Astroturf

by Matthew Sperling

Libro usado en buenas condiciones, por su antiguedad podria contener señales normales de uso

Genres: Fiction

210 pages, Paperback

Published May 16, 2019

Reviews

[Miriam Smith (A Mother’s Musings) · Rating 3 out of 5]

"astroturf" is a novel about immortality, masculinity, identity and steroids, told in a brilliantly funny and original way.
The author Matthew Sperling has already had some fiction and poetry published and he really knows how to capture the reader's attention using a frank and modern voice which will appeal to lots of young readers.
I found this book to be a quick and easy read, easily finishing it in a day and although I do feel this book would be appreciated more by male readers, I did enjoy it and liked reading about Ned discovering his new found vitality.
'Having been dumped by his girlfriend, Ned stuck in a rut at the age of thirty, is encouraged by his friend to try using testosterone to bulk up his frame. Discovering his new mental and physical vitalities, he feels more confident and starts to build a business offering steroids online. But when his life is threatened he ends up doing things he never thought imaginable. And it all seems to be going fine......'
There are some parts of the narrative that are quite explicit so do be prepared but, it's all appropriate and necessary to convey Ned's story. I understand that "astroturf" has already been optioned for television and I would think this would make for very interesting and intriguing viewing!
All in all, a decent, funny, off the wall read that a modern, young audience will devour and I wish the author all the best with his debut novel!

3.5 stars

[Paul · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ned feels that he is at a dead end. The bedsit he lives in is a bit of a dump and he has pretty had enough of his job and he has just been dumped by his girlfriend, Grace. She had been fortunate enough to be bought a property by her parents, he cannot see any way that he will get on the property ladder anytime soon. A chance meeting in the street with the trainer from his gym reignites his interest in getting fitter and the Darius suggests that he takes a small quantity of steroids to give him the boost that he needs. Sceptical at first, he reads up about it and decides to take the plunge and buys his first lot over the web.

It takes a couple of weeks, but soon he can see that it is beginning to have an effect on his performance. He can lift more and go longer at the at the gym and the results are beginning to show. He is performing better at his job and bumping into a friend of Grace's is the beginning of a new relationship. Then he has an idea for a business that could make him a fortune. Using his web skills he registers the website Gear4U and starts to build a campaign to promote the site selling his own bodybuilding products. What could possibly go wrong…

Astroturf is very much a book for blokes, it is full of laddish references and tropes. It is supposedly a funny book, but It barely made me smile when reading it. Ned as a character has a fairly low moral bar in the way he is prepared to take a very dubious line on the law when selling drugs. It wasn't badly written, and is fairly short and really just a bit meh really.

[Stephanie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed Sperling's writing style immensely. It was a witty, relevant critique of reddit/4chan "red pill" culture. Wait... it was a critique, right? What do you mean Ned got no consequences? Wait, Ned's not supposed to be the hero here, right? ....Right?!

[Tripfiction · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hapless / toxic masculinity

I am not sure how this landed in my review in-tray because the setting is London but it could be anywhere. So, I was left with the story and the characters to entertain me.

“A wickedly funny tale of how to come out on top in a fake news world”. That is the review by Olivia Laing on the cover of this novel, novella more like. It is well written. It is the story of Ned, who is a weedy chap and discovers the world of steroids (and so does the reader, along with new flash terms from the steroid world – roid rage is, for example, the uncontrollable anger/violent rage that can develop from the use of steroids. Who knew!). Steroids in the context of bodybuilding aren’t exactly legal. Ned, however, undeterred, is soon finding his way in this murky world.

Ned is soon getting into his gear and building and honing his body. It works for him. Apparently you do it in cycles, you are then ‘on cycle’.

There is a lot of male posturing as he and Darus each, in turn, tries to put one over on the other. Ned goes on to build a website – Gear4U - so that he can sell steroids (or something resembling the real stuff), together with the equipment. He invents personas, his sock puppets, to engage in dialogue with each other in order to build some buzz around his website and make visitors to the site think it is the bee’s knees.

There are a couple amorous liaisons thrown in for good measure to pump up the narrative - literally.

In the end, I felt that I had meandered into Ned’s life, not someone I really wanted to get to know in any depth (there probably weren’t any significant depths to plumb, tbh). Cardboard women – I don’t think any woman I know would refer to being pregnant as being pregs. The point of the book? Whatever it was, it evaded me …. It felt like an alarming snapshot of contemporary - at times hapless - masculinity, sprinkled with a little humour. Not the wickedly funny tale that Olivia Laing experienced, for sure.

[Chester Hart · Rating 2 out of 5]

The protagonist of this book is a complete narcissist who screws everyone over and gets everything he wants from it. He has no moral compass, learns nothing from the entire experience and doesn't grow as a character at all.

[Holly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hyperreal; contemporary masculinity in 200 pages. Intoxicating.

[Cher · Rating 2 out of 5]

A quick read very readable but not really as funny as it promised I think I expected a bigger ending but I would probably read something else by this author

[Daniel · Rating 2 out of 5]

I thought there was going to be a clever twist. There wasn't.
It was like I was reading the equivalent of a bodice-ripper romance novel but for Gen Y men who feel the world owes them attraction, easy money, online fame, and no-commitment sex.
It's Houellebecq's Lanzarote, but with steroids instead of a barren resort island.

[Teeya · Rating 4 out of 5]

weirdly good - really not something I would usually go for, but I skipped to a random page and the writing reminded me a little of the deranged-the-world-owes-me-everything persona that made fight club’s characters such good characters to simultaneously root for and passionately hate, which is exactly how Ned in this book made me feel. pretty funny too, and a really strangely complicated look into toxic masculinity and male self-image and steroids????? again, really something I’m usually not interested in but why was this kind of good!?

[Kiera O'Brien · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this on a single train journey and while it is very readable, and the subject matter—something I could not be less interested in in real life—strangely intriguing, I felt it was missing an ending. Nothing happens, Ned just gets away scot-free with all his crimes and thinks about his perfect future, with no indication from the author that he's got a short sharp shock coming round the corner after the reader's turned the last page.

It reminded me a lot (and not in a good way) of the Bradley Cooper film Limitless, in which he literally drinks a murdered gangster's blood to get a hit of the drug he's addicted to, then at the end he's running for President. And the film seems to think you're rooting for him (these were in the days when the President was meant to uphold some level of moral standing). I think Astroturfhad a similar problem, in that there's only so many terrible things a character can do—without really any sympathetic motive or likeable characteristics to balance it out—before the reader wants them to get some comeuppance.

Also, why was it called Astroturf?

[Cordelia Feldman · Rating 5 out of 5]

A gripping read: read this straight through in one sitting. Unputdownable. Reminds me of early Bret Easton Ellis - it’s that good.

Ned is thirty and stuck in a rut. His girlfriend has just dumped him, he’s in an unfulfilling job and living in a bedsit. Then his personal trainer suggests that he starts taking steroids. His life changes: he gets a new, more attractive girlfriend and becomes more confident and assertive.

The world of the gym is brilliantly evoked and the sections on the steroid-users’ forum are very funny. The book is an accurate and searing exploration of a modern masculinity. It examines our class system and the relationship between an adult son and his parents.

Sperling is a distinctive new voice and Astroturf has already been optioned for television. Can’t wait to see it on our screens. Hope there will be a sequel too.

This is the perfect holiday read!

[MisterHobgoblin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Astroturfing is a lot of fun. Ned is an internet designer who likes to keep fit at the gym. Unfortunately, his natural physique is never going to let him bulk up, so he looks to testosterone supplements to augment the hormones he naturally produces…

This is a short comic novel (novella?) that mixes body-building with cybercrime. The plot is simple but strong, but the real strength is in the handling of a range of social and ethical questions.

Perhaps the biggest of these is the question of physical attractiveness and the way it opens opportunities. Much of the current debate is around images of female beauty and the pressure women feel to meet unattainable standards as their social capital erodes as they age. Recently the very weird In-Cel movement has started to get some prominence – and in many ways, Astroturfing taps into the perception that the Chads and Staceys can access love, friendship, respect, career opportunities and wealth that is not available to the Beta Male.

Then, flowing from this is the question of what is acceptable in correcting the imbalances created through genetics. Is it cheating to use artificial supplements? Why are some external supports deemed to be cheating when others – protein shakes, improbable amounts of time at the gym, hiring personal trainers – deemed to be OK? Is there a moral difference when the supplements are intended to help a person in life as opposed to within a sporting competition? And does a law mean anything if nobody actually enforces it?

These questions – and more – are played out both in “real life” and in chatroom sock puppet discussions.

The story is good and the format is engaging. The characters are necessarily limited given the length of the novel, but Ned walks a tightrope between being abhorrent and being amusing – not sure he ever quite managed to appear likeable. His boss, Piotr, is a comedic horror – laddish, competitive, sexist and bullying. The gym instructor, Darus, is also a great comic creation – slow-witted, vain and greedy. The women are less well drawn and, as one might expect in such a sexist text, largely decorative.

If there is an Achilles heel, it is the dialogue. It doesn’t always quite ring true. Sometimes the characters sound as though they are speechifying, and some of the web forum posts feel rather more coherent – their arguments just a little bit too sophisticated – for the deliberately poor spelling and grammar. Oh, and I didn’t quite buy the ending which required Ned to embrace some life changes that didn’t seem quite consistent with his prior behaviour and personality.

Look, this isn’t high literature and it doesn’t pretend to be. It is a bit of fun, and it delivers that in good measure.

[Siobhan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Astroturf is a wicked, modern novel about sock puppet accounts, steroids, and using identities. Ned is a web developer who broke up with his girlfriend a few months ago and lives in a tiny bedsit in London. Naturally skinny, his world is changed by his trainer's suggestion that he try using steroids to bulk up a bit. Suddenly, Ned feels more energised and like he's found a secret to revitalising his life. He becomes obsessed with an online forum for steroid users, hashing out a plan that may bring him immense success, but that requires him to delve into the world of online accounts, pharmaceutical suppliers, and fake identities.

Sperling does a clever job of making a funny novel about sock puppet accounts, something that in the modern world can do a lot of damage to real people online in very serious ways, but in the novel they are defanged by using only the steroid forum world rather than a larger political and social online sphere. It is clear that many of the characters are meant to have questionable views, but the novel looks at how Ned uses and becomes involved in these fake identities in an immoral way that doesn't need to feature offensive views for shock value. Indeed, it is a book that doesn't rely on shock tactics, though it clearly could have, but instead creates a kind of concise mundanity to Ned's progression. Ideas of masculinity are unsurprisingly explored and it is interesting to see how much of Ned's accounts' personas are built with comedy masculine traits.

This short novel is a book to read in one sitting if possible, telling a complete tale without a huge number of twists and turns that satirises internet culture and how men interact with it. You could imagine it as a dark comedy sitcom, with a slacker-type main character who finds a cheat code for getting somewhere, but it turns out that cheat code isn't the steroids themselves but the online community.

[Jack Stewart · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is likely the most disappointing book I've read in years. What on the surface looks like it could be an interesting dissection of the 'gym bro' and the toxicity inherent in that, is just an indulgent mess akin to Ready Player One or any number of Harry Potter fanfictions where the protagonist just happens to share the same name, insecurities and wishes as the author.

AstroTurf begins with Ned, a fellow down on his luck, freshly split with his girlfriend and in a job he hates. He's smart, but he's vulnerable, and soon starts hitting the gym to alleviate his insecurities. This leads him down a path to steroid use.

Sperling has clearly done a lot of research. The books understanding of steroids seems to be airtight and realistic, this ultimately leads to a book that presents steroid use totally uncritically.

Whenever Ned encounters conflict, this conflict is resolved almost instantaneously. His new girlfriend gets upset about his juicing and bails out of his flat? A chapter later she's back and she's decided that she thinks it's fine. Ned's boss fires him with a shit redundancy? Ned sends him a threatening email. All this confidence and power Ned seems to hold around the people in his life ultimately leads the reader to a picture of a man turned awesome by steroid use and gymming. Ned is literally impervious.

There was so many opportunities here. Neds selling illicit roids on the Internet - what if he got someone killed? He'd probably just tell the cops it wasn't him and that would be the end of that.

The trajectory of this narrative is essentially: guy takes steroids and becomes and awesome dude.

Laaame

[Shaun · Rating 4 out of 5]

This novel is fun, but also dreamlike and thought-provoking at the same time.

Other reviews have described what happens: a web-developer takes steroids after reading about it online and gets so 'pumped' he becomes a web-criminal scamming other roid users.

'Astroturf' really digs into the question of what's real and what isn't in our modern lives. We take appearances for so much. Body image can get you partners and lose you jobs. At the same time, can we ever trust what we see on the internet? How do you trust profiles and forum users and web startups? How likely is it our "anonymous" internet identities will come back and bite us on our ass?

The most unexpected thing about the novel is (and here I should say SPOILER ALERT), the novel's protagonist Ned gets away with his scam and moves to Berlin. I still have mixed feelings about this ending.

On the one hand the traditional story-lover part of me wanted to see him get arrested. On the other hand, it makes a pretty important point about how easy it is for savvy web scammers to get away with their crimes. White collar crime is the safest kind. And isn't our current modern capitalist Britain essentially just a white collar crime syndicate anyway?

Read if you liked 'the Transition' by Luke Kennard. Or maybe you just want some lessons in steroid use and web-scamming? That's here too.

[Emily Fordham · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars. I read this book very quickly as it was engaging and the premise really drew me in. I knew little about the world of steroids and it’s users; one of the reasons I read is to expand my knowledge and change my viewpoint of the world. This book did that to some degree but I couldn’t help turning the final page and feeling a little flat. Lots of the quotes on the cover of the book talk about how witty and ‘wickedly funny’ this book is... I found that to be a slight exaggeration however I do think the book is very of the times, covering themes of fake news/social media identities etc in a clever way. The actions of Ned, the main character, have certainly left me with a lot to think about. I would argue that this is more of a novella, the story was over almost as quickly as it began, and the blurb isn’t really a very good indication of what the book is like in my opinion. Putting these things aside I do think it is a book worth reading- purely for the social commentary of online culture and the life of millennials today. It’s a quick, easy and enjoyable read and I like that it’s not something I would normally pick up. Thanks to Quercus Books for sending me a copy to review!

[Jason Nike · Rating 1 out of 5]

I think this may be one of the worst books I've ever read. Like a cheap wine that's drinkable but leaves you with nothing but regret, this book is readable, but ultimately risible. The protagonist, Ned, has no desirable qualities or morals. He acts dishonestly and selfishly and is constantly rewarded for his efforts. I think Sperling must have quite a dark soul, or the book was some kind of experiment or bet that he had- 'Can you write something with no redeemable qualities and still get it published?' I'm almost tempted to write a coda where Ned receives his proper comeuppance.

[I Read, Therefore I Blog · Rating 2 out of 5]

Matthew Sperling’s debut novel is a flat-footed, predictable satire that plays out as the ultimate nerd fantasy of an underachiever finally achieving his goals and getting the girls when he uses illegal steroids to up his testosterone. The humour is limp, characterisation thin (especially the women) and Ned a dull and unpleasant protagonist such that while it moves as a fair clip, I am not motivated to check out Sperling’s next book.

[Grace · Rating 2 out of 5]

don't judge a book by its cover or, as the older adage goes, don't go into your typography supervisor's office begging for an extension only to be amazed at his colour coordinated bookshelf because u will internalise the desire for a colour coordinated bookshelf and 2 years later buy a green book and know a dumb amount about steroids

ah yes - that old saying!

[Anni Shaw · Rating 1 out of 5]

Would have been higher were it not for the ending. Suddenly realised I'd been hugely taking it out of context (how this compares to the Peep Show I have no idea) and what I thought was a humorous take on toxic masculinity was actually just gushing praise. Vile. Writing is good though, I'll give the author that.

[katherine (winnie) 🏹 · Rating 2 out of 5]

this book was released on my 23rd birthday. that's probably as exciting as it gets.

[Es · Rating 1 out of 5]

Flat, boring, unrealistic.
This book is basically a love letter to toxic masculinity and steroids.

[Sylvie Helen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I flew through this, and really enjoyed it! This first came onto my radar when I saw it was nominated for the Wellcome book prize, and I bought it when it caught my eye (how could it not, in that neon green) as I was about to pay for a sizeable book haul in Waterstones at the end of May, and so it also came home with me.

This read really British, which I enjoyed almost more than anything else about it. It had the right, dark sort of humour - can you tell I'm still slightly bitter about the americanisation of the Good Omens adaptation? Irrelevant to this review, you say? Alright.

This was a book about many things, but mostly about our protagonist, Ned, who starts exploring the world of steroids and it changes his physique, his outlook and his life.

Ned, quite honestly, is not a very likeable person, he makes some dodgy decisions and explores some questionable opinions. I think that's the point though - there is a lot of exploration of masculinity, we touch on 'mens rights', how he gets the girl once he gets hench, what society deems acceptable, and so on. You could read this as shallow, as a bit indulgent, toxic-masculinity-fantasy, but I don't really think you're supposed to root for him. I don't think he's a villain either - just as an interesting subject in the way one's physical appearance, self-confidence, sense of drive can affect how someone lives.

A large portion of the book consists of Ned writing as various different 'people' on the steroid forum he frequents and, while maybe a bit on the nose, it is where you see him explore a huge variety of opinions and worldviews. He clearly has a lot of fun with this, and gets very invested in each of his 'characters', and this combined with the more extreme views of one of his co-workers, does a pretty good job of exploring how people can quite easily put up with views they don't agree with. It doesn't go deep into the idea of silence = complicity, but I don't really think that was within the scope of the book so I won't judge too harshly on that front.

You could take this all very literally and, to be fair, there is almost no consequence for any of his more legally and/or morally wrong actions. But, at the end of the day, I don't think this book is trying to change the world, it's just a lot of fun while also presenting some good food for thought - and in 200 pages, it does a bloody good job.

This was a very rambly, unedited review of Astroturf. You're welcome.

[Sam · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a really quick and easy read but I do think its has two major issues.

1) There is no complexity to the plot. That’s what makes it an easy read. There are three parts with very short chapters (which I appreciate!) but I was under the impression that part three would be the spike in Ned’s fate regarding his steroid use/business. I even expected him to find at one point all his cash had gone- maybe Alice had taken it whilst he was sleeping? Ultimately there is none of that. This isn’t a bad thing except Ned isn’t made out to be anything than a normal guy doing what any other normal guy would do. I’m not convinced this was the best way to portray him, building up to a big ego inflation, he got away with it would’ve perhaps been better. Alas, the ending comes across as incredibly mediocre and leads me to the second issue.

2) This novel doesn’t present any issues with steroid use at all. The point of view of course is that this is a good choice and even though Ned faces consequences of this, they are minor compared to the positives of his selling steroids online. Even just the odd interaction with someone or Ned experiencing a bunk purchase or something would’ve been great to offer more insight into his character. Essentially this book is promoting Ned’s idea as he’s seemingly heading off to Europe to become a property owner. It’s a bit absurd that nothing goes wrong for him in this book and at no point does he face a challenge that negates some of what he is doing.

It’s an enjoyable read and a good insight into masculinity/image and genuinely interesting information about steroids but nothing further.

[CenReads · Rating 4 out of 5]

While the sun was shining I decided to finish this book- AstroTurf
This is a odd yet short,quick and great read. It is a bit of a slow starter but as soon as it gets going it is a funny read.

It stems around a guy called Ned who feels that his life is going nowhere fast and was a gym user but has become disillusioned with it all as he cannot see any results. Until he bumps into his old PT Darius who quietly talks and suggests to him about trying out steroids. In doing so he reassures and convinces him that they are harmless and all he is doing is just giving himself a little bit of extra testosterone.

So Ned buys some online and tries it- suddenly everything in his life starts to change.
But is it for the better???
📗
I did enjoy it I know some readers have a different view but the writing and character including the chemistry between the characters was well written.
Thank you to @anabooks and @quercusbooks (river run books) for gifting me this book.

#bookcommunity #fortheloveofreading #bookchoice #bookbug #booksofinstagram #bookofig #bookaholic #booklover #bibliophile #readerofig #loveofbooks #loveofreading #readerofinstagram #literature #booksbooksbooks

[Caoilin · Rating 1 out of 5]

A bit like eating a greasy meal and then regretting it because it contained little substance or nutrition and left you with a belly ache. It was interesting to delve into the subculture regarding steroid use which hooked me in but the protagonist is an awful human being whose narrative arch is that he gets to fulfil some weird male fantasy of being ripped and rich and dating a model but in a non-monogamous way as he “felt like he hadn’t fucked enough women yet” WITH NO CONSEQUENCES FOR HIS LIES AND DECEPTION- WHAT?! Honestly it was a pretty jarring delve into the a particular type of male psych (not all men) that is focused on the pillars of toxic masculinity with the culmination of Ned’s unethical scheming being that he has anal sex with his ex??? The other male characters are awful and selfish and the language surrounding having sex with woman is nauseating. All the characters are pretty poorly fleshed out, particularly the women. The moral of the story is if you use steroids and screw everyone else over your life will be much better🫠🫤😐
The more I think about it the less I recommend this book. Will be throwing my copy in the recycling bin and doing the world a favour.

[MJ Nicholls · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ned is an unmuscular coder who takes steroids to enhance his beefiness when his girlfriend chucks him for being too much of a neghead. Once the muscles start a-poppin’, Ned finds himself elevated from the shallows of unassertive nerdery to the realm of illicit snake oil selling on internet forums, where he obsessively runs dozens of sockpuppet accounts to build up an illegal mail-order business. A dryly humorous tale of toxic masculinity, where simply bulking up and conforming to physical ideals of manliness is enough to launch one into a world of unbending self-confidence and uninhibited sex with blonde actresses, Astroturf is an unflashy Houllebecqian fable, a tongue-in-cheek romp told with a perfectly straight face that ponders the silliness of gym culture and the delusion of beefing up to beat one’s mental hang-ups.

[Louise · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't often read a book in a day, but I did with this one. I easily read this on a five hour train journey (it didn't take up the whole time, and I did puzzles and read the paper too). This book is well outside my usual fare, I didn't find it wickedly funny as proclaimed by Olivia Laing on the cover, I didn't even find it funny. But I didn't think about DNFing it at any stage. It kept me entertained for my train trip, I don't know that I would have liked it reading like a usual read for me, over days or even a week.

Difficult to rate because some bits I found really distasteful. I've never read a novel before about steroid use in gyms.

[Beniamino Comin · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book threw me off. Intensely readable. I flipped through the pages and was so interested in Ned's physical and mental change. But in reality he just becomes a fuck boy and a criminal lying through his teeth and there is absolutely no consequence.

While this book proves some thought provoking ideas, it mainly leans on the stereotype of "women want men to be alphas." What I took away from this is that taking steroids is maybe a good idea and "wow maybe I'm sad cause I don't have enough testosterone and am a beta male."

[Luis “Trying to read more” Soares · Rating 4 out of 5]

A quick and nice read! A reflection of today’s society, I guess, in terms of what other perceive and expect of you (i.e.: looks, confidence, etc) becomes a self fulfilling prophecy. I was hoping the book could speak more broadly about the machismo in the gym/steroid subculture, but for such a short book, it did its justice!