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8 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
obnoxious spam doesn't help market your book:, February 17, 2007
This review is from: The Dream of the Decade: The London Novels (Paperback)
In July 2006, October 2006, and now in February 2007, I've gotten emails thru our library web reference service that look something like this:
Inquiry about The Dream of the Decade - The London Novels
Would you have this novel in stock? It's by an author called Afshin Rattansi who used to be a journalist at Al Jazeera. It also has an endorsement from Johnny Cash according to the author's website.
These are the details I could find.
Paperback: 622 pages
Publisher: BookSurge Publishing (January 18, 2006)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1419616862
ISBN-13: 978-1419616860
When I write back with our standard "email me your library card number, and we can place a purchase request" email, I never hear back from them, and in one case, the email bounced (to an address that had sent me email a day before). this has happened 3 times in the last 6-7 months.
Looks like some kind of long term attempt to virally market this book by spacing out the emails enough so I'll say "hey, where have I heard of that book before? I think I'll buy it" rather than recognizing the "requests" as promotions from non-patrons of our library. Too bad for them we keep a log of emailed ref questions.
This is really pathetic. If you want a library to buy your book, send us a real email/press release- don't try to trick us by having pretend library patrons email us clamoring for your book. Libraries are perfectly willing to spend money on books that our patrons really want, but spamming us with pretend patrons makes us think your book can't stand on its own merits.
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5 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Dream of the Decade. Novels and Politics, February 3, 2006
This review is from: The Dream of the Decade: The London Novels (Paperback)
The book "The Dream of the Decade. The London Novels" consists of four novels, treating themes such as the rise and fall of a working class man who became successful temporary, terrorism, property prices, and the media. The scene of all four novels is, of course, London.
I did not grow up in London, so I cannot talk of recognizing personal experience, but growing up in London is in no way an essential condition in order to enjoy the book. The themes and the characters are not limited to London. The characters are not stereotypical characters of the time described in the novels; one can recognize exactly these characters today, they are very much with us in today's society.
Another fact that I found particularly interesting is the author's dealing with politics. He sees politics in everything, it is a fascinating observation, and I personally liked it a lot. He manages to write about politics without turning his book into sort of political advice. He writes about politics in a very careful way, and he does not want to force the reader on a certain opinion or a way of thinking. He does not try to correct the system endlessly, as many other modern writers want to do in their works. He writes about politics in an amazing way. This is a quality I highly admire, a quality, many other writers today simply don't have.
While reading the book I constantly felt the current meaning of the themes. Especially the second part seems to touch the current situation. The terrorism scene described remembered me strongly to the current terrorism threat. It might be the author's background that makes one think so, but there might be other reasons, too. One way or another, he manages to develop a very interesting atmosphere throughout the book.
His style of writing is amazing, the book is written brilliantly.
It was a great pleasure to read this book!
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0 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Thank you, Google!, July 6, 2006
This review is from: The Dream of the Decade: The London Novels (Paperback)
If it wasn't for Google, I probably wouldn't have come across The Dream of the Decade and so I would have missed an incredible experience. When I entered Afshin Rattansi's website, I didn't even have a single idea who he actually was (hard to believe, but true!). I read the extracts and I was immediately sold, not just because I have got a weak spot for London, but also because of the book itself.
What's so special about The Dream of the Decade? The answer is: its technical aspect and the ever-present topic the book covers. As far as the structure of the book is concerned, I really like the intellectually challenging changes in the narration techniques among the four novels. In this way it seems like they are separate pieces, though they share certain common characters.
The other strong point of the book is its theme. The Dream of the Decade certainly makes you stop and think about the way you live your life and about the world around you. Its irony and bitter reflection about the past decade points out the climate still present in our world, now maybe even more than ever: decadence, hate, racism, xenophobia and hypocrisy of the media. Moreover, Afshin Rattansi perfectly verbalizes the feelings and the dilemmas of the thirty-something generation.
In her Nobel Prize acceptance speech Toni Morrison quoted a story about a blind lady giving a bird to a couple of children and saying "I don't know whether the bird you are holding is dead or alive, but what I do know is that it is in your hands." The "bird" that the reader receives from Afshin Rattansi is very much alive and I sincerely hope that it is not the last we hear from him.
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