Transmission
by Hari Kunzru
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other reviews (showing 1-20 of 278)
recommends it for:
Indian lit fans
"Transmission" is full of cliche characters, but the plot line is original and highly imaginative. An Indian computer geek comes to America - the land of promises - looking for work. When his computer company fires him, he creates the ultimate computer virus. His plan is to crush the virus himself, proving how useful he is and getting himself rehired, but the virus spirals out of control, effecting every computer in the world. It's beautifully written, the descriptions of the virus...more
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Read in September, 2008
I picked this book up on a whim, not having realized that Hari Kunzru is a critically acclaimed author thanks to his first book the Impressionist.
What actually made me want this book really badly was the New York Times review featured on the cover which stated that this book was:
"Wickedly astuste… starts out with an eye for literate social satire that suggests Martin Amis or Zadie Smith… winds up in a Chuck Palahniuk paranoid daydream."
Zadie Smith and Chuck Palahniuk. A...more
What actually made me want this book really badly was the New York Times review featured on the cover which stated that this book was:
"Wickedly astuste… starts out with an eye for literate social satire that suggests Martin Amis or Zadie Smith… winds up in a Chuck Palahniuk paranoid daydream."
Zadie Smith and Chuck Palahniuk. A...more
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Read in June, 2008
recommended to Anna by:
John Van Someren
sometimes when a book gets so sprawling - like when at the end you are so far from the places and people you started with - the through-line of the book weakens. but with this book, i felt like i traveled far, very far, by the end - twists and turns all over - but somehow kunzru kept it vibrant and strong the whole time.
the descriptions of the programmers working at Virugenix made me laugh out loud - sounded like the floor i work on at MIT. throughout the book there were precisely accura...more
the descriptions of the programmers working at Virugenix made me laugh out loud - sounded like the floor i work on at MIT. throughout the book there were precisely accura...more
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Reads like a college-class treatment for a movie I'd never want to see. Of the many, many examples of its otherworldly unwriterliness, here is one that particulary nettles:
He settled a pair of headphones into his ears and pressed play on his current favorite personal soundtrack, a mix by DJ Zizi, the resident at Ibiza superclub Ataxia. Zizi, who bestrode the Uplifting Ambient scene like a t-shirted colossus, had chosen to call his mix "Darker Shade of Chill." It was, Guy thought, a good name, because although dark, the music was still chill. ...more
He settled a pair of headphones into his ears and pressed play on his current favorite personal soundtrack, a mix by DJ Zizi, the resident at Ibiza superclub Ataxia. Zizi, who bestrode the Uplifting Ambient scene like a t-shirted colossus, had chosen to call his mix "Darker Shade of Chill." It was, Guy thought, a good name, because although dark, the music was still chill. ...more
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Read in September, 2007
I would have given this book three stars, possibly, for another author, but after reading The Impressionist by Kunzru, this was such a disappointment. (I should have seen the signs... all the credits and reviews on the book jacket are for Kunzru's first book). Kunzru, again, clearly comes off as a highly skilled writer; he catches small truths very well. However, from the get-go, this book feels rushed, and he never gets far beyond a few clever turns of phrase. It was a brave move to write about...more
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Read in May, 2007
i went to this panel and heard some indian author i've never read recommend this book ... the panel was about globalization which is a ridiculous topic for an author panel, but this book does really wonderful things with cliches about globalization - it does really wonderful things with all kinds of stereotypes, actually, so don't let that throw you off. in the beginning there is a wonderful description of flying first class. there are parts where it describes what douglas coupland was describin...more
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Hesitated between 2 and 3 stars, but ultimately I liked it.
From the two Kunzru books I've read, he seems to always start out with a strong, mostly character driven narrative that's really promising and rich (and, hate to say it, undeniably zadie smith-y - and i don't say that because it's a young UK author writing about post-colonial diaspora and identity issues, although that's true too). After about a third of the way in, though, his novels devolve into crazy plot clusterfucks that pretty...more
From the two Kunzru books I've read, he seems to always start out with a strong, mostly character driven narrative that's really promising and rich (and, hate to say it, undeniably zadie smith-y - and i don't say that because it's a young UK author writing about post-colonial diaspora and identity issues, although that's true too). After about a third of the way in, though, his novels devolve into crazy plot clusterfucks that pretty...more
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Read in April, 2008
The unabridged audio version is read by the author, who does an excellent job bringing a story that doesn't have a natural fit for an audiobook to life. The book is almost too complicated to be listened to rather than read, so it is a credit to the excellent recording that the book is enjoyable in this format.
Overall, the book is a fun satire of the corporate world, globalization, and the life of an H1B visa worker in the technology sector just at the cusp of the crash of the dot com boom...more
Overall, the book is a fun satire of the corporate world, globalization, and the life of an H1B visa worker in the technology sector just at the cusp of the crash of the dot com boom...more
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Read in October, 2008
Good story. A little scary, about the impact one mistake can have on a life and the world. A little steroptypical in its portayal of IT people, but, if the shoe fits...Interesting characters and settings.
Good book,ending was a bit ambiguous but not a bad thing - challenges the reader to draw their own conclusions.
Good book,ending was a bit ambiguous but not a bad thing - challenges the reader to draw their own conclusions.
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Read in April, 2008
this book weaves together the lives of 2 indian film stars, an indian temp worker living in the u.s., the owner of a "branding" company and his girlfriend, a computer virus protection company and a few others. the main character arjun, being desperate to keep his job releases a computer virus which wreaks havoc on the entire world, bringing him into contact with his movie star crush and giving a few characters the extra push they needed off the edge of the cliff of ruin. i did like th...more
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Read in January, 2008
When I first started this book I was a little put off. I thought, ok, here's more of that young male post-modern author thing of piling on adjectives and similes and events into a sort of frenetic pastiche. But as the book progresses you do actually start to care about the characters and it becomes a meaningful reflection on the nature of global society, and not just an exercise is "how clever can I be." However, you're more likely to like this one if you tend to like those sorts of...more
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Read in September, 2007
Very funny book about "head shops" that hire Indians to come to the US and work for software firms. The hero is a young Indian who has two major romantic episodes: the first with an American co-worker and the second with a Bollywood movie star. Made me want to read other books by this author.
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