false <![CDATA[Bright Young Things]]> http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1174185876m/369135.jpg 369135 3 "<I>Bright Young Things wanted for big project. SAE to PO Box 2300 Edinburgh.</I>" From the 2,000 men and women who respond to this intriguing ad, six are chosen: Anne, Jamie, Thea, Bryn, Emily and Paul. All are pulled into a bewildering world arranged for them by a stranger of whom they--and we, the readers--know nothing.<p>Best-known for her "Lily Pascale" mysteries--<I>Dead Clever</I> and <I>In Your Face</I>--Scarlett Thomas's new novel takes the genre of suspense and twists it. Part I opens with a series of brief character sketches of the bright young things--all, in one way or another, are discontented, looking for the way out that the advertisement appears to promise. Part II begins with the shock: "Where the hell are we?" "Is this some kind of island?" "Please tell me I'm dreaming". Our heroes have woken up outside the front door of a deserted house. "They were all lying next to each other, like a row of dead bodies". To survive, they must solve the puzzle of why they are here and what the mysterious orchestrator has in store for them.<p>"Why us?"' asks Emily, proposing a (lengthy) game of Truth or Dare. The suspense of the plot turns on the answer to that question, but it's a suspense that the uneven pacing of this novel finds hard to sustain. Scarlett Thomas concocts a heady mix of sexuality and psychology but, like her characters, the narrative falls short of the ordeal it presents. Sharing the curious emptiness of its protagonists (the more we are told about them, the less convincing they seem), <I>Bright Young Things</I> reads more like a script than a novel--something's missing. --<I>Vicky Lebeau</I> 2363868 2 8 2001 Bright Young Things total:43|5:5|4:13|3:13|2:9|1:3| 43 137 75 5 4 0 false false Fri Sep 19 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Fri Sep 19 11:21:24 -0700 2008 Sun Nov 09 18:33:40 -0800 2008 more...]]> 3 0 false false Sun Apr 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Sun Apr 29 06:15:50 -0700 2007 Mon Apr 30 13:27:39 -0700 2007
They show up for the interview. And then wake up on a deserted island.

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I wanted more from this novel. It was a fun rea...more...]]> 3 0 false false Sat Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2005 Sun Dec 16 20:49:47 -0800 2007 Sun Dec 16 20:49:47 -0800 2007 0 0 false false Tue Feb 12 15:42:50 -0800 2008 Tue Feb 12 15:43:17 -0800 2008 0 0 false false Mon Dec 31 00:00:00 -0800 2007 Fri Mar 14 16:58:01 -0700 2008 Fri Mar 14 17:01:32 -0700 2008 http://www.43things.com/entries/view/262...]]> 5 0 false false Sat Nov 28 09:18:45 -0800 2009 Sat Nov 28 09:18:45 -0800 2009 0 0 false false Thu Nov 19 09:37:29 -0800 2009 Thu Nov 19 09:37:32 -0800 2009 0 0 false false Fri Nov 13 13:52:22 -0800 2009 Fri Nov 13 13:52:22 -0800 2009 5 0 false false Mon Oct 26 07:32:53 -0700 2009 Mon Oct 26 07:32:53 -0700 2009 4 0 false false Fri Oct 23 06:35:04 -0700 2009 Fri Oct 23 06:35:04 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Fri Oct 02 22:00:10 -0700 2009 Fri Oct 02 22:00:10 -0700 2009 3 0 false false Thu Oct 01 07:47:43 -0700 2009 Thu Oct 01 07:47:43 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Fri Sep 11 07:57:07 -0700 2009 Fri Sep 11 07:57:07 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Mon Aug 31 06:10:01 -0700 2009 Mon Aug 31 06:10:01 -0700 2009 3 0 false false Mon Aug 31 01:31:18 -0700 2009 Mon Aug 31 01:31:18 -0700 2009 3 0 false false Fri Oct 02 14:18:40 -0700 2009 Thu Aug 27 14:00:15 -0700 2009 Fri Oct 02 14:18:40 -0700 2009 5 0 false false Tue Jul 07 06:33:09 -0700 2009 Tue Jul 07 06:33:09 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Tue Jun 30 04:43:04 -0700 2009 Tue Jun 30 04:43:04 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Tue Jun 23 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Tue Jun 23 12:08:38 -0700 2009 Tue Jun 23 12:08:53 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Mon Jun 15 14:31:58 -0700 2009 Mon Jun 15 14:31:58 -0700 2009 http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=369135