This is your textbook example of a 3 star book. Right between all the good and all the bad books. The story was gripping, the moral dilemmas were interesting, the build-up was well carried out. It worked as a satire on media, violence disguised as art and entertainment and basically our society that doesn't want to take responsibility for anything. There is a whole industry dedicated to finding the culprit for just about anything that goes wrong in your life, and check this - it's never you!

So all the above were the good bits. The premise was good. The characters... well, not so much. For example we had teenage American white trash speaking like British comics. Sometimes they would speak with a complete disregard of grammar rules and showing an IQ of bonobo chimpanzees, but when Elton thought of something funny they would all of a sudden produce eloquent complex sentences like:
"Well, I guess a plan to avoid being executed for murder, Bruce. I can't think of an agenda more immediate than that for people in the position me and Scout find ourselves in". That is sarcasm! Two American teengers with half a brain between both of them would not be sarcastic.

At some point Ben Elton must have realised he let it go too far and that two teenagers who drop out from school when they were 13 could not possibly be able communicate like that so he made a desperate effort to explain it through his narrator. Well, apparently it is because they watch a lot of television. They watched television all the time and that made them smart. Good news, if watching television makes you so smart we have a generation of geniuses entering the labour market right now.

My other complaint about this 'viciously funny satire' is, well, that it wasn't. Funny, that is. That might be me, though. There are other things that other people find hilarious and I don't. Like Little Britian, for example.

There was one scene in the book that did make me chuckle, though. It was when Elton's narrator was taking the piss out of mornings shows on tv. God, how I hate those. Just because it is 8 am and our brains haven't fully woken up yet doesn't mean you should treat us like imbeciles. So other than this scene, Elton was mildly amusing at best. But he did try very hard. Too hard.

Clever but I felt the end was rushed and needed more of an epilogue to tie up the loose ends

Good read didn’t like all the violence though. Good reflection on how our society has become.

I think I'm actually in some sort of shock at how awesome this book was! I mean sure, the back resume was great, a bunch of killers, a famous Hollywood director about to receive an Oscar and a series of murders inspired it seems from his movies. Sounds great right? Well, it gets even better once you get into the story.

Also, it has some really high-tension moments where I was literally holding my breath and speed reading to see what would happen next and how they would get out of all those traumatizing events unscathed, or at least alive, since let's face it, we're dealing with two psycho killers here.

Furthermore, the epilogue was amazing, and it really left you thinking about our society in general and how everyone blames anyone in hopes that the responsibility of their actions will be passed on to an unsuspecting victim and they will be rid, once and for all, of their guilt. And that, is a very important lesson to be learned, that no matter how much you wish it, you need to take responsibility for everything you do.

I love Ben Elton books and I nearly gave up on this one as the first 50 or so pages I didn't have a clue what was going on but I'm glad I carried on as loved it in the end.

Slightly silly and ridiculous but that's exactly what life is getting like now.

A very true to life book of life in the 21st century.

Five stars.

Reilut 20v sitten kirja-alesta napattu Popcorn on lämmitellyt hyllyssä ja odottanut hetkeään. Jostain syystä tämä ei ollut vielä lähtenyt kiertoon eteenpäin, mutta ei ollut innostanut lukemaankaan. Tilanne vihdoin korjattu!

Popcorn on kirja sen hetken kuumimman ohjaajahuipun huikeimmasta ja hirvittävimmästä päivästä. Ensin voitetaan Oscar ääriväkivaltaisella elokuvalla ja lopulta päädytään keskelle kahden psykopaatin yhdistettyä fanitapaamista ja panttivankitilannetta.

Popcorn on aikansa tuote. Some ei ole vielä olemassa ja julkisuus mitataan tv-näkyvyydellä. Kirjassa on periaatteessa mielenkiintoista, joskin hyvin pinnallista pohdintaa yksilön vastuusta omaan käytökseen ja elämäntilanteeseen, mutta tämä ei oikein muodosta eheää kokonaisuutta splätterin, mediakritiikin ja huumorin kanssa. Ehkä osasyynä oli kankean oloinen käännös, jossa tietyt roisimmat ja värikkäämmät ilmaisut olivat kyllä harvinaisen kökköjä.

Loppupelissä Popcorn on ihan viihdyttävää hömppää, jonka lukaisi nopeasti ja joka tarjosi muutamat hörähdykset ja onnistui vähän yllättämäänkin.

very good.

Very good storytelling and concept

It's a kinda fun read.
The characters feel cut and paste, which may be with purpose to show how in the end all these people from different places in society are ultimately the same. It becomes so mundane, however, that I think it ends up muting the point rather than exemplifying it.
The book is telling an important message of "Who is responsible; we all are"(As it will tell you itself multiple times), but gets so caught up in being a satire that it never actually gives itself the chance to properly address the issue. Ending with the book just getting on top of itself.

Found this book a little confusing at times

I rounded up, the 3rd star was deserved only on the last pages.

The book is a debate on the responsibility of artists creating violent content, especially Hollywood movies, and if it influences actions in real life.
It is the old chicken-and-egg debate, does art portrays life or life portrays art?
And if a murder is inspired by a violent movie, who is responsible?

I found this book less funny than others by Ben Elton. It repeats the main point over and over, and it becomes boring.

But in the end there is a great climax and I was glued to the book (does my climax experience mirror the one in the book?). It was really suspenseful and I liked the resolution.

Plus, the Epilogue was great - a whole entanglement of law suits, just like in real life.

It gives a incent into how the media is and what life is like to be famous .
It's not about the nice side of the media and how famous people are being protrayed. It it is about reality . A insight into the sick of world of the media