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Signal to Noise
 
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Signal to Noise (Hardcover)

~ (Author)
2.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)


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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Quirky characters, quirky plotting, and a quirky voice make for a hip, funny, and highly satirical thriller. An egotistical editor of the latest, coolest cybermag finds himself running for his life with a magazine intern after she totes up big losses on his account in an online gambling scam. She thinks it's just a game. The mobsters behind the site think otherwise and they want their 200 grand. Although it's an unlikely romance and there's plenty to go wrong in off-beat ways, Sinclair, author of Net Chick: A Smart Girl Guide to the Wired World, keeps you turning the pages of her first novel as she builds the suspense while gibbing the all-too-self-serious denizens of the cyberculture world.


From Library Journal

Sinclair, identified as cofounder of bOING bOING magazine and otherwise a cyberchick of great renown, offers a picaresque first novel that shuttles between the real world of electronic journal publishing and the cyberworld where the druggy drones go to play. Kat, a young but not naive intern, inadvertently loses $200,000 of a mere acquaintance's money in an electronic casino. When the enforcers try to shake Jim down for the Digicash, he and Kat try to hide in the netherworld. For long stretches, the writing just marks time, then suddenly there is an explosive passage whose imagery floods the brain. As a work of satire in which all the characters are prickly neurotics, this first novel is weirdly reminiscent of the movie Fargo, sharing its wily intelligence, scary jerks, and whining. As the alt culture grows up, readers will expect more from Sinclair, but this is an energetic and promising debut.?Barbara Conaty, Library of Congress
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

  • Hardcover: 294 pages
  • Publisher: Harper San Francisco; 1st edition (October 1997)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0062515330
  • ISBN-13: 978-0062515339
  • Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 1.2 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces
  • Average Customer Review: 2.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.com Sales Rank: #3,797,701 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

More About the Author

Carla Sinclair
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Visit Amazon's Carla Sinclair Page

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Customer Reviews

7 Reviews
5 star:
 (1)
4 star:
 (1)
3 star:
 (1)
2 star:
 (1)
1 star:
 (3)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
2.4 out of 5 stars (7 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
1.0 out of 5 stars I Couldn't Finish It, January 16, 2008
Right off the bat the first chapter annoyed me. The main character has a conversation with one of his co-workers that, as described, should have taken a much shorter time than is reported. Such time differentials between what would take place in reality and what is described in the novel continued to happen, and remained just as annoying.

But I can deal with continuity issues if the characters are compelling and the plot is engaging. That was not the case with this novel. The two main characters begin as flawed, self-centered, and perception driven. The way that they need to change in order to have a dynamic resolution from the story is obvious and clichéd. They are unlikable and don't have witty dialogue to save them.

The plot begins with scenes that do not seem contrived and ridiculous. Yet when the action picks up after Kat gets Jim in trouble with an online offshore casino, it goes from one unlikely event to another.

And yes, I can deal with a ridiculous and contrived plot if it seems to poke fun at itself successfully. Also the novel must have other redeeming qualities.

The one quality I liked in this novel was the picture of the techno-savvy publishing culture that existed in the early to mid nineties. The descriptions of the workplace, the parties, the attitudes, and the clothes read as accurate to me.

But this redeeming feature wasn't enough for me to finish the book. I was loathe to give any book one star, but I justified to myself by realizing that a book I felt was very good in multiple ways would receive five stars from me.
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1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars if only i could give it zero stars, October 17, 2003
I paid fifty cents for this book after being told that there were sly references to Dave Eggers (Mike Yoke in the book) and Douglas Coupland (Canadian writer Darren Cooper!).

I want my fifty cents and four hours back.

Carla Sinclair has managed to write a dull, unbelievable story about inconsiderate, useless people. The dialogue was flat, the plot was insipid, and the ending was trite.

Jim is an editor at the ultra hip tech culture bible of a magazine, Signal. (He's a spineless pencil pusher.) Kat is an intern at a zine, and feels that the world owes her more. Her sense of entitlement throughout is appalling.
She drunkenly gambles away $200,000 on his computer never quite apologizes.

This book isn't even worth any more of a review.... just stay away from it.
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1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars Poor Story Line, Bad Characters, December 8, 2002
By A Customer
This book was a BIG disapointment.

The story an characters are unlovable, unlikable and inconsiderate.

The story revolves around a cyber chick who wants to
screw the hotshot magazine king. He happens to be
addicted to online gambling. One day she jumps on his
computer and gambles away a truckload of money. She does
not even applogize to the guy for ruining his life. She
says something like, "you should have locked your computer"

Then they discover the gambling is "fixed", so, they go to
the Nevada to confront the online website losers.

This story is SO Hollywood. It seems obvious to me, it
was written to become a screenplay and movie. It is
"action packed" and totally phony.

I was really disapointed, because I thought Sinclair was
a really cool person, who had character and integrity.

I was wrong.

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

3.0 out of 5 stars Sinclair tries to imitate Coupland, but falls on her face.
This was a mildly entertaining book, and a fast read, but throughout, I couldn't help but notice the author trying to copy the style of Douglas Coupland. Read more
Published on March 25, 1999

4.0 out of 5 stars Fast, highly enjoyable novel
Once I started reading this book, I really couldn't put it down until I finished it. The main character, Jim, is somebody I started out hating because he is such an arrogant simp,... Read more
Published on February 9, 1999

5.0 out of 5 stars Hilarious and right-on!
I loved the quirky humor and
fast-pace of Sinclair's novel. She
has included great characters and
put them into funny and tense
predicaments. Read more
Published on April 23, 1998

2.0 out of 5 stars It's cool if you're in the scene, but will anyone else care?

A great novel could be written about the multimedia artists and computer industry workers that congregate around San Francisco's South Park. Read more

Published on January 15, 1998

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