The Inactivist

by Chris Eaton

Set in a future where buying advertising space on children's teeth is not uncommon, The Inactivist is the story of Kitchen, a guy who's given up trying. Nothing work, romance, the world. His co-workers have even formed an Inactivist group to stop all change. Only when Kitchen meets Gage does he rethink the idea that trying is for suckers.

Paperback

First published September 1, 2000

Reviews

[Sal · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was very slight. I was hoping for a far more sharp satire of advertising as a profession, marketing logic and its influence on the world, plus a doomed love story between the protagonist, who unwaveringly believes in the status quo, and his erstwhile lover who is a radical activist. All of those elements were there, but were all wafer-thin.

[Bigmac McCarthy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Its funny to think that in the pre-Mad Men era advertising was a niche hipster intellectual interest, and that in the pre-Total Slop era it was interesting to anyone at all. There were parts of this that were cool (and it got better as it went on) but mostly it felt like having your friend recount the plot of a Delillo book to you while on cocaine

[Jeremy · Rating 2 out of 5]

A bit reminiscent of Coupland's Generation X, but not nearly as affecting.

It probably says something about me that I'm now much more interested in the human aspect of the novel than the social commentary. A few years ago it would have been just the opposite.

If nothing else, anyone reading this should check out Eaton's band, Rock Plaza Central. They're fabulous, even though most people, including my wife, hate them.