The Paper Eater

by Liz Jensen

Meet Hannah Park, slave to the democracy machine, and Harvey Kidd, the man the system spat out. Atlantica, a world of compulsive consumption, fervent Utopianism, emotional discovery, and love on the rocks. Torn from his family, exiled from his native island of Atlantica, and imprisoned on the former Disney ship Sea Hero, one-time computer whiz Harvey Nash has found solace in the voodoo art of papier-mache. But as the execution date of his violent cellmate approaches, he is confronted with daily reminders of the wrongful sentence meted out to him by the consumer-dedicated system he once voted for. Is it too late for vengeance of Libertycare's Facilitator General, and the machine known as the Boss? Was the disappearance of the woman Harvey loved a tragic accident - or something more sinister? And is the notorious Sect really so dangerous that only erasure of civil liberties can contain it? In a witty, satirical vision of the future worthy of Orwell or Huxley, Jensen evokes a world of rampant consumerism, blind obedience, virtual love and home-chewed papier-mache.

Genres: Fiction, Dystopia, Science Fiction, Mental Illness, Speculative Fiction, Politics

256 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2000

About the author

Liz Jensen was born in Oxfordshire, the daughter of a Danish father and an Anglo-Moroccan mother. She spent two years as a journalist in the Far East before joining the BBC, first as a journalist, then as a TV and radio producer. She then moved to France where she worked as a sculptor began her first novel, Egg Dancing, which was published in 1995. Back in London she wrote Ark Baby (1998) which was shortlisted for the Guardian Fiction Award, The Paper Eater (2000), and War Crimes for the Home (2002) which was longlisted for the Orange Prize for Fiction. She has two children and shares her life with the Danish essayist, travel writer and novelist Carsten Jensen.

Reviews

[Mike Finn]

From the first paragraph, this is a startlingly original novel. The content slaps you across the face immediately and demands that you wake up and pay attention because this is not a derivative story and you're going to have to concentrate to understand what's going on.




Fine.

Original.

Demanding.

Great, if it makes itself worth the effort, which, at first, it seemed to.

Then Liz Jensen decided to gild the lily by messing about with punctuation.

What is wrong with normal quotation marks?

I find that they do useful things like telling me when someone is talking and helping me separate that out from the authorial voice or the narrator's interior voice. True, the grammar rules can be a little complicated but that's because they're situationally specific and some of those situations are quite complicated.

Liz Jensen has chosen to dump quotation marks. Unlike some authors, she hasn't simply left them out and decided that to adopt an interactive modality that requires the reader to figure out what the writer would have written if they'd bothered to write. She's come up with an alternative set of punctuation. Here's a sample:

Finally, John groans through the music.

– You know what that means, for me, he says.

– Not necessarily, I go.

I’m feeling jittery, ragged, claustrophobic, a bit sick. For once, I’m grateful for the musical racket dinning through the sound system.

– You’d have been notified, I say. As firmly as I can. Has Fishook called you to the bridge yet? I can’t see John’s face from here, but I guess he’s just staring moochily out of the porthole at this point. – Well, has he? I say. No.

– No, John echoes.

– Well then, I tell him. Hang on to that, is my advice.

I've read it over several times and it seems to me that notation being used adds nothing but unnecessary effort for the reader.




Why do writers do this?

Perhaps I'm just getting old and set in my ways but this was just one challenge too many. One more obstacle to comprehension that I didn't need.

So I set the book aside. I'll wait for the movie to come out. Or maybe the graphic novel.

[Bettie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bettie's Books

[Paulo "paper books only" · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was very disappointed read. I almost didn't finish it. I've previously read one of her books (Uninvited) and I really enjoyed. It was over ten years ago. I started this one, look like a dystopia novel so I thought I would enjoy it. I didn't. First of all I couldn't understand the plot. It was weird. Nothing was being given - I really didn't understood the purpose of this book. I think I've a couple phrases...

Now lets talk about the way it's written. It's different from what you normally have - in terms of dialogue. The main character was talking and without any hint it become a monologue and it got confusing

- How many orphans do you know? I snapped. Look. My real father was just some bloke with a sperm, as far as I can gather.

Looking it seems it's dialogue & then monologue and in this particular case I would say so. But others it was not like that. It was Dialogue, monologue and then dialogue - all in the same phrase. Very confusing. I didn't enjoy this book. It wasn't for me. 20/100

[Carrie · Rating 5 out of 5]

In my opinion, this dystopia belongs up there with "Brave New World" and "1984". Welcome to Atlantica, an island nation sitting on top of the world's trash and making bank charging the world disposal fees. But as politicians often do, they would rather demonize the scientists who predict environmental crisis down the road. Instead, they pipe in pleasant smells and encourage people to spy on their neighbors. It's up to our mentally ill criminal hero to set things right.

[Kirsty · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wanted to try and read something relatively quick, and so picked up this dystopian novel by Liz Jensen, an author whom I have enjoyed the work in in the past. I'm not the biggest fan of dystopias or science fiction novels (in fact, I'm not a fan at all), so I took quite a punt on this. It turned out that it wasn't suitable for my personal taste. I read the first thirty pages, but did not connect with it, and found it both strange and confusing.

[Roz Morris · Rating 1 out of 5]

I'd heard a lot about Liz Jensen and admired what I'd seen in synopsis. I didn't really warm to this book because of the main character and I didn't much care what was going on. That's not going to stop me giving her other novels a try, though as I think she has imaginative ideas and wants to try bold things with stories. The Paper Eater isn't for me, though - or perhaps I'm just squeamish.

[Dina · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm blown away by Liz Jensen's imagination!

At first I find it difficult to read - since it's just a couple of hundred of pages I thought it would be some light reading. But nope, the way it was written requires attention and focus. How the story unfolds felt like it's something I've watched in the movie. It feels familiar but original at the same time.

(Almost) Utopia is scary. Lol

[Vargas · Rating 3 out of 5]

La trama presenta una distopía diferente a las que estoy acostumbrado y eso me ha parecido muy interesante. Además los personajes principales son todos bastante disfuncionales, cómicos y trágicos, bastante fuera del arquetipo de protagonista, eso me ha encantado.

También destacaría que me sobra el último cuarto del libro: La novela se alarga contando la vida de cada uno de los personajes por episodio y en cada episodio, desvelando un poquito más la trama. Entiendo la intención pero creo que falla la ejecución... Parece una serie que estuviesen estirando y de repente cierran con un capítulo de forma poco meditada.

[Carmilla Voiez · Rating 5 out of 5]

This gloriously angry book rages at modern day consumerism and asks what a society ruled by a corporation might look like. At the centre of the tale are two misfits. Harvey Kidd is the paper eater of the title, an orphan who created his own family from his fractured mind after a trauma, and Hannah Park with a complex and rare social disorder. Both are fascinating characters in the midst of a conspiracy that threatens both their lives. Excellent read.

[Ana Inés · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ah qué bien, algo así necesitaba leer. Entretenido, lleno de peculiariades interesantes y temas sobre los que es importante seguir preguntando y argumentando: publicidad y marketing como mecanismo de control, crisis ecológica metida bajo el tapete, esa absurda confianza en que las máquinas pueden decidir por nosotros... En fin, disfrutable. Estaré al pendiente de lo demás que se traduzca de Liz Jensen.

[Ellen Roberts · Rating 1 out of 5]

Actually hated it didn't care about the characters at all didn't like the narration didn't feel any tension or suspense didn't care about the ending hahahha

[Rachel · Rating 2 out of 5]

I usually love Liz Jensen's books, but not this one, I hadn't a clue what was going on most of the time.

[Isabel (kittiwake) · Rating 4 out of 5]

On the artificial island of Atlantica, politics has been replaced by consumerism, with the Libertycare computer running every aspect of life on the island. One of Atlantica's main sources of prosperity is its willingness to receive the world's garbage, no matter how toxic, and store it in the porous rock on which the island stands, and another is the prison ships that circle the world picking up new inmates and occasionally stopping off in Atlantica for a 'Final Adjustment'.

The islanders are now known as customers rather than citizens and despite the mantra that the customer is always right, anyone who rocks the boat is 'questionnaired', and customers denounce their friends, relations and neighbours for infractions via the 'customer help-line'. At the start of the book, they are voting on whether Libertycare should run the island for a second term, and a campaign is underway in the USA to have Libertycare replace the president and government. But could what has been so successful on a small island really be scaled up for a country the size of the United States, and are things actually running as smoothly on Atlantica as Libertycare would have you believe? Why exactly are there so many Atlantican geologists being held in solitary confinement on the prison ships?

The Paper Eater is a dystopian satire on rampant consumerism, the power of big business, man-made ecological disaster, and the ability of human beings to stick their heads in the sand and ignore all signs of trouble ahead.

[Amet Alvirde · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hay mucho que decir sobre este libro. Nuestra historia comenzó cuando paseaba por una feria del libro y lo vi en un estante de libros baratos. La portada (de tusquets editores) me atrapó inmediatamente y la sinopsis me hizo comprarlo a pesar de que no me respetaron el descuento. :(

Tenía muchísimas esperanzas en él. Las expectativas eran altísimas y cumplió, pero no cumplió. La historia es fascinante y Jensen merece que nos quitemos el sombrero ante sus ideas y su forma de expresarlas en papel. Hay conceptos que te vuelan los sesos.

Pero, hay dos o tres puntos en los que simplemente hay demasiados personajes y es inevitable perderte. Por otra parte, aunque inteligente, la línea temporal podría ser confusa también en ciertos puntos. Y qué decir del final... Oh, el final. Ciertamente inesperado, y bastante bueno, pero apresurado. Todo sucede demasiado rápido y quizá aún me cuesta digerirlo.

El libro es genial, las cuatro estrellas son por aquellos detallitos que mencioné anteriormente, pero es ideal para los que disfrutamos de leer distopías y ésta particularmente es cool porque no es el clásico héroe salvando el día sino algo más real, el protagonista es mínimo, es pequeño y los muros se le echan encima prácticamente en toda la obra, es extraño, pero reconfortante. Es diferente, divertido y muy inteligente.

[Steve · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Paper Eater. Another inventive psychological thriller cum black comedy cum dystopia from Liz Jensen. This time it’s a combination of an isolated society managed by corporate software, a small-time fraudster convicted of a serious crime he didn’t do, a cast of female characters suffering from a variety of misdiagnosed psychological issues, an imaginary family full of incestuous undercurrents, and a cell-mate uneducated in the game of chess. Oh, not forgetting, the title of the book which comes from the central character’s displacement behaviour/bad habit of chewing paper to make home-made papier mache. There is a love story to go with all of this as well. You simply cannot accuse Jensen of having a poor imagination! In comparison to my review of Egg Dancing, I found this book to be of the right length, and didn’t feel short changed by the story’s conclusion. A sparky read, with plenty of laser-guided gibes at the nonsense of corporate life.

[Stephanie Augustin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another original work from Jensen. The Paper Eater is Harvey Kidd, who is made a scapegoat of a malfunction in the computer-run Atlantican republic. To keep himself from blurting the truth and subsequently bringing forward his execution, he munches trial papers in to papier mache, turning them into chess pieces resembling those who screwed him over.



The usual mix of psychological disorders, characterisation and plain foreplay helped with the speed of reading - I finished this in three days.



However, the Orwellian comprisons are a bit far-fetched; anyone who has read Jensen before will know that entertainment plays a bigger part in her sardonic jabs at society. But the trademark Jensen's are there: quick yet complete character development; concurrent use of suspense and humour and the non-big-bang ending.

[Dave Goody · Rating 1 out of 5]

I love books that are different, quirky and unusual, so when I read the cover blurb on this book, then read the reviews on Goodreads, I was expecting great things. Unfortunately, I found the book very hard to get into and found that not only did I not care for any of the characters, I struggled to remember who each of them were as I went through the book. The Goodreads rating for this book is pretty high, so I guess I am in the minority, but isn't that what reading and opinions are all about?! Don't let my review put you off if you fancy giving this book a try, I hope you enjoy itmore than I did :)

[Rachael Eyre · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm becoming a firm Liz Jensen fan; I've now read all her books bar one, and liked them, despite the occasional flaw. This early work is no exception.

Dividing the screen time between its eccentric protagonists, Harvey and Hannah, it's a vividly rendered dystopian tragicomedy, lampooning our consumer culture mercilessly. I loved the portrayal of the morally bankrupt Libertycare and its Boss. This would make a fantastic short film or radio drama.

[Britt · Rating 4 out of 5]

A bit difficult to get into because of the jargon of the future, but after a while that's exactly what makes it entertaining and engaging. A great dystopian story of a corporation replacing democratic government and the sorts of deception required for it to appear successful.

[Efrat · Rating 4 out of 5]

fiction. one of my favorite authors. social commentary, has a vein of a negative utopia.

[jen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was very enjoyable and spooky. It was not difficult to imagine such a world in our near future.

[Dancingsocks · Rating 4 out of 5]

really interesting, oppressive and disturbing read.

[BibliofiliaFull · Rating 2 out of 5]

El final me decepcionó un poco.

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

I can't say I enjoyed this book all that much but it was extremely engrossing. Sort of MT Anderson dystopia meets Terry Gilliam. The characterization was great.

[Manda · Rating 4 out of 5]

A strange book which took me a while to get into. Once I did enjoyed it. Liz Jensen is always an interesting author.