Soft [Paperback]

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Bloombsury (1999)
• ASIN: B001JZA5DW
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Marketing, Passivity, Disaster, February 23, 2000

By 

frumiousb "frumiousb" (Amsterdam, the Netherlands) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Soft! (Paperback)

Three unlikely characters interact in this social satire-- Glade, a passive girl with an American boyfriend; Barker, a bouncer who reads medieval history; and Jimmy, an eager young marketeer. A scheme to sell soda pop via subliminal viral marketing brings these three characters into contact and eventually conflict with evil American corporate men presiding like Mephisto over the whole debacle.

Thomson is an extremely good writer. Soft!, unfortunately, was missing something (particularly compared to his other novels-- Five Gates of Hell or The Insult) and I'm not really sure what it was. Glade may be a little too passive for us to care about, or perhaps it's that we get the feeling that he didn't care about the ending as much as he should, or maybe the satire isn't clear enough and we really can't take these characters straight. It's still better than most current novels and certainly not something I regret reading. I don't know-- I'll read it again in a month or two and see if I feel better about it.

4.0 out of 5 stars A smooth, cool read, sprinkled with dark, little gems, April 9, 2009

By 

T. Burrows (New York, NY) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Soft! (Paperback)

This turned out to live up to the jacket blurbs perfectly. It really was a hypnotic literary thriller that "pulls you in by the ankes", as one reviewer put it. Thomson is an intriguing writer with an unusual style that seems both very conventional and avant-garde at the same time. As he tells his story, he mesmerizes the reader with odd, poetic little descriptions of fairly ordinary things.

Soft! tells the tale of a secret, psychological advertising campaign gone awry, but it does not begin that way. It begins as a gritty bit of contemporary English working class realism, as bouncer Barker Dodds, heads for London for a fresh start. A strong, tough, laconic guy, he is no stranger to violence, but does not particularly enjoy it. The story then shifts to an artistic lass named Glade Spencer. She works as a waitress and carries on a long distance affair with a well-off American named Tom. She seems a bit adrift, a bit melancholy. A third major character is then brought into the story - Jimmy, a slick, ambitious, young advertiser. He works with an American boss - Raleigh Conner, another one of Thomson's polished and opaque characters. Jimmy hatches a scheme to try to promote a new, orange soft drink named Soft! by using some highly unorthodox and unethical psychological techniques. These characters eventually find themselves on a collision course.

Thomson writes in a cool, detached manner that is nonetheless never boring or lifeless. His characters speak in short snippets of dialogue that advance the plot, and go about their lives in a kind of mysterious fog. The story almost seems to be an excuse for Thomson to present his fascinating little observations and details to the reader. As I read, I often felt that I was watching a hip, artsy European thriller or existential neo-noir, featuring blank-faced actors playing characters whose inner lives would never be revealed to the audience. There is humor here too, but it is a darkly shaded humor, a little painful. This was an addictive and unique read.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Rupert loosens up and it's still pretty tense., November 23, 2001

By 

islebyours (San Francisco, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Soft! (Paperback)

This is a fine addition to the Rupert Thomson collection of novels. The interwoven tales of seemingly unconnected characters come together in an enevitable but intrigueing climax. This is a wonderful storyteller, and one book that should be read just on the merit of the writer. You will be amused and consider the dark humor of the novel a fine read.