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Spark
"Dreyfus writes with the darkly absurd humour of a thirsty and somewhat paranoid Jonathan Swift" - Pop Matters
Jake Miller has just been shot by a member of the British Counterterrorism Unit. As he lies on his bedroom floor, wondering if he’s going to bleed out, he attempts to put the last few months of his life into perspective. One minute he’s starting a high-flying job in the corporate banking sector; the next minute he’s commanding a legion of disaffected computer users known as Generation Y-bother. They know Jake only by his hacking name Spark and the videos he uploads to his Youtube account, but they’re determined to help him bring about the end of the world as we know it. The problem is not everybody’s on board his battleship…
Spark is Rupert's debut novel which takes a swipe at corporate culture and the Westminster pantomime. A thank you letter to hacktivist groups such as Anonymous; this is guerrilla fiction for the Digital Age.
Jake Miller has just been shot by a member of the British Counterterrorism Unit. As he lies on his bedroom floor, wondering if he’s going to bleed out, he attempts to put the last few months of his life into perspective. One minute he’s starting a high-flying job in the corporate banking sector; the next minute he’s commanding a legion of disaffected computer users known as Generation Y-bother. They know Jake only by his hacking name Spark and the videos he uploads to his Youtube account, but they’re determined to help him bring about the end of the world as we know it. The problem is not everybody’s on board his battleship…
Spark is Rupert's debut novel which takes a swipe at corporate culture and the Westminster pantomime. A thank you letter to hacktivist groups such as Anonymous; this is guerrilla fiction for the Digital Age.
284 pages, ebook
First published September 19, 2014
200 people want to read
About the author
Rupert Dreyfus
9 books143 followersRupert Dreyfus is an award winning, Amazon top 10 selling author who writes black comedies as a means of venting about the state of the world. The influential magazine of cultural criticism PopMatters said that he writes “with the darkly absurd humour of a thirsty and somewhat paranoid Jonathan Swift”. Closer to home, activist and one-time musician Edwin Stratton described his work as “black bloc meets Black Mirror”.
Spark is his first novel which serves as a snapshot of modern-day Britain, seen through the eyes of disaffected computer hacker Jake Miller. After creating a legion of online followers known as Generation Y-bother, Jake shows us how incredibly easy it is to spark a revolution. You just have to be angry enough.
Dreyfus is also the author of The Rebel's Sketchbook; a collection of thirteen short stories. Targets include maniac world leaders, talentless boybands, Westminster politicians, social media idiots and much more. The Morning Star named it one of their favourite books of 2015.
More recently, Dreyfus has released a number of short stories as well as his first novella Prezident Scumbag!; a swipe at the rise of Donald Trump as told by crust punk squatter Faz.
It was nominated for Readfree.ly's 50 Best Indie Books of 2017 and subsequently placed 25th.
For more information about Rupert you can visit his website www.rupertdreyfus.co.uk.
"Dreyfus writes with the darkly absurd humour of a thirsty and somewhat paranoid Jonathan Swift." - Pop Matters
"Black block meets Black Mirror." - Edwin Stratton, activist and musician
"If his work doesn't make you think, I suggest getting your doctor to prescribe a course of fluoride tablets, subscribe to the Daily Mirror and vote in this year's X Factor." - The Canary
Spark is his first novel which serves as a snapshot of modern-day Britain, seen through the eyes of disaffected computer hacker Jake Miller. After creating a legion of online followers known as Generation Y-bother, Jake shows us how incredibly easy it is to spark a revolution. You just have to be angry enough.
Dreyfus is also the author of The Rebel's Sketchbook; a collection of thirteen short stories. Targets include maniac world leaders, talentless boybands, Westminster politicians, social media idiots and much more. The Morning Star named it one of their favourite books of 2015.
More recently, Dreyfus has released a number of short stories as well as his first novella Prezident Scumbag!; a swipe at the rise of Donald Trump as told by crust punk squatter Faz.
It was nominated for Readfree.ly's 50 Best Indie Books of 2017 and subsequently placed 25th.
For more information about Rupert you can visit his website www.rupertdreyfus.co.uk.
"Dreyfus writes with the darkly absurd humour of a thirsty and somewhat paranoid Jonathan Swift." - Pop Matters
"Black block meets Black Mirror." - Edwin Stratton, activist and musician
"If his work doesn't make you think, I suggest getting your doctor to prescribe a course of fluoride tablets, subscribe to the Daily Mirror and vote in this year's X Factor." - The Canary
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Displaying 1 - 28 of 28 reviews
October 18, 2015
Wow.
This is the best book I've read in years. Everything about it connects to me at a personal level, not just artistic. They say every read is a personal reaction. Here's mine (promise to get to the story itself soon):
A long time ago, in a podunk college town far, far away, my 20-year-old self discovered Frank Zappa. From the moment I heard "Who Needs the Peace Corps?" I was hooked, and for the next several years I obsessively collected and consumed everything the oddball ever put out.
There were two sides to Frank I enjoyed: the musical side (which I won't discuss here) and the lyrical. Frank made fun of everybody, and he wasn't demure about it. He didn't pick sides either. And he was relentless. Anyone who annoyed him, you can be sure a song was made to memorialize the a-hole. And that's why to this day, I can listen to albums like Shiek Yerbouti and You Are What You Is and still lose my lunch. Because a-holes are eternal, and poking fun at them better than beer.
My friends couldn't understand the appeal: How can you be taken seriously as a musician, they'd ask, if you don't write love songs? If all you composed was "comedy shit"? Worse, what does it say about you if all you can do is make fun of others? My douche bag friends didn't understand that intelligent anger transformed into skilled satire is a purifying experience. Is it everybody's cuppa tea? Uh ... no. But those of us who love it, we love it a lot. So when the rare gem comes along to remind us that we're not alone in our love, we must celebrate accordingly.
So it was that I began reading Spark without any expectation, and started laughing. It wasn't punch-your-guts guffaws. It was the soft giggle, of which there's at least one per page. Two hundred eighty-four pages of beautiful restraint. Accretion matters.
What's it about? Jake Miller moves to London to start a corporate job, only to end up destroying the world. For details, read the story.
Have you ever hated your boss? Have you ever hated your life? Have you ever thought everyone around you was a moron who needed to be horsewhipped? Maybe you don't and good for you. For the rest of us, we have the therapeutic pill called Spark, a story that gets more and more fucked-up, and all one can do is laugh. Seriously, don't trash your soul to the comments section of a political editorial, where dark minds dwell and slaves to fashion feed. Read this little book and feel inspired and uplifted instead.
As a fellow writer, I'm surprised I'm not jealous a coeval got this done right. No, if anything, I'm motivated to continue writing just what I want to write. It's the only way it can work.
One of the best things about Spark is, again, how simple and charming the language is. It has a Voice that doesn't try to impress too much nor be too common. And the things the other characters say all strike me as authentic. People really do say crap like "buddy up" and "true that." And now it's been preserved.
The novel is also expertly organized. I can't help but think it would make an equally-excellent movie (or film, Jake would tell me).
Okay, so as an indie, it has its share of copy issues. Some people can't stand that. But I believe good indies wear these little gaffes with pride, like the pops and hisses that are simply part of the background of punk rock Armageddon. And if nothing else, this story is the first and only place I've seen the verb "to spectate." There's also some excellent advice on how to avoid a scene in the bathroom of a friend.
This book was a breath of fresh air. Now, sadly, back to the smog.
This is the best book I've read in years. Everything about it connects to me at a personal level, not just artistic. They say every read is a personal reaction. Here's mine (promise to get to the story itself soon):
A long time ago, in a podunk college town far, far away, my 20-year-old self discovered Frank Zappa. From the moment I heard "Who Needs the Peace Corps?" I was hooked, and for the next several years I obsessively collected and consumed everything the oddball ever put out.
There were two sides to Frank I enjoyed: the musical side (which I won't discuss here) and the lyrical. Frank made fun of everybody, and he wasn't demure about it. He didn't pick sides either. And he was relentless. Anyone who annoyed him, you can be sure a song was made to memorialize the a-hole. And that's why to this day, I can listen to albums like Shiek Yerbouti and You Are What You Is and still lose my lunch. Because a-holes are eternal, and poking fun at them better than beer.
My friends couldn't understand the appeal: How can you be taken seriously as a musician, they'd ask, if you don't write love songs? If all you composed was "comedy shit"? Worse, what does it say about you if all you can do is make fun of others? My douche bag friends didn't understand that intelligent anger transformed into skilled satire is a purifying experience. Is it everybody's cuppa tea? Uh ... no. But those of us who love it, we love it a lot. So when the rare gem comes along to remind us that we're not alone in our love, we must celebrate accordingly.
So it was that I began reading Spark without any expectation, and started laughing. It wasn't punch-your-guts guffaws. It was the soft giggle, of which there's at least one per page. Two hundred eighty-four pages of beautiful restraint. Accretion matters.
What's it about? Jake Miller moves to London to start a corporate job, only to end up destroying the world. For details, read the story.
Have you ever hated your boss? Have you ever hated your life? Have you ever thought everyone around you was a moron who needed to be horsewhipped? Maybe you don't and good for you. For the rest of us, we have the therapeutic pill called Spark, a story that gets more and more fucked-up, and all one can do is laugh. Seriously, don't trash your soul to the comments section of a political editorial, where dark minds dwell and slaves to fashion feed. Read this little book and feel inspired and uplifted instead.
As a fellow writer, I'm surprised I'm not jealous a coeval got this done right. No, if anything, I'm motivated to continue writing just what I want to write. It's the only way it can work.
One of the best things about Spark is, again, how simple and charming the language is. It has a Voice that doesn't try to impress too much nor be too common. And the things the other characters say all strike me as authentic. People really do say crap like "buddy up" and "true that." And now it's been preserved.
The novel is also expertly organized. I can't help but think it would make an equally-excellent movie (or film, Jake would tell me).
Okay, so as an indie, it has its share of copy issues. Some people can't stand that. But I believe good indies wear these little gaffes with pride, like the pops and hisses that are simply part of the background of punk rock Armageddon. And if nothing else, this story is the first and only place I've seen the verb "to spectate." There's also some excellent advice on how to avoid a scene in the bathroom of a friend.
This book was a breath of fresh air. Now, sadly, back to the smog.
February 6, 2017
Sarcasm Squared
What do you call sarcasm about sarcasm? Could it be sardony? If so Spark is way up there on the spectrum "irony, sarcasm, satire, sardony.” How far is it possible to send up yourself?
Spark is the self-proclaimed voice of the Y-bother generation. These are the millennial 'snowflakes' who feel betrayed and abandoned by the world but maintain an attitude of romantic love worthy of Byron. Because their metier is sarcasm, they present a real problem to the writer who wants to rub them up a bit.
For example, it is reported recently by the Wall Street Journal that many Y-bothers are jumping ship from Big Finance in London and New York. At first glance they might look a principled lot. But it is cash not ethics that matters. They are dissatisfied with the bonuses which don't allow the life style they expect. How do you get sarcastic in the face of such sarcasm?
The central theme of Spark is the repeated refrain of "our rubbish lives". Included is a manifesto of Y-bothersomness that covers gripes from the demand to participate in the phony (Salinger?) corporate rat-race to the bullshit (Vonnegut?) dictatorship of electricity metres. The disappearance of affordable yuppie city-accommodation sits somewhere in the middle (Lanchester?).
The irony at the low end of the spectrum can get lost in the whinging sardonic frequencies of the upper end. The protagonist is a computer-geek working, but not very hard, in a banking giant. For the moment he's travelling third class on the corporate gravy train. But his prospects? Well he gets offered promotion the first day on the job.
According to social science pundits, this is precisely the guy who has won in the globalisation stakes, the one who has beaten the bloke on the provincial assembly line into a pulp. Wasn't he the one voted against by Brexit and Trump supporters? Yet he too thinks the world is stacked against him. Someone seems to have driven a wedge between folk who have an awfully lot in common.
Y-bothers are hacktivists. That is, they dream about a social system that looks like the internet in which there are no adult responsibilities, no fixed identities, and lots of money in game-playing. They hang out on the internet waiting for the revolution until...well in Spark's case until he gets shot in the gut by the Counterterrorism Unit. From irony to sardony in one narrative jump.
A combination of The Young Ones, The Big Bang Theory, Live Free or Die Hard, and any one of a dozen rom-coms. Amusing but not meant to be taken seriously. When’s the last time you saw a digi-nerd using a Polaroid camera after all? I presume the three or four plot-recaps in what is a shortish book is more than an aid for those readers who might get lost in a toilet stall.
What do you call sarcasm about sarcasm? Could it be sardony? If so Spark is way up there on the spectrum "irony, sarcasm, satire, sardony.” How far is it possible to send up yourself?
Spark is the self-proclaimed voice of the Y-bother generation. These are the millennial 'snowflakes' who feel betrayed and abandoned by the world but maintain an attitude of romantic love worthy of Byron. Because their metier is sarcasm, they present a real problem to the writer who wants to rub them up a bit.
For example, it is reported recently by the Wall Street Journal that many Y-bothers are jumping ship from Big Finance in London and New York. At first glance they might look a principled lot. But it is cash not ethics that matters. They are dissatisfied with the bonuses which don't allow the life style they expect. How do you get sarcastic in the face of such sarcasm?
The central theme of Spark is the repeated refrain of "our rubbish lives". Included is a manifesto of Y-bothersomness that covers gripes from the demand to participate in the phony (Salinger?) corporate rat-race to the bullshit (Vonnegut?) dictatorship of electricity metres. The disappearance of affordable yuppie city-accommodation sits somewhere in the middle (Lanchester?).
The irony at the low end of the spectrum can get lost in the whinging sardonic frequencies of the upper end. The protagonist is a computer-geek working, but not very hard, in a banking giant. For the moment he's travelling third class on the corporate gravy train. But his prospects? Well he gets offered promotion the first day on the job.
According to social science pundits, this is precisely the guy who has won in the globalisation stakes, the one who has beaten the bloke on the provincial assembly line into a pulp. Wasn't he the one voted against by Brexit and Trump supporters? Yet he too thinks the world is stacked against him. Someone seems to have driven a wedge between folk who have an awfully lot in common.
Y-bothers are hacktivists. That is, they dream about a social system that looks like the internet in which there are no adult responsibilities, no fixed identities, and lots of money in game-playing. They hang out on the internet waiting for the revolution until...well in Spark's case until he gets shot in the gut by the Counterterrorism Unit. From irony to sardony in one narrative jump.
A combination of The Young Ones, The Big Bang Theory, Live Free or Die Hard, and any one of a dozen rom-coms. Amusing but not meant to be taken seriously. When’s the last time you saw a digi-nerd using a Polaroid camera after all? I presume the three or four plot-recaps in what is a shortish book is more than an aid for those readers who might get lost in a toilet stall.
July 14, 2015
Can one man destroy the global economy? In the Anonymous and hacktivist age, it actually seems more than possible.
Who would that one man be? Perhaps some terrorist or lone psycho, if you believed what you heard on the six o’clock news. But in truth, he’d just be some guy. And it would just sort of happen.
Internet scams, hacking and cracking, the Deep Web, capitalist greed, cycles of destruction and creation, using speed dating as therapy, notions of god and snorting sheep… you’ll find it all here.
This is one of the best Indie book debuts I’ve read. It’s also a great example of why Indie authors are needed, because if Spark – a book about the disaffected masses who want to topple current power structures- had been published by Random House and promoted in The Guardian Review section, it wouldn’t speak to the underbelly of society in any meaningful way. Rest assured, author Rupert Dreyfus is ‘on side’ and this sometimes feels like a mouthpiece for all the post-generation Xers- the Y Bother Generation as Dreyfus calls them.
Don’t get me wrong though- this isn’t a novel that will only appeal to that demographic. Spark is expertly crafted, sharp, funny and smooth and should appeal to anyone who just likes a simple tale told brilliantly.
My only criticism was that I would have liked some parts (the scumbag character Vinnie’s scam, for instance) to be resolved or told in more detail- but that really is the worst I can say about it in terms of critiquing. 95% of Spark is pure gold.
I particularly liked Dreyfus’ wry humour (I literally had a smile or smirk on my face with most every page) along with his great similes and descriptions –and there’s plenty of philosophical and poignant depth to it all as well.
I’m sure it would make the author happy to see Spark being illegally downloaded on torrents- so you really should BUY this book and make Rupert Dreyfus mainstream famous. Just to piss him off.
Who would that one man be? Perhaps some terrorist or lone psycho, if you believed what you heard on the six o’clock news. But in truth, he’d just be some guy. And it would just sort of happen.
Internet scams, hacking and cracking, the Deep Web, capitalist greed, cycles of destruction and creation, using speed dating as therapy, notions of god and snorting sheep… you’ll find it all here.
This is one of the best Indie book debuts I’ve read. It’s also a great example of why Indie authors are needed, because if Spark – a book about the disaffected masses who want to topple current power structures- had been published by Random House and promoted in The Guardian Review section, it wouldn’t speak to the underbelly of society in any meaningful way. Rest assured, author Rupert Dreyfus is ‘on side’ and this sometimes feels like a mouthpiece for all the post-generation Xers- the Y Bother Generation as Dreyfus calls them.
Don’t get me wrong though- this isn’t a novel that will only appeal to that demographic. Spark is expertly crafted, sharp, funny and smooth and should appeal to anyone who just likes a simple tale told brilliantly.
My only criticism was that I would have liked some parts (the scumbag character Vinnie’s scam, for instance) to be resolved or told in more detail- but that really is the worst I can say about it in terms of critiquing. 95% of Spark is pure gold.
I particularly liked Dreyfus’ wry humour (I literally had a smile or smirk on my face with most every page) along with his great similes and descriptions –and there’s plenty of philosophical and poignant depth to it all as well.
I’m sure it would make the author happy to see Spark being illegally downloaded on torrents- so you really should BUY this book and make Rupert Dreyfus mainstream famous. Just to piss him off.
June 23, 2018
SPARK LIVES!!!!
Thoroughly enjoyed reading this book, having the London riots still fresh in your mind makes this all feel more real, it seems that everything in this book is possible... all it needs for Spark to step up and start the ball rolling.
When I first started this book I thought I was going to be reading a modern day version of fight club, but after a few chapters the book found its own way.
There are some brilliant ideas and I thought Jake's method of therapy was genius, I might have to try it out one day.
It took me a little while to figure out that this book is not just about a nerd but is in fact also full of psychology, all that paranoia and the rise of Spark. Plato is a brilliant character, as soon as he starts talking you know he is gonna same something wise.
Really looking forward to the next novel.
New review after a second reading is on my blog> https://felcherman.wordpress.com/2018...
Thoroughly enjoyed reading this book, having the London riots still fresh in your mind makes this all feel more real, it seems that everything in this book is possible... all it needs for Spark to step up and start the ball rolling.
When I first started this book I thought I was going to be reading a modern day version of fight club, but after a few chapters the book found its own way.
There are some brilliant ideas and I thought Jake's method of therapy was genius, I might have to try it out one day.
It took me a little while to figure out that this book is not just about a nerd but is in fact also full of psychology, all that paranoia and the rise of Spark. Plato is a brilliant character, as soon as he starts talking you know he is gonna same something wise.
Really looking forward to the next novel.
New review after a second reading is on my blog> https://felcherman.wordpress.com/2018...
July 24, 2015
I can't say too much about the storyline, as I'll end up giving away too much. However, I thoroughly enjoyed reading this, in fact, I couldn't put it down. The short, sharp, fast-paced chapters make it far too easy to stay up all night (one more chapter). The language is articulate and flowing, the author sure knows how to pack a punch and make you feel like you're actually there. I cannot reccomend this book highly enough, probably the best I've read this year ..... By a mile. Looking forward to reading more from this talented author.
January 16, 2016
Lately glorious things happen to me as a reader. I've had fantastic literary experiences with Robertson, Gransden and now Dreyfus. I know that lately I use the word 'genius' pretty consistently, but oh well, it's pretty accurate.
Spark is a book of immense intelligence. The kind of intelligence that warms your heart and makes you happy. To sum it up, it's a book of revolution, a socio-political satire, a study of loneliness, a London journey, an amalgam of different intellects and moralities through its players and the trajectory from confusion and boredom to magnificent elation.
I don't think it's a hyperbole to call Spark's plot a masterpiece. As simple as that. I loved every single minute and no, to me there were no mistakes, no lip curling and 'I would have handled it differently here and there' or 'something is not right here and there'.
The characters are rich and organic, palpable little things. even the minor ones like Harold whose presence was a laugh out very loud moment. The plot is very well considered, tailored on the personae involved and their manifestations. The humour and the farcical side of it never feels forced. Its above mentioned intelligence is ever present but not aggressive or hysterical, like desperate stand up, it just exists calmly and naturally radiates. Quite an achievement!
The genius of the plot is that Jake is not a fully fledged revolutionary who enters the corporate banking world in order to smash the system from within, politically conscious and with a clear cut manifesto. Jake is lonely and inventive in his solitude, in a bitter sweet, tragicomic way, he is bored and empty and intimidated by the larger than life Vinnie. Also, he falls in love and eventually heartbroken falls flat on his face, metaphorically speaking. And this is the trigger. As the anger rises, everything he silently hates around him, comes to life in full colour and shape and ready to be smashed. His intellectual mentor is the wondrous character called Plato (a rather post modern adaptation of Diogenes!) and his technical mentor is Alfie. Their involvement starts the countdown towards the 'end of the world'. The author follows Don deLillo's maxim of 'the duty of the writer to oppose whatever it is imposed on us'.
I don't really have a point of reference regarding the banking corporations' inner sanctum, but the atmosphere in the Dynasty offices seems very plausible, even caricaturised as it is and dead funny with paternalistic Colin and success hungry young Dom. This is a study on the notion of power and later the author contemplates the same notion as he equips his character of Jake with some millions of followers, inevitably some formidable enemies and a delusional surge of power craze.
On that note I will wrap it up saying that this is a book that deserves recognition. Excellent in all its aspects, I can only wish that Spark will sell as many copies as Jake has YouTube followers!
Spark is a book of immense intelligence. The kind of intelligence that warms your heart and makes you happy. To sum it up, it's a book of revolution, a socio-political satire, a study of loneliness, a London journey, an amalgam of different intellects and moralities through its players and the trajectory from confusion and boredom to magnificent elation.
I don't think it's a hyperbole to call Spark's plot a masterpiece. As simple as that. I loved every single minute and no, to me there were no mistakes, no lip curling and 'I would have handled it differently here and there' or 'something is not right here and there'.
The characters are rich and organic, palpable little things. even the minor ones like Harold whose presence was a laugh out very loud moment. The plot is very well considered, tailored on the personae involved and their manifestations. The humour and the farcical side of it never feels forced. Its above mentioned intelligence is ever present but not aggressive or hysterical, like desperate stand up, it just exists calmly and naturally radiates. Quite an achievement!
The genius of the plot is that Jake is not a fully fledged revolutionary who enters the corporate banking world in order to smash the system from within, politically conscious and with a clear cut manifesto. Jake is lonely and inventive in his solitude, in a bitter sweet, tragicomic way, he is bored and empty and intimidated by the larger than life Vinnie. Also, he falls in love and eventually heartbroken falls flat on his face, metaphorically speaking. And this is the trigger. As the anger rises, everything he silently hates around him, comes to life in full colour and shape and ready to be smashed. His intellectual mentor is the wondrous character called Plato (a rather post modern adaptation of Diogenes!) and his technical mentor is Alfie. Their involvement starts the countdown towards the 'end of the world'. The author follows Don deLillo's maxim of 'the duty of the writer to oppose whatever it is imposed on us'.
I don't really have a point of reference regarding the banking corporations' inner sanctum, but the atmosphere in the Dynasty offices seems very plausible, even caricaturised as it is and dead funny with paternalistic Colin and success hungry young Dom. This is a study on the notion of power and later the author contemplates the same notion as he equips his character of Jake with some millions of followers, inevitably some formidable enemies and a delusional surge of power craze.
On that note I will wrap it up saying that this is a book that deserves recognition. Excellent in all its aspects, I can only wish that Spark will sell as many copies as Jake has YouTube followers!
January 17, 2016
Jake Miller is a youngish professional and former computer hacker who moves to London to take up a job as an analyst at Dynasty Plc, a large bank. From the start, he’s not too keen on corporate life. Moreover the household he’s wound up living in is downright odd. His landlord, Vinnie Sloane, is a foul-mouthed posh git who makes his living from internet scams while ingesting unpleasant substances. Still, Jake sort of adjusts. Until he’s betrayed by a love interest. Then his hatred for Dynasty, Vinnie et al boils over. He decides to use his ancient IT skills to bring down the whole damn system. Does he succeed? Read the book.
And in fact do read it, because Rupert Dreyfus’s Spark is my read of 2015 (well, as of July). It’s a fast-moving little thriller and is sometimes very funny. Vinnie Sloane is one of the great comic creations – the most modern of monsters. Nigerian prince with a cashflow problem? That’s Vinnie. A horny Thai maiden who needs a cash advance to join her online suitor in England? That’s Vinnie too. And life in Dynasty Plc: “We were going over the week’s figures together... [which] is like going over the instruction manual of a toaster while you repeatedly punch yourself in the face.”
Yet there are serious undertones to Spark, and it has a very contemporary feel. Jake goes speed dating, and winds up in a bar full of young professionals “gassing to each other in bullet points about how fantastic it is to be in the fast lane. ... Yes I am an achiever. Yes my life is perfect. Altogether now, folks: you are what you earn. You are what you earn. You are what you earn…“ Jake’s plot to screw the system works, in part, by using social media to leverage the fury of Generation Y-bother, the disaffected young who know they will never be able to afford a mortgage and that their student loans will hang round their necks until hell freezes over. Dreyfus is also very clear-eyed about technology. Computers created the modern world and they can also destroy it; it won’t bother them. “You can build a flat pack wardrobe with a hammer or you can break somebody’s leg with it,” says Jake. “The hammer really doesn’t care which.“
Spark isn’t perfect. A serious hole in the plot is the way Jake hacks his way to anarchy; we never hear much about that, and a bit more technical detail could have made this more credible. Dreyfus could have dredged up some nerd from the digital dark side who could have mapped this out for him. There’s also the odd bit of sloppy editing (grinded for ground, parameter for perimeter, passed when he meant past). Not fatal, but irritating, and a good proofread would have caught it. Usually I’d knock off a star for these flaws.
But Spark transcends them. It’s a well-paced and funny thriller with some serious subversion at its core. It is also very timely. I first got involved in politics over 40 years ago, and I don’t know when I have detected more disaffection, and more cynicism about liberal democracy, than now. But books like this give me hope. In the 1980s, at the height of Thatcher’s depredations, all we seemed to get from publishers was genteel novels of middle-class adultery; a reflection perhaps of who ran publishing, and who bought their expensive hardback books. In fact I stopped reading novels for years. But the digital revolution is blowing traditional publishers away. Of course, as Dreyfus's Jake says, technology is neutral; it doesn’t care. We get a lot of erotica, fantasy and stuff about vampires; some of it good, to be sure, but much of it really awful. But we also get anarchic, timely satire like Spark. It just might be a fair exchange.
And in fact do read it, because Rupert Dreyfus’s Spark is my read of 2015 (well, as of July). It’s a fast-moving little thriller and is sometimes very funny. Vinnie Sloane is one of the great comic creations – the most modern of monsters. Nigerian prince with a cashflow problem? That’s Vinnie. A horny Thai maiden who needs a cash advance to join her online suitor in England? That’s Vinnie too. And life in Dynasty Plc: “We were going over the week’s figures together... [which] is like going over the instruction manual of a toaster while you repeatedly punch yourself in the face.”
Yet there are serious undertones to Spark, and it has a very contemporary feel. Jake goes speed dating, and winds up in a bar full of young professionals “gassing to each other in bullet points about how fantastic it is to be in the fast lane. ... Yes I am an achiever. Yes my life is perfect. Altogether now, folks: you are what you earn. You are what you earn. You are what you earn…“ Jake’s plot to screw the system works, in part, by using social media to leverage the fury of Generation Y-bother, the disaffected young who know they will never be able to afford a mortgage and that their student loans will hang round their necks until hell freezes over. Dreyfus is also very clear-eyed about technology. Computers created the modern world and they can also destroy it; it won’t bother them. “You can build a flat pack wardrobe with a hammer or you can break somebody’s leg with it,” says Jake. “The hammer really doesn’t care which.“
Spark isn’t perfect. A serious hole in the plot is the way Jake hacks his way to anarchy; we never hear much about that, and a bit more technical detail could have made this more credible. Dreyfus could have dredged up some nerd from the digital dark side who could have mapped this out for him. There’s also the odd bit of sloppy editing (grinded for ground, parameter for perimeter, passed when he meant past). Not fatal, but irritating, and a good proofread would have caught it. Usually I’d knock off a star for these flaws.
But Spark transcends them. It’s a well-paced and funny thriller with some serious subversion at its core. It is also very timely. I first got involved in politics over 40 years ago, and I don’t know when I have detected more disaffection, and more cynicism about liberal democracy, than now. But books like this give me hope. In the 1980s, at the height of Thatcher’s depredations, all we seemed to get from publishers was genteel novels of middle-class adultery; a reflection perhaps of who ran publishing, and who bought their expensive hardback books. In fact I stopped reading novels for years. But the digital revolution is blowing traditional publishers away. Of course, as Dreyfus's Jake says, technology is neutral; it doesn’t care. We get a lot of erotica, fantasy and stuff about vampires; some of it good, to be sure, but much of it really awful. But we also get anarchic, timely satire like Spark. It just might be a fair exchange.
August 17, 2015
'Revolution' would be an understatement when talking about the book 'Spark'. My first experience with author Rupert Dreyfus was a good one, and I'm quite glad that I took the plunge with this modern tale of grit, online debauchery, and revolt.
I won't bore you with yet another synopsis of the book; let's get right down to the meat of it. I thought that this was an excellent book with a lot of heart and a relevant social message for the modern era. The characters were believable and interesting, and all had their own unique quirk about them that made each encounter better than the last. The real standout, in my opinion, is Plato the drunken wiseman who spends his days lounging around in a lawnchair while spouting off modern day wisdoms to whoever will listen. Jake Miller, the central protagnoist, is also an interesting fellow who quickly changes from a mild mannered corporate worker to an infamous cyber "terrorist" (depending upon your perspective).
The story is told smartly from the first-person perspective, which is a difficult task to pull off. The shifting narrative, which takes us from the present to the past and back again, keeps the story moving at a quick pace and knows just when to move on to the next plot point.
Overall, this was an excellent read that kept me entertained for the (relatively) short reading time. I'll be keeping an eye out for future works from Rupert Dreyfus, and if you're a fan of transgressive fiction with a hard edge, you'll do the same as well.
I won't bore you with yet another synopsis of the book; let's get right down to the meat of it. I thought that this was an excellent book with a lot of heart and a relevant social message for the modern era. The characters were believable and interesting, and all had their own unique quirk about them that made each encounter better than the last. The real standout, in my opinion, is Plato the drunken wiseman who spends his days lounging around in a lawnchair while spouting off modern day wisdoms to whoever will listen. Jake Miller, the central protagnoist, is also an interesting fellow who quickly changes from a mild mannered corporate worker to an infamous cyber "terrorist" (depending upon your perspective).
The story is told smartly from the first-person perspective, which is a difficult task to pull off. The shifting narrative, which takes us from the present to the past and back again, keeps the story moving at a quick pace and knows just when to move on to the next plot point.
Overall, this was an excellent read that kept me entertained for the (relatively) short reading time. I'll be keeping an eye out for future works from Rupert Dreyfus, and if you're a fan of transgressive fiction with a hard edge, you'll do the same as well.
May 29, 2015
I have been lucky enough to discuss Spark with its author. When I asked him if he would like to see my review before I posted it, he said it would be fine so long as I claimed it was the best book since the Bible, [winky face.] I later realised he meant “just give it the highest praise”, but we scientists have problems with subjectivity.
"This is the most comforting thing since I drank that asbestos-rimmed jet fuel margarita!" ?
"0/5: No incest” ?
… maybe it’s better if I came up with my own benchmarks- try the books listed below!
Spark is a satirical look at the world of office tedium and corporate wanking to hacking, cracking and conservative smacking.
Jake Miller is a disaffected young man who becomes a bedroom revolutionist by starting his own Anonymous-style crusade as part of the suitably disaffectedly coined Generation Y-bother. Along the way he chats to career men, all-round assholes (fuck you Vinnie) and any manner of cants (what’s a “cant”? Have you never seen a Guy Ritchie film?) and at one point even talks to Plato about your daimonia or whatever (where did you last put it, society? It’ll be in the last place you think. No, it’s not online, you tool.) There’s even a love interest or two, but the hate interests take precedence. All fun and games? Near-death flash-forwards suggest that it might not be for Jake, but it sure is for the reader! Cynicism, technology, philosophy and all kinds political food for thought permeate this work( that you can find right here:
http://www.lulu.com/shop/rupert-dreyf... )
If I have any criticism, it’s that there is a general first-novel shakiness about the writing (some repetition/ forced tone at times), but this isn’t so much a criticism as a truth about first novels. I can’t think of any authors, myself included, for whom this isn’t the case, nor for whom the shakiness does not dampen down with more writing.
At any rate, novels are rarely as timely as this one given the recent election, and if anyone knows how to get Spark up and running- fuck it! Do it!
I hear the author is working on a collection of short stories of which I have also been fortunate enough to read a snippet, and you can guarantee that I as well as fans of any of the below books am a Dreyfus convert :D (#FinnishVodkaFTW!!)
- If you saw Atlas, the giant who holds the world on his shoulders, if you saw that he stood, blood running down his chest, his knees buckling, his arms trembling but still trying to hold the world aloft with the last of his strength, and the greater his effort the heavier the world bore down upon his shoulders-what would you tell him to do?
- Hey! Put that back down! That’s not yours! Guys, look! It’s Atlas! Get hiiiiimmmmm!!
*cue pitchforks and whooping*
American Psycho
Apathy and Other Small Victories
Kill Your Friends (being made into a film this year, I just discovered!)
Irvine Welsh
Chuck Palahniuk
Will Self
"This is the most comforting thing since I drank that asbestos-rimmed jet fuel margarita!" ?
"0/5: No incest” ?
… maybe it’s better if I came up with my own benchmarks- try the books listed below!
Spark is a satirical look at the world of office tedium and corporate wanking to hacking, cracking and conservative smacking.
Jake Miller is a disaffected young man who becomes a bedroom revolutionist by starting his own Anonymous-style crusade as part of the suitably disaffectedly coined Generation Y-bother. Along the way he chats to career men, all-round assholes (fuck you Vinnie) and any manner of cants (what’s a “cant”? Have you never seen a Guy Ritchie film?) and at one point even talks to Plato about your daimonia or whatever (where did you last put it, society? It’ll be in the last place you think. No, it’s not online, you tool.) There’s even a love interest or two, but the hate interests take precedence. All fun and games? Near-death flash-forwards suggest that it might not be for Jake, but it sure is for the reader! Cynicism, technology, philosophy and all kinds political food for thought permeate this work( that you can find right here:
http://www.lulu.com/shop/rupert-dreyf... )
If I have any criticism, it’s that there is a general first-novel shakiness about the writing (some repetition/ forced tone at times), but this isn’t so much a criticism as a truth about first novels. I can’t think of any authors, myself included, for whom this isn’t the case, nor for whom the shakiness does not dampen down with more writing.
At any rate, novels are rarely as timely as this one given the recent election, and if anyone knows how to get Spark up and running- fuck it! Do it!
I hear the author is working on a collection of short stories of which I have also been fortunate enough to read a snippet, and you can guarantee that I as well as fans of any of the below books am a Dreyfus convert :D (#FinnishVodkaFTW!!)
- If you saw Atlas, the giant who holds the world on his shoulders, if you saw that he stood, blood running down his chest, his knees buckling, his arms trembling but still trying to hold the world aloft with the last of his strength, and the greater his effort the heavier the world bore down upon his shoulders-what would you tell him to do?
- Hey! Put that back down! That’s not yours! Guys, look! It’s Atlas! Get hiiiiimmmmm!!
*cue pitchforks and whooping*
American Psycho
Apathy and Other Small Victories
Kill Your Friends (being made into a film this year, I just discovered!)
Irvine Welsh
Chuck Palahniuk
Will Self
May 21, 2017
4.3 Stars. Review coming very soon.
There is more than a little despair, more than a little anger, more than a little revolution in Dreyfus’s Spark. There is an easy, effortless story-telling, memorable characters, and fantastic pacing that make this book hard to put down.
There is also more than a little “Fight Club” in the book here, including a scene with a character baiting another character into punching him in the face. There is an anti-establishment theme that seems timely, but also a bit lost. There is humor. Much dryer and lonelier and desperate than anything I remember in “Fight Club.” It seems to come from an honest place.
Criticisms? There are some.
There is a romantic element to the book that is teased and then evaporates fairly soon.
As far as a critique of modern and postmodern elements of life, there is a guttural but not necessarily deep rendering. Yes, stale corporate nonsense is dehumanizing -- what Nassim Nicholas Taleb has called “repetitive stress” injury. Yes, it’s easy to become lonely and lost in big cities. Yes, the internet has made it easier for us to crawl into small, imaginary tribes (that fail to provide the meaning of pre-modern tribes). But, beyond that, what does the book have to offer those who grapple with big questions about society?
A novel is no place for philosophy, but often philosophy can become the lubricant for real dramatic tension, sharpening stakes and making us empathize with characters and their struggles. The character of Plato seemed like he might just be the person to bring this more nuanced voice.
Late in the game, Plato does bring some insight for Jake, but the particular framing of Jake’s problem didn’t seem as poignant as it could have been. What is it about modern and postmodern living that makes the good life less possible? Is it abundance without work? Is it the alienation of people from the fruits of their labor? Is is the Fordist curse of routine and the post-Fordist curse automation and endless information?
If the narrator Jake was Holden Caulfield, then Plato could have played the role of Mr. Antolini, offering a kind of frame that connected Vinnie, big banks, government, and his loneliness together into some sort of coherent frame, even if that frame is ultimately shattered. (In the end, Mr. Antolini wasn’t able to solve Holden’s problem partially because the intellectual frame was too small and rigid for the vastness of the problems Holden was facing).
In a crucial moment of the book, Plato has a moment to put the novel in coherent framework -- something about the relationship between meaning-making and nihilism. I’ll let you read it for yourself and decide if it works.
The pacing of the book is excellent, but in the middle Jake starts spending more time alone...thinking. As someone who has written a book about someone wandering and thinking, I can tell you with absolute authority, there is no better way to kill narrative momentum than to have a guy walk and think. Mercifully, these bouts are rather short and are largely an aberration in a narrative that moves at a runner’s pace.
In the end, Spark is an excellently paced work of dark humor that will have you asking for more.
There is more than a little despair, more than a little anger, more than a little revolution in Dreyfus’s Spark. There is an easy, effortless story-telling, memorable characters, and fantastic pacing that make this book hard to put down.
There is also more than a little “Fight Club” in the book here, including a scene with a character baiting another character into punching him in the face. There is an anti-establishment theme that seems timely, but also a bit lost. There is humor. Much dryer and lonelier and desperate than anything I remember in “Fight Club.” It seems to come from an honest place.
Criticisms? There are some.
There is a romantic element to the book that is teased and then evaporates fairly soon.
As far as a critique of modern and postmodern elements of life, there is a guttural but not necessarily deep rendering. Yes, stale corporate nonsense is dehumanizing -- what Nassim Nicholas Taleb has called “repetitive stress” injury. Yes, it’s easy to become lonely and lost in big cities. Yes, the internet has made it easier for us to crawl into small, imaginary tribes (that fail to provide the meaning of pre-modern tribes). But, beyond that, what does the book have to offer those who grapple with big questions about society?
A novel is no place for philosophy, but often philosophy can become the lubricant for real dramatic tension, sharpening stakes and making us empathize with characters and their struggles. The character of Plato seemed like he might just be the person to bring this more nuanced voice.
Late in the game, Plato does bring some insight for Jake, but the particular framing of Jake’s problem didn’t seem as poignant as it could have been. What is it about modern and postmodern living that makes the good life less possible? Is it abundance without work? Is it the alienation of people from the fruits of their labor? Is is the Fordist curse of routine and the post-Fordist curse automation and endless information?
If the narrator Jake was Holden Caulfield, then Plato could have played the role of Mr. Antolini, offering a kind of frame that connected Vinnie, big banks, government, and his loneliness together into some sort of coherent frame, even if that frame is ultimately shattered. (In the end, Mr. Antolini wasn’t able to solve Holden’s problem partially because the intellectual frame was too small and rigid for the vastness of the problems Holden was facing).
In a crucial moment of the book, Plato has a moment to put the novel in coherent framework -- something about the relationship between meaning-making and nihilism. I’ll let you read it for yourself and decide if it works.
The pacing of the book is excellent, but in the middle Jake starts spending more time alone...thinking. As someone who has written a book about someone wandering and thinking, I can tell you with absolute authority, there is no better way to kill narrative momentum than to have a guy walk and think. Mercifully, these bouts are rather short and are largely an aberration in a narrative that moves at a runner’s pace.
In the end, Spark is an excellently paced work of dark humor that will have you asking for more.
July 18, 2016
3.5/5 stars
AHH okay so let me collect my thoughts; my brain is currently overwhelmed. Forgive me.
So this was an interesting read, my use of the word 'interesting' is not the British usage where they just vaguely say it for lack of a better word. I found this to be truly interesting, I loved the dialogue. Oh god, *fangirl squeal* the dialogue. It was intimate and felt so real, it gave me Fight Club vibes. I have many British friends “innit”, and my favorite thing to coo over is their slang. Words like “oi fam” and “you prick” is now a part of my daily vocabulary. Although saying it in an “American” accent isn’t always as cool, sometimes I like to feign a cockney accent to channel my inner Adele. Okay so yeah I'm getting off topic; about the story. Are you into witty but incredibly weak willed, borderline pathetic main characters? Do you like a conversationalist dialogue? DO YOU LIKE BOOKS ABOUT BROKE HACKERS WHO ARE LONELY AND ISOLATED? AND FUCKED UP CHARACTERS WHO JUST PEEVE YOUR SOUL? DO YOU LIKE VERBAL AND SITUATIONAL IRONY? Okay so if you answered yes to one of the above, you are so a candidate for reading this book. Jake, where do I begin with him? He is the guy you go out with a date once to never text back because his demeanor is so incredibly outlandish that it makes you squeamish and uncomfortable. He’s the guy to babble about void subjects and bitch and complain about his life, all the while you’re just thinking “shutup man, grow a pair”. He's a compulsive liar, Jake is so secretive it’s actually quite vile. I really have a hate/love relationship with him – let’s just say it’s complicated. It took me 5 days to read this when I really could’ve finished it in 2 sittings because too much of Jake would’ve made me puke. So I had to limit my dosage of this prick (who doesn’t know he’s a prick) to a couple of chapters a night. I would’ve enjoyed a movie based on this story so much; I don’t know it just has movie quality. Jake would be played by Tom Hiddleston or some other ugly/cute British guy, Vinnie is Hugh Laurie (bc Hugh just has that natural psychopath look about him), Plato is Sean Connery, Sky is Rosari Dawson (bc the skinny blond aesthetic is just too played out, sorry Rupert)
Cool lines:
“the good life cannot be downloaded”
S/O TO RUPERT DREYFUS FOR GIVING ME A COPY OF THIS
AHH okay so let me collect my thoughts; my brain is currently overwhelmed. Forgive me.
So this was an interesting read, my use of the word 'interesting' is not the British usage where they just vaguely say it for lack of a better word. I found this to be truly interesting, I loved the dialogue. Oh god, *fangirl squeal* the dialogue. It was intimate and felt so real, it gave me Fight Club vibes. I have many British friends “innit”, and my favorite thing to coo over is their slang. Words like “oi fam” and “you prick” is now a part of my daily vocabulary. Although saying it in an “American” accent isn’t always as cool, sometimes I like to feign a cockney accent to channel my inner Adele. Okay so yeah I'm getting off topic; about the story. Are you into witty but incredibly weak willed, borderline pathetic main characters? Do you like a conversationalist dialogue? DO YOU LIKE BOOKS ABOUT BROKE HACKERS WHO ARE LONELY AND ISOLATED? AND FUCKED UP CHARACTERS WHO JUST PEEVE YOUR SOUL? DO YOU LIKE VERBAL AND SITUATIONAL IRONY? Okay so if you answered yes to one of the above, you are so a candidate for reading this book. Jake, where do I begin with him? He is the guy you go out with a date once to never text back because his demeanor is so incredibly outlandish that it makes you squeamish and uncomfortable. He’s the guy to babble about void subjects and bitch and complain about his life, all the while you’re just thinking “shutup man, grow a pair”. He's a compulsive liar, Jake is so secretive it’s actually quite vile. I really have a hate/love relationship with him – let’s just say it’s complicated. It took me 5 days to read this when I really could’ve finished it in 2 sittings because too much of Jake would’ve made me puke. So I had to limit my dosage of this prick (who doesn’t know he’s a prick) to a couple of chapters a night. I would’ve enjoyed a movie based on this story so much; I don’t know it just has movie quality. Jake would be played by Tom Hiddleston or some other ugly/cute British guy, Vinnie is Hugh Laurie (bc Hugh just has that natural psychopath look about him), Plato is Sean Connery, Sky is Rosari Dawson (bc the skinny blond aesthetic is just too played out, sorry Rupert)
Cool lines:
“the good life cannot be downloaded”
S/O TO RUPERT DREYFUS FOR GIVING ME A COPY OF THIS
June 29, 2015
In Spark we follow Jake, an intrepid crusader for the disenfranchised, a man who funnels his own dissatisfactions into an outpouring of pent up venom apt for a plugged in and zoned out populace.
By accident rather than design he stumbles across an idea that appeals to the untapped need of a public ready to unleash its frustrations.
Weary of soul sucking corporate office politics and a staid existence seemingly without hope, Jake takes a chance and winds up in the orbit of the Duke of the Dodgers Vinnie; a man who if you look amoral up in the dictionary his face would be the definition, but then he would burn the book like a Nazi. Not because he is a Nazi but just to piss off your sensibilities. We take a ride along with Jake, literally toward the end, as his attempts to voice the discontent of a neglected majority become increasingly unfocused and hurtle toward an outcome he has had barely the time to consider. As the Spark catches hold we see how Jake's ideas begin to permeate, how he is ill-prepared for his potential influence and how ravenous the appetite for change can be.
As we are left with the question of whether any type of revolution is the answer to the current mess that sits straddling the world of politics and the fallout for us so-called ordinary people, we are also faced with the predicament: if that is not the answer, what is?
Raising issues of political process, rate of change and the viability of reform in the current structure of Westminster politics Spark is a novel that takes a breakneck tour through one hacktivist's endeavours to kick some life into a stale debate, where even the voices of dissent are tied to the status quo(down, down, deeper and down). It is with painful irony and understanding that we see Jake's flaws as a reflection of those he attributes as emblematic to the politicians and prototypical bigwigs of mega business he despises, his motivations revealed as the complex response to a thwarted infatuation, the challenges of the asshole workplace and the alienation of the open city. Jake's dissatisfaction manifests in a tidal swell of unconscious compulsion and he is swept along as his justified grievances meld into a raw call to interwebbed arms. How tempting to hear that cry.
3.5 out of 5 as I felt that at times it was a little rushed, but overall I liked the pace so I've probably just contradicted myself. This book read like a movie and I was impressed by how seamlessly a sense of place was evoked. Immensely enjoyable and thought-provoking.
By accident rather than design he stumbles across an idea that appeals to the untapped need of a public ready to unleash its frustrations.
Weary of soul sucking corporate office politics and a staid existence seemingly without hope, Jake takes a chance and winds up in the orbit of the Duke of the Dodgers Vinnie; a man who if you look amoral up in the dictionary his face would be the definition, but then he would burn the book like a Nazi. Not because he is a Nazi but just to piss off your sensibilities. We take a ride along with Jake, literally toward the end, as his attempts to voice the discontent of a neglected majority become increasingly unfocused and hurtle toward an outcome he has had barely the time to consider. As the Spark catches hold we see how Jake's ideas begin to permeate, how he is ill-prepared for his potential influence and how ravenous the appetite for change can be.
As we are left with the question of whether any type of revolution is the answer to the current mess that sits straddling the world of politics and the fallout for us so-called ordinary people, we are also faced with the predicament: if that is not the answer, what is?
Raising issues of political process, rate of change and the viability of reform in the current structure of Westminster politics Spark is a novel that takes a breakneck tour through one hacktivist's endeavours to kick some life into a stale debate, where even the voices of dissent are tied to the status quo(down, down, deeper and down). It is with painful irony and understanding that we see Jake's flaws as a reflection of those he attributes as emblematic to the politicians and prototypical bigwigs of mega business he despises, his motivations revealed as the complex response to a thwarted infatuation, the challenges of the asshole workplace and the alienation of the open city. Jake's dissatisfaction manifests in a tidal swell of unconscious compulsion and he is swept along as his justified grievances meld into a raw call to interwebbed arms. How tempting to hear that cry.
3.5 out of 5 as I felt that at times it was a little rushed, but overall I liked the pace so I've probably just contradicted myself. This book read like a movie and I was impressed by how seamlessly a sense of place was evoked. Immensely enjoyable and thought-provoking.
March 5, 2016
I have a penchant for transgressive fiction and that's how Spark came to me. It definitely fits the bill and has several of the elements that I like about the genre. The story is told from the point of view of Jake in his dying moments as he recounts how he came to be shot by a counterterrorist soldier in London. Without revealing to much it involves a broken heart, a mind numbing job, a fair amount of paranoia and computer hacking. This is a really strong debut novel and I like the rebellious anti-authoritarian language the story is told in. Some of the developments take place a bit fast, stretching suspension of disbelief somewhat. The balance between making the hacking believable and not including enough information to make the sections bogged down with specifics is a tricky one, but the author manages for the most part to make it interesting and fast paced. I would've liked more of the philosophical parts that are sprinkled throughout the book. The anti-capitalist theme really appeals to me and I share the concerns expressed about today's society. Had the story progressed at a slower pace the main character could've spent more time exploring what makes modern society so problematic. A small problem for me was the spelling errors and missing words, but they did not ruin the overall experience.
(I was kindly given my copy of the book by the author himself.)
(I was kindly given my copy of the book by the author himself.)
March 10, 2015
Spark reads something like a cross between How I Made the Mistakes and The Army of the Republic, with a first person narration that is refreshingly honest and real. Jake Miller is my favorite kind of character. He's self-deprecating and fully aware of (but not really apologetic about) being a bit of an asshole. Instead of trying to paint his hero as some perfect fantasy revolutionary, Dreyfus gives us a regular guy, a computer nerd, and shows us how now, more than ever, regular people really could effect change in the world.
I enjoyed how this story is told by the main character as he expires. The different threads of the story are well-woven and kept my interest through the end. The psychological aspects were also very interesting and gave the story depth. As Jake stops sleeping and starts morphing into Spark we see the effect on his psyche, how easy it can be to become so involved in something that we lose our grip on reality. Dreyfus also expertly illustrates how power really is corruption. Spark finds power and starts to think of himself as god- no different from the powers that be and the status quo. Still, there is hope present here. Hope for change. Hope that someday we will wake up and get off the hamster wheel and stop making the rich richer.
I enjoyed how this story is told by the main character as he expires. The different threads of the story are well-woven and kept my interest through the end. The psychological aspects were also very interesting and gave the story depth. As Jake stops sleeping and starts morphing into Spark we see the effect on his psyche, how easy it can be to become so involved in something that we lose our grip on reality. Dreyfus also expertly illustrates how power really is corruption. Spark finds power and starts to think of himself as god- no different from the powers that be and the status quo. Still, there is hope present here. Hope for change. Hope that someday we will wake up and get off the hamster wheel and stop making the rich richer.
September 10, 2015
I was expecting this to be a novel full of anger, but found Jake, the protagonist and narrator, a level-headed and likeably honest type with a dry wit. This worked in the book's favour as a work of black comedy, but slightly against it as a ballsy piece of rebellion. It's a homage to principled subversion but steps back from the edge of being out-and-out subversive itself. What it does best, though, is to entertainingly conjure up the atmosphere of underground London and its characters, some of which are portrayed excellently.
In a way, I wanted the narrative to be more angry, so that I could better understand Jake and the emotions that must have been boiling beneath his calm exterior. We know that he has a rebellious streak from descriptions of some hacktivism in his youth, but he has let his principles slip enough to go and work in the city. He gets sucked into the black hole of London's financial district and into a miserable existence of drudgery for some soulless, bloodsucking financial organisation. But this could apply to a lot of people. He resents the work, which perhaps sets him aside from the lumpen divisions of corporate meat robots who convince themselves, in Stockholm syndrome style, that they enjoy it. But what takes him from there to an attempt to launch a cyber-insurgency? I think it was the grim reality of his new environment that re-awoke his inner rebel, but I felt there could have been more venting of spleen, more build-up, to help the reader understand the details of his convictions and the rage he obviously feels to carry out his actions. If it had been more overtly political, this was something that the plot could maybe have expanded on - after all, there is a surfeit of possible causes in today's world for a person to get incensed about, if they let themselves. As a techie, it would have lent the story more credence if it had gone into greater technical detail on Jake's hacking/cracking methods.
But, as previously, it was for me predominantly a dark comedy, and in this vein it works very well. Vinnie the scam artist and Plato the oracular, wine-soaked sot were memorable and well described figures and could have stepped straight out of a Guy Ritchie film set. The writing is plain-talking, salt-of-the-earth and conversational in tone, and incisive at times, which fits with the edgy, rundown, London settings. There are some nicely amusing plot twists and incidents that befall Jake along the way as well. All of which makes for a diverting read with a good few laughs.
Solid 3.5, with an extra half a star for leaving off the digital rights protection on Amazon in the spirit of the open source movement.
In a way, I wanted the narrative to be more angry, so that I could better understand Jake and the emotions that must have been boiling beneath his calm exterior. We know that he has a rebellious streak from descriptions of some hacktivism in his youth, but he has let his principles slip enough to go and work in the city. He gets sucked into the black hole of London's financial district and into a miserable existence of drudgery for some soulless, bloodsucking financial organisation. But this could apply to a lot of people. He resents the work, which perhaps sets him aside from the lumpen divisions of corporate meat robots who convince themselves, in Stockholm syndrome style, that they enjoy it. But what takes him from there to an attempt to launch a cyber-insurgency? I think it was the grim reality of his new environment that re-awoke his inner rebel, but I felt there could have been more venting of spleen, more build-up, to help the reader understand the details of his convictions and the rage he obviously feels to carry out his actions. If it had been more overtly political, this was something that the plot could maybe have expanded on - after all, there is a surfeit of possible causes in today's world for a person to get incensed about, if they let themselves. As a techie, it would have lent the story more credence if it had gone into greater technical detail on Jake's hacking/cracking methods.
But, as previously, it was for me predominantly a dark comedy, and in this vein it works very well. Vinnie the scam artist and Plato the oracular, wine-soaked sot were memorable and well described figures and could have stepped straight out of a Guy Ritchie film set. The writing is plain-talking, salt-of-the-earth and conversational in tone, and incisive at times, which fits with the edgy, rundown, London settings. There are some nicely amusing plot twists and incidents that befall Jake along the way as well. All of which makes for a diverting read with a good few laughs.
Solid 3.5, with an extra half a star for leaving off the digital rights protection on Amazon in the spirit of the open source movement.
August 15, 2015
Disaffected Jake Miller is a self-proclaimed “bumbler” working in a boring job at England’s largest bank, a corporate world he despises. (As an American, I picture a young John Cusack.) If his life were a song, he tells a mysterious woman named Sky, it would be “I Started Something I Couldn’t Finish” by the Smiths. Well, that’s about to change big-time.
Actually, it already has. Jake has been shot by a British counter-terrorism unit. Readers don’t know why as Jake begins unraveling the chaotic chain of events leading to his demise in this thrilling, sardonic transgressive novel.
Jake does have one skill. He’s a decent computer hacker. Even better--or maybe worse as it turns out--he’s friends with a world-class hacker named Alfie who lives in a sleazy underworld of internet cafes and disposable computers. A cast of vividly drawn characters, including love object Sky and a gun-wielding, drug-consuming scam artist reminiscent of American writer Hunter S. Thompson, combine to leave Jake with a broken heart, shattered spirit, and really pissed off. His solution? Collapse the world economy, of course.
Author Dreyfus keeps the plot moving at a fast pace, spicing it up at every turn with dark humor and genuine insights into human nature. “The world is such a beautiful place when your heart begins to yearn,” he observes before everything falls apart. While hilarious throughout (we're talking laugh-out-loud hilarious), the book is also disturbing because the “Spark” that Jake unleashes on civilization rings all too possible in our current state of shaky world affairs.
I highly recommend this excellent book and am looking forward to reading more by Rupert Dreyfus!
Actually, it already has. Jake has been shot by a British counter-terrorism unit. Readers don’t know why as Jake begins unraveling the chaotic chain of events leading to his demise in this thrilling, sardonic transgressive novel.
Jake does have one skill. He’s a decent computer hacker. Even better--or maybe worse as it turns out--he’s friends with a world-class hacker named Alfie who lives in a sleazy underworld of internet cafes and disposable computers. A cast of vividly drawn characters, including love object Sky and a gun-wielding, drug-consuming scam artist reminiscent of American writer Hunter S. Thompson, combine to leave Jake with a broken heart, shattered spirit, and really pissed off. His solution? Collapse the world economy, of course.
Author Dreyfus keeps the plot moving at a fast pace, spicing it up at every turn with dark humor and genuine insights into human nature. “The world is such a beautiful place when your heart begins to yearn,” he observes before everything falls apart. While hilarious throughout (we're talking laugh-out-loud hilarious), the book is also disturbing because the “Spark” that Jake unleashes on civilization rings all too possible in our current state of shaky world affairs.
I highly recommend this excellent book and am looking forward to reading more by Rupert Dreyfus!
August 3, 2016
This book is a bleeder, and I'll tell you why.
Without labouring the obvious, there is some blood and guts in here, but that's not the reason for my comment.
I'd be tempted to compare Dreyfus to Palahniuk. But whilst I loved Fight Club, anyone who has read snuff, diary, and to be fair, most of Chucks other stuff, will begin to notice that an awful lot of his research, seems to start with a google search for "facts about ....."
Dreyfus, like many other genuine Rebel independent writers, does not suffer from this peculiar, and very modern cure for writers block. As a reader, one can feel that he bled this onto the page. The pace is unrelenting, and whilst stylistically, he is very different from others in the Hemingway school in not letting a single word be wasted, he adheres to the principle, and at no single point in the book did I wonder, "where the hell is this going"?
The characters are unique, the anti-hero both completely unsympathetic and likable at the same time, (the paradigm that every writer of anti-hero fiction aims to create), and Dreyfus avoids the pitfall common in Dystopian fiction of having everything settle down nicely. By the end of the book, you are hopeful for humanity, not so much for the characters you have followed for the past few hours.
All in all, a great read. Dreyfus writes characters with genuine diversity, and many, many modern mainstream authors could genuinely learn a thing or two.
I'm giving 5 stars, but I think Dreyfus has even more in him.
Without labouring the obvious, there is some blood and guts in here, but that's not the reason for my comment.
I'd be tempted to compare Dreyfus to Palahniuk. But whilst I loved Fight Club, anyone who has read snuff, diary, and to be fair, most of Chucks other stuff, will begin to notice that an awful lot of his research, seems to start with a google search for "facts about ....."
Dreyfus, like many other genuine Rebel independent writers, does not suffer from this peculiar, and very modern cure for writers block. As a reader, one can feel that he bled this onto the page. The pace is unrelenting, and whilst stylistically, he is very different from others in the Hemingway school in not letting a single word be wasted, he adheres to the principle, and at no single point in the book did I wonder, "where the hell is this going"?
The characters are unique, the anti-hero both completely unsympathetic and likable at the same time, (the paradigm that every writer of anti-hero fiction aims to create), and Dreyfus avoids the pitfall common in Dystopian fiction of having everything settle down nicely. By the end of the book, you are hopeful for humanity, not so much for the characters you have followed for the past few hours.
All in all, a great read. Dreyfus writes characters with genuine diversity, and many, many modern mainstream authors could genuinely learn a thing or two.
I'm giving 5 stars, but I think Dreyfus has even more in him.
August 26, 2015
OK.
So I wouldn’t cite this as recommended reading for my 75-year old Mother (the expletives alone would be a stumbling block). But this is not aimed at her generation; this is contemporary political fiction for the 21st century.
“Spark” follows a few weeks in the life of Jake Miller, as told in first person flashback, as he lies on his bedroom floor dying from a gunshot wound, inflicted by a member of British Counterterrorism. Jake is a corporate banker by day, skilled hacker by night, who, through a bizarre melange of events, ends up attempting to enact “the end of the world”, via the medium of cyber-terrorism.
The characters in “Spark” are wonderfully fleshed out – Jake _ is _ that white collar worker, near-lobotomised by the grind of institutionalised corporationalism; Vinnie – the over-privileged, under-intelligent cyber wide boy, rebelling against his forced childhood academia; Plato – the under-privileged, overly intelligent alcoholic nemesis to Vinnie, swigging Vin de table d’Oc, whilst musing over Laozi.
The book is extremely contemporary in style and structure – the language is in-your-face urban, with at times, a near-frantic sentence count, which reflects the unfolding pace of events well. Structurally, it reads almost like a screenplay, with each chapter marrying what could be a “scene” – this aspect works particularly well, as it serves to optimise the books accessibility.
*Note to the author – turn it into a screenplay. Hollywood beckons.
For aficionados’ of pop culture, the work is a veritable foie gras of references – “Java Street”, the fictional location of Jakes residence/doss-house/bolthole, wry nods to David Icke, Tor and Anonymous, satirical salvos at 24 hour rolling news, even an uppercut to BoJo.
But it’s the themes of the book that really stand out.
Dreyfus masterfully encapsulates the banality of the world of corporate business – the neglected office plant, the wide-eyed, overly-eager company virgins, the “parking space=prestige” bullshit, and the insipid, vacuous, “non-job” corpora-speak droning of his superior, Colin. It’s almost as if Dreyfus is being semi-autobiographical when referring to Jakes “real life” occupation, as the sentiment, and circumstances, are probably all too familiar to many of us.
The other major theme which is explored is that of loneliness – specifically in the disconnected, tactility-lacking globalised world we now live in. The pointers are there throughout the book - Vinnies “victims” in his online dating scams, Jakes use of fraudulent persona’s in speed dating as therapy, cyber anonymity & Generation Y-bother’s willingness to submissively follow, just to feel “part” of something – all explored in detail by Dreyfus, and with telling clarity.
Dreyfus has a natural flair for engaging the reader. Admittedly, I would concede it helps if you have a prior understanding of activist culture; however, he makes allowances for the newly indoctrinated, by explain references, without seeming patronising.
Moreover, “Spark” stands as an excellent appraisal of the forces that govern us in the 21st century – the phoenix-like rise of the free market after 2008, the near-Orwellian nature of New Labour-created mass surveillance, and the rabid creep of corporatocracy.
If his work doesn’t make you think, I suggest getting your doctor to prescribe a course of fluoride tablets, subscribe to the Daily Mirror, and vote in this year’s X Factor.
But don’t be surprised if, one day soon, everything comes crashing down.
Dreyfus has warned you.
So I wouldn’t cite this as recommended reading for my 75-year old Mother (the expletives alone would be a stumbling block). But this is not aimed at her generation; this is contemporary political fiction for the 21st century.
“Spark” follows a few weeks in the life of Jake Miller, as told in first person flashback, as he lies on his bedroom floor dying from a gunshot wound, inflicted by a member of British Counterterrorism. Jake is a corporate banker by day, skilled hacker by night, who, through a bizarre melange of events, ends up attempting to enact “the end of the world”, via the medium of cyber-terrorism.
The characters in “Spark” are wonderfully fleshed out – Jake _ is _ that white collar worker, near-lobotomised by the grind of institutionalised corporationalism; Vinnie – the over-privileged, under-intelligent cyber wide boy, rebelling against his forced childhood academia; Plato – the under-privileged, overly intelligent alcoholic nemesis to Vinnie, swigging Vin de table d’Oc, whilst musing over Laozi.
The book is extremely contemporary in style and structure – the language is in-your-face urban, with at times, a near-frantic sentence count, which reflects the unfolding pace of events well. Structurally, it reads almost like a screenplay, with each chapter marrying what could be a “scene” – this aspect works particularly well, as it serves to optimise the books accessibility.
*Note to the author – turn it into a screenplay. Hollywood beckons.
For aficionados’ of pop culture, the work is a veritable foie gras of references – “Java Street”, the fictional location of Jakes residence/doss-house/bolthole, wry nods to David Icke, Tor and Anonymous, satirical salvos at 24 hour rolling news, even an uppercut to BoJo.
But it’s the themes of the book that really stand out.
Dreyfus masterfully encapsulates the banality of the world of corporate business – the neglected office plant, the wide-eyed, overly-eager company virgins, the “parking space=prestige” bullshit, and the insipid, vacuous, “non-job” corpora-speak droning of his superior, Colin. It’s almost as if Dreyfus is being semi-autobiographical when referring to Jakes “real life” occupation, as the sentiment, and circumstances, are probably all too familiar to many of us.
The other major theme which is explored is that of loneliness – specifically in the disconnected, tactility-lacking globalised world we now live in. The pointers are there throughout the book - Vinnies “victims” in his online dating scams, Jakes use of fraudulent persona’s in speed dating as therapy, cyber anonymity & Generation Y-bother’s willingness to submissively follow, just to feel “part” of something – all explored in detail by Dreyfus, and with telling clarity.
Dreyfus has a natural flair for engaging the reader. Admittedly, I would concede it helps if you have a prior understanding of activist culture; however, he makes allowances for the newly indoctrinated, by explain references, without seeming patronising.
Moreover, “Spark” stands as an excellent appraisal of the forces that govern us in the 21st century – the phoenix-like rise of the free market after 2008, the near-Orwellian nature of New Labour-created mass surveillance, and the rabid creep of corporatocracy.
If his work doesn’t make you think, I suggest getting your doctor to prescribe a course of fluoride tablets, subscribe to the Daily Mirror, and vote in this year’s X Factor.
But don’t be surprised if, one day soon, everything comes crashing down.
Dreyfus has warned you.
May 31, 2015
A stranger in a strange city. Jake Miller arrives in London to start work at Dynasty PLC, and finds digs at a house owned by reclusive scam artist Vinnie. But Jake is no office drone, he's a hacker and hatches a plan that will bring him too close to an armed police unit.
Rupert Dreyfus's novel runs along in 1st person from the perspective of Jake. It's a world of secretive weirdos, ambitious colleagues and plans hatched in shady rooms in the closed bowels of a London that seems to exist in perpetual darkness. Spark combines the two aspects of noir mystery and hi-tech shenanigans to create a story that would lend itself to graphic novel or V for Vendetta style tale of pissed off revolution, fuelled by a growing resentment of those-that-have-but-still-want-more.
Spark is a contemporary novel, its parents being the two contrasting sides of the internet - that which we know about, and that we'd rather not see. Characterisation is vivid, with memorable characters like Vinnie Sloane, Plato, Miller's manager Colin and the enigmatic Sky. If you're looking for hard boiled conspiracy theory and political intrigue, Spark is too introspective, but if you think you belong to Generation Y-bother this may be the call for revolution you're waiting for.
Rupert Dreyfus's novel runs along in 1st person from the perspective of Jake. It's a world of secretive weirdos, ambitious colleagues and plans hatched in shady rooms in the closed bowels of a London that seems to exist in perpetual darkness. Spark combines the two aspects of noir mystery and hi-tech shenanigans to create a story that would lend itself to graphic novel or V for Vendetta style tale of pissed off revolution, fuelled by a growing resentment of those-that-have-but-still-want-more.
Spark is a contemporary novel, its parents being the two contrasting sides of the internet - that which we know about, and that we'd rather not see. Characterisation is vivid, with memorable characters like Vinnie Sloane, Plato, Miller's manager Colin and the enigmatic Sky. If you're looking for hard boiled conspiracy theory and political intrigue, Spark is too introspective, but if you think you belong to Generation Y-bother this may be the call for revolution you're waiting for.
May 2, 2015
It's often a gamble when reading work by new authors, often very rewarding too. Spark was both. Exciting, fun and with characters you won't quickly forget.
I don't like to discuss plot lines in a review but overall it's engaging, fresh and i couldn't guess the word count as i just flew through it.
Highly recommended and i'll be looking for more work from this author in the future.
I don't like to discuss plot lines in a review but overall it's engaging, fresh and i couldn't guess the word count as i just flew through it.
Highly recommended and i'll be looking for more work from this author in the future.
November 17, 2015
Brillante! una profunda reflexión sobre el mundo en el que vivimos disfrazada de una novela espectacular! #mustread
September 17, 2016
This is a fantastic book is proof that indie can be great. It was thrilling, funny, surprising, thought-provoking and all around hard to put down. It reminded me in some ways of Fight Club, though I can't say I've ever read a book quite like this.
September 19, 2015
If you like twisted sarcasm and dark humor, then you'll definitely want to read Spark. The story itself is great—very well written—and the analogies and character dialogue are hilarious! There is not one dull moment in this book. When I wasn't cringing or gasping (in a good way) at the crazy twists, I was laughing. Jake, the main character, has very unusual but hilarious opinions and views on life (his descriptions of his roommate, Vinnie, are especially hysterical). I actually had to mark my page a few times so I could stop reading and tweet some of the quotes—it's that good!
I am really glad I discovered Spark because I have absolutely fallen in love with Dreyfus' writing! Actually, I loved Spark so much that finishing it was bittersweet; it was so good that I didn't want to see it end, but since finishing it, I've been able to start reading The Rebel's Sketchbook (Dreyfus' compilation of short stories), which, so far, proves to be equally well written and hilarious.
I fully recommend Spark to anyone who loves a great story and a hearty laugh!
I am really glad I discovered Spark because I have absolutely fallen in love with Dreyfus' writing! Actually, I loved Spark so much that finishing it was bittersweet; it was so good that I didn't want to see it end, but since finishing it, I've been able to start reading The Rebel's Sketchbook (Dreyfus' compilation of short stories), which, so far, proves to be equally well written and hilarious.
I fully recommend Spark to anyone who loves a great story and a hearty laugh!
July 26, 2015
This book was really entertaining, with twists and turns and I couldnt put it down. The average Joe Soap you walk past in the street could change the world forever! eeek. Not necessarily because this guy is clever but because of the technology we have in the world today. A true but scary thought. Looking forward to more of Dreyfus books.
January 13, 2016
I wrote this book so I refuse to comment. I've only added it here so I can recommend it to others...
March 12, 2015
This is fantastic. What an awesome read, very thought provoking and moving. SPARK LIVES!
November 12, 2018
Another excellent and thought provoking story from Rupert.
April 19, 2016
Longer review will follow.
The short version is while i liked the idea of the book, the whining of the main character annoyed me a lot. So much that i couldn't really enjoy the rest.
The short version is while i liked the idea of the book, the whining of the main character annoyed me a lot. So much that i couldn't really enjoy the rest.
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