What do you think?
Rate this book
Pop!
We had the best plan. It was genius: a sure-fire golden ticket to
stratospheric stardom and loads of money! It was so massive it
was going to change our lives forever.
Agnes, Jimmy, baby Alfie and I were going to become reality show
super stars.
I had it all worked out. We had a brilliant back story. Tears, tragedy,
heartfelt close up shots of me and Baby Alfie, feuding families,
star crossed lovers... It’s all there! Plus we had a surprise package
- Agnes and her amazing voice. You would never have picked it and
surprise packages ALWAYS make it to the top ten!
We couldn’t loose.
Or that was the plan...
stratospheric stardom and loads of money! It was so massive it
was going to change our lives forever.
Agnes, Jimmy, baby Alfie and I were going to become reality show
super stars.
I had it all worked out. We had a brilliant back story. Tears, tragedy,
heartfelt close up shots of me and Baby Alfie, feuding families,
star crossed lovers... It’s all there! Plus we had a surprise package
- Agnes and her amazing voice. You would never have picked it and
surprise packages ALWAYS make it to the top ten!
We couldn’t loose.
Or that was the plan...
- GenresYoung Adult
496 pages, Paperback
First published June 4, 2012
44 people want to read
About the author
Catherine Bruton
18 books50 followersI live just outside Bath with my husband, Jonny, and my two children (plus two toy monkeys, six goldfish and we’re hoping to get some chickens!). I teach English two days a week at a local secondary school. I also write articles for newspapers and magazines. Oh, and I write novels too!
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
May 11, 2017
It was a good book. I thought it was funny because it had the Rules of Talent TV in it.
September 4, 2012
Review originally posted on ThirstforFiction.com
Elfie’s favourite thing are plans. Since an early age, her often funny misdemeanors have been the talk of the street. But now her plans are bigger and more ambitious than before: she wants to climb to the top of a TV-talent contest and win for her family. The only problem is, she isn’t a very good singer…
If anything can be said of the Noughties, it is that the new millennium brought with it a multitude of TV talent shows right across the globe. From American Idol to the X Factor and Britain/America/pick-a-country’s Got Talent, television audiences are being swamped in tragic back stories and (hopefully) good vocals. Or whatever it is that the talent show in question is on the prowl for. Nobody knows this better than Catherine Bruton herself, who is self-admittedly a TV talent show junkie (check the acknowledgements!).
Having read Bruton’s first (and standout) novel, We Can Be Heroes, I’m beginning to know her style. Without meaning to sound patronising or derogatory, Pop!, just like We Can Be Heroes, is a fantastic feel-good read where relationships are mended, situations used for good and Everything Is Alright. Or, At Least, Better Than It Was. Which isn’t a bad thing: to often, we get bogged down in dysfunctional endings and conclusions to series, it’s rather nice to read a novel where everything (or mostly everything) is an improvement on what it started out as. And let me tell you: there are some pretty broken situations in Pop! just like there are in We Can Be Heroes. finish reading review...
Elfie’s favourite thing are plans. Since an early age, her often funny misdemeanors have been the talk of the street. But now her plans are bigger and more ambitious than before: she wants to climb to the top of a TV-talent contest and win for her family. The only problem is, she isn’t a very good singer…
If anything can be said of the Noughties, it is that the new millennium brought with it a multitude of TV talent shows right across the globe. From American Idol to the X Factor and Britain/America/pick-a-country’s Got Talent, television audiences are being swamped in tragic back stories and (hopefully) good vocals. Or whatever it is that the talent show in question is on the prowl for. Nobody knows this better than Catherine Bruton herself, who is self-admittedly a TV talent show junkie (check the acknowledgements!).
Having read Bruton’s first (and standout) novel, We Can Be Heroes, I’m beginning to know her style. Without meaning to sound patronising or derogatory, Pop!, just like We Can Be Heroes, is a fantastic feel-good read where relationships are mended, situations used for good and Everything Is Alright. Or, At Least, Better Than It Was. Which isn’t a bad thing: to often, we get bogged down in dysfunctional endings and conclusions to series, it’s rather nice to read a novel where everything (or mostly everything) is an improvement on what it started out as. And let me tell you: there are some pretty broken situations in Pop! just like there are in We Can Be Heroes. finish reading review...
October 24, 2015
4.5
Pop! is gritty, funny and heart-breaking. We start the Elfie explaining that she is good at making up stories and she knows how to win TV talent shows. Elfie is fourteen and her mum walks out on her, her baby brother and their father. Elfie’s mum, we learn, does this a lot and Elfie is left literally holding the baby.
With her father head of the strike committee tensions are high and money is short in the neighbourhood. Elfie is worrying about money for nappies and stays of school so she can look after her little brother.
Her best friend Jimmy is training to be a professional swimmer – pushed by his father who wants to give him a way out. Agnes is the daughter of one of the foreign contract workers making her an outcast hated by everyone.
All three tell us the story of Elfie’s mad plan to enter a localised TV talent show so they can win the prize money.
Despite all the gloom Pop! is hilarious poking fun at talent shows and their judges while dealing with racism, love and
Pop! is gritty, funny and heart-breaking. We start the Elfie explaining that she is good at making up stories and she knows how to win TV talent shows. Elfie is fourteen and her mum walks out on her, her baby brother and their father. Elfie’s mum, we learn, does this a lot and Elfie is left literally holding the baby.
With her father head of the strike committee tensions are high and money is short in the neighbourhood. Elfie is worrying about money for nappies and stays of school so she can look after her little brother.
Her best friend Jimmy is training to be a professional swimmer – pushed by his father who wants to give him a way out. Agnes is the daughter of one of the foreign contract workers making her an outcast hated by everyone.
All three tell us the story of Elfie’s mad plan to enter a localised TV talent show so they can win the prize money.
Despite all the gloom Pop! is hilarious poking fun at talent shows and their judges while dealing with racism, love and
June 1, 2012
Review by Madison
Elfie's mum has gone and run off AGAIN, the strike against the immagrants means her dad is in debt and Elfie finds herself stuck in the middle. However, when Jimmy, Elfie's best friend, hears Agnes, an immagrant, sing she comes up with a plan to win £25k from a show called Pop to the Top the only thing is it won't be her singing it will be Agnes.
I loved the different characters in this book:
Elfie, who is bold and brave yet you can see her vulnerability underneath it all.
Jimmy, who is so loyal and caring towards both Elfie and Agnes.
Agnes, tugs at your heart strings, she's been alone for so long the joy she feels at having friends flows from the pages.
It really was the contrast in the characters, their relationship and interactions that made this book such an enjoyable read.
Elfie's mum has gone and run off AGAIN, the strike against the immagrants means her dad is in debt and Elfie finds herself stuck in the middle. However, when Jimmy, Elfie's best friend, hears Agnes, an immagrant, sing she comes up with a plan to win £25k from a show called Pop to the Top the only thing is it won't be her singing it will be Agnes.
I loved the different characters in this book:
Elfie, who is bold and brave yet you can see her vulnerability underneath it all.
Jimmy, who is so loyal and caring towards both Elfie and Agnes.
Agnes, tugs at your heart strings, she's been alone for so long the joy she feels at having friends flows from the pages.
It really was the contrast in the characters, their relationship and interactions that made this book such an enjoyable read.
December 25, 2012
Seriously brilliant!
August 19, 2018
Fun read! Nice companion to The Devil and the Bluebird and also Tenney, new American Girl and musician/songwriter.
December 23, 2014
AMAZING AMAZING AMAZING
this book had everything i wanted in a book funny and heart braking
i also love reality TV so that was a deal breaker for me to read the book
5 stars I LOVED IT
this book had everything i wanted in a book funny and heart braking
i also love reality TV so that was a deal breaker for me to read the book
5 stars I LOVED IT
January 25, 2016
Couldn't get into the book at all.
April 15, 2017
Very funny
dnf
October 11, 2018Lost interest
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews