes our culture's obsessions with social connection, class conflict, the evolving role of celebrity, the reaches of government and how one man's choices can either help enlighten or destroy our way of life.
460 pages, Kindle Edition
First published March 6, 2011
21 people are currently reading
348 people want to read
About the author
Kian Kaul
1 book5 followersKian Kaul has spent the last decade working in Los Angeles as a creative. An adopter of the philosophy of “the style of no style”, he has found himself involved in music, new media, television, film and now literature. An expert in nothing, he aspires to know all.
His first foray into long-form fiction produced “Stockholm”, originally planned as a sitcom, it inexplicably became his debut novel.
His first foray into long-form fiction produced “Stockholm”, originally planned as a sitcom, it inexplicably became his debut novel.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
May 6, 2011
(no spoilers)
Almost finished with this and I never thought I would read a book that wasn't published from a major company but this is just as good as ones that I've read recently, so you never know.
My friend who told me about it said your supposed to read it one chapter at a time, he said it was like a "tv show". Only in this book the chapters are longer and called 'episodes' so that makes sense. I could imagine this as a tv show on HBO or Showtime, that's kind of how it feels sometimes.
The story is about a guy who wants to be a filmmaker in commercials or advertising and keeps getting into trouble with people until he meets this actress and then gets caught up in a lot of political kind of stuff in the entertainment industry.
I don't know a whole hell of a lot about the tv and movie business except what I saw on "Extras" the Ricky Gervais show and shows like that but it's not hard to relate, a job in a job, in that sense. Anyway, I kept going back and forth from wanting to smack the main character for being how he is all the time to wishing I could be more like him sometimes in real life. He's one of those characters that sort of does and says things in their own way, like you want to do but know you can't.
The story like I said is pretty surprising sometimes, you don't know where it's going to turn out so you just have to go along for the ride. That also reminds me of a tv show where you don't know what's going to happen that season, so hopefully that makes sense.
There's a lot of funny stuff with the characters in the advertising company that was sort of like "The Office" or stories like that, but not a copy of it. Also the main character changes a lot over the course of the story and that's been pretty interesting to see how he grows.
All in all, I'm happy I read it (almost finished) and would probably check out he author again (I haven't heard of him/her before)
Almost finished with this and I never thought I would read a book that wasn't published from a major company but this is just as good as ones that I've read recently, so you never know.
My friend who told me about it said your supposed to read it one chapter at a time, he said it was like a "tv show". Only in this book the chapters are longer and called 'episodes' so that makes sense. I could imagine this as a tv show on HBO or Showtime, that's kind of how it feels sometimes.
The story is about a guy who wants to be a filmmaker in commercials or advertising and keeps getting into trouble with people until he meets this actress and then gets caught up in a lot of political kind of stuff in the entertainment industry.
I don't know a whole hell of a lot about the tv and movie business except what I saw on "Extras" the Ricky Gervais show and shows like that but it's not hard to relate, a job in a job, in that sense. Anyway, I kept going back and forth from wanting to smack the main character for being how he is all the time to wishing I could be more like him sometimes in real life. He's one of those characters that sort of does and says things in their own way, like you want to do but know you can't.
The story like I said is pretty surprising sometimes, you don't know where it's going to turn out so you just have to go along for the ride. That also reminds me of a tv show where you don't know what's going to happen that season, so hopefully that makes sense.
There's a lot of funny stuff with the characters in the advertising company that was sort of like "The Office" or stories like that, but not a copy of it. Also the main character changes a lot over the course of the story and that's been pretty interesting to see how he grows.
All in all, I'm happy I read it (almost finished) and would probably check out he author again (I haven't heard of him/her before)
July 23, 2012
Liked this much more than I thought I would, and enjoyed that it was easy to let the action play out in my mind in a drab, nearly black and white reel. The real draw for me was that the story is set in a society where social media participation is required by law, in a state where the government is overreaching into personal lives and "fairness" mandated. Fabulous treatment of this idea, without being technical or political.
The major character was easy to get to know and the landscape, his very urban and somewhat gritty surroundings, were described in painstaking detail. Be prepared for a slightly avante garde treatment in that instead of chapters, the action is presented in episodes, including portions that are essentially scenes, much like a T.V. show. It is much easier to relate to if read this way with no expectation of continuation between episodes. I found it a bit difficult to plow through some of what seemed to be needless scene setting, but in the end felt it added to the feel of the story.
As far as other characters, there were only a couple that I got any real feeling of depth or breadth from and I am not sure if the fault is in my reading or the author's telling. It was as if I never knew where the people close to our hero were coming from. As with the scene setting adding to the feel of the work, perhaps the flat treatment of many of the individuals also add a dimension without seeming to try. Overall somehow, and I can't explain why this worked for me, I think this too was a plus.
I am tempted to give a four star rating because there were some things that puzzled me or that left me wanting more. BUT - because I would like to encourage others to read this and consider how social media, profiles, twitter, Facebook, instant communication and the like may affect us both now and in the future, I've decided that it rates a five. I would lose to read another book by this author, especially of he continued this story or took his character, Anakin, to another situation. It was an unexpectedly thought provoking read.
The major character was easy to get to know and the landscape, his very urban and somewhat gritty surroundings, were described in painstaking detail. Be prepared for a slightly avante garde treatment in that instead of chapters, the action is presented in episodes, including portions that are essentially scenes, much like a T.V. show. It is much easier to relate to if read this way with no expectation of continuation between episodes. I found it a bit difficult to plow through some of what seemed to be needless scene setting, but in the end felt it added to the feel of the story.
As far as other characters, there were only a couple that I got any real feeling of depth or breadth from and I am not sure if the fault is in my reading or the author's telling. It was as if I never knew where the people close to our hero were coming from. As with the scene setting adding to the feel of the work, perhaps the flat treatment of many of the individuals also add a dimension without seeming to try. Overall somehow, and I can't explain why this worked for me, I think this too was a plus.
I am tempted to give a four star rating because there were some things that puzzled me or that left me wanting more. BUT - because I would like to encourage others to read this and consider how social media, profiles, twitter, Facebook, instant communication and the like may affect us both now and in the future, I've decided that it rates a five. I would lose to read another book by this author, especially of he continued this story or took his character, Anakin, to another situation. It was an unexpectedly thought provoking read.
August 16, 2013
I have pretty much no idea what happened in this novel or what it was supposed to be about. I guess it's supposed to be a very near-future dystopia, but there's basically no world-building and the whole thing just seems undeveloped. The plot is either completely nonexistent or just very hard to follow -- it seems like nothing happens at all for the first two-thirds of the story, and then when all the action started it was totally unclear and I had no idea what was actually going on. Maybe the author intended for the events to be ambiguous, but I don't feel like it was executed well. I just never got into it and was bored the entire time.
I also didn't really care for the writing style. It's not bad exactly -- the sentences are grammatically correct, there's a minimum of typos -- but there are weird stylistic things that I found jarring. Again, some of this is probably intentional to illustrate the protagonist's overly-analytical thought processes and personality quirks, but it really broke the narrative flow. I don't need to read two pages of flowery descriptions of a cup of coffee (akin to a really overdone yelp review) in the middle of some dialogue.
I don't know guys, I guess I missed something with this one.
I also didn't really care for the writing style. It's not bad exactly -- the sentences are grammatically correct, there's a minimum of typos -- but there are weird stylistic things that I found jarring. Again, some of this is probably intentional to illustrate the protagonist's overly-analytical thought processes and personality quirks, but it really broke the narrative flow. I don't need to read two pages of flowery descriptions of a cup of coffee (akin to a really overdone yelp review) in the middle of some dialogue.
I don't know guys, I guess I missed something with this one.
December 30, 2011
I had a difficult time getting into this book at the beginning. Then I read on Amazon that it was originally intended as a sitcom. It made a lot more sense to read it that way. The story is somewhat disjointed and confusing. I occasionally had trouble figuring out who was speaking. But it grew on me and I found the different writing style enjoyable even. I still feel as if I missed part of the storyline but a little ambiguity never hurt anyone I guess.
May 4, 2011
just got it on my kindle. hope its a good read
May 4, 2011
Interesting book. I have enjoyed it so far.
July 10, 2025
Didn't love Stockholm. I didn't understand the point. I kept expecting the story to pick up steam but it just stayed at the same flat level from beginning to end. Even the main character didn't understand what was going on.
August 26, 2011
Stockholm is described as a dystopian comedy and a satire about modern media. The author definitely has an intriguing storyline and a delightfully acerbic wit; however it wasn’t enough to redeem this story for me. A 2.5 stars out of 5.
I felt that this book suffered from a lack of balance: between voice, detail, characterization, and plot development. It’s meant to be a satire however the employment of scathing and sarcastic commentary about everything, all the time, caused what could have been the books unique edge to become trite. It consequently developed a preachy feel I doubt the author was going for.
See the in-depth review at Sift: http://www.siftreviews.com/2011/08/st...
Review by: Erica of Sift Book Reviews
Sift Book Reviews received a free copy for review from the author. This has, in no way, affected the reviewer's opinion.
I felt that this book suffered from a lack of balance: between voice, detail, characterization, and plot development. It’s meant to be a satire however the employment of scathing and sarcastic commentary about everything, all the time, caused what could have been the books unique edge to become trite. It consequently developed a preachy feel I doubt the author was going for.
See the in-depth review at Sift: http://www.siftreviews.com/2011/08/st...
Review by: Erica of Sift Book Reviews
Sift Book Reviews received a free copy for review from the author. This has, in no way, affected the reviewer's opinion.
May 4, 2011
Anybody read this yet, seems interesting
May 4, 2011
when does this come out?
May 4, 2011
kinda sounds like don delillo a bit,or bret eastin ellis
Want to read
September 25, 2013Downloaded this thru Goodreads, but can't access the file.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews