Pollen

List Price: $23.00

Price: $22.95

Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days

Lenny's description:

Amazon.com Review:
If you like challenging science fiction, then Jeff Noon is the author for you. Pollen is the sequel to Vurt (winner of the 1994 Arthur C. Clarke award), and both are concerned with a world in which dreams, drug-induced hallucination, and reality become completely intermingled. In this volume, the dream world unleashes a pollen that threatens to cause people in the real world to sneeze to death. But no review can do Noon's writing justice: it's a phantasmagoric combination of the more imaginative science fiction masters, such as Phillip K. Dick, genres such as cyberpunk and pulp fiction, and drug culture. If you would like a more accessible approach to Jeff Noon's richly imagined world, I recommend Automated Alice, a modern recasting of Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland.

Seller's description:
The bestselling author of Vurt spins another audaciously inventive tales of reality gone soft and dreams become real. As an enormous cloud of pollen descends upon a city, people begin to literally sneeze themselves to death. When a cop, one of the few who is immune, sets out to find the source of the plague, what she discovers will forever alter the ancient relationship between people and the myths they create to make sense of the world.

Product details:

Item number (ASIN): 0517599902
Author: Jeff Noon
Dewey Decimal Number: 823.914
Edition: 1st US Ed
ISBN: 0517599902
Manufacturer: Crown
Number Of Pages: 335
Package Dimensions: 130 x 620 x 890 (hundredths-inches)
Publication Date: January 16, 1996
Publisher: Crown
Release Date: January 16, 1996
Binding: Hardcover

Reviews from Lenny's visitors:

There are no visitor reviews available at this time.

Add your own review!

Amazon.com customer reviews:

Average Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars

Rating:

- Silly to stupid to absurd... to trash bin
Pollen simply gets an extra star for originality, which may be the only redeeming quality in this steaming fantasy heap of half-dog, half-corpse, half-something and another half-of-whatever-the-hell-Jeff-Noon-wants. The cover of the book said NOTHING of being a sequel to any of Noon's other work. I, the consumer and reader, was misled by thinking that this was a stand-alone novel. Upon reading the first few chapters I was inundated by proper nouns which I had no reference to. I tried to understand but I was obviously not on the 'same page' as the author's thinking. I tried to swallow the sill ideas when they appeared on the second page... I tried to laugh it off hoping it'd be metaphorical. Then the heap of strangeness morphed into a pile of stupid and finally burst from its crap cocoon into an absurd butterfly... which left me confused and shaking my head in disbelief that I thought this was a SF novel. I should have known that the ideas were crackpot before I opened the book since Noon is compared to Philip K. Dick, who I think is a juvenile author or some pretty crappy SF. He's not my cuppa tea nor is Noon my cup of tea. Serious SF fans should stay away from Noon, who should never be compared to authors like William Gibson. Noon's Vurt is a s**tty comparison to the virtual reality presented in most of Gibson's novels. Most importantly, Gibson's novels don't have pedophilia or necrophilia or any other activity which Noon finds so entertaining that he must include it in his stupidity-heap.

Rating:

- A True Cyberpunk Novel
This is the first book by Jeff Noon I've read; I now consider myself a fan. This is a book that I would classify as one of the 'truer' cyberpunk books out there. What I mean by that is the setting in Noon's book plays a central role in the story itself. Make no mistake this isn't some romance, western or sleuth story thrown in a cyberpunk setting. This story could not be told in any other world but the one Noon created. What I like so much about this story is that Noon explores the implications of his hybrid technological/drugged-up setting through the viewpoints of not only his characters but the society in which they reside and through the story itself. Indeed all three of these elements are symbiotically linked to the weird and unique world Noon has created. It's great to read a cyberpunk book where the cyberpunk elements actually ENHANCE the story being told. Another wonderful thing that Noon considers in his story is the concept of balance. In particular, characters with unhuman strengths also have great frailties. Genuine fragilities. Noon puts his characters into situations where their 'strengths' become completely benign or detrimental, while their 'weaknesses' become strengths. Noon understands when you merge a dream world with reality, rules and balance are needed to maintain the literary strength of your story. Without rules, powers go unchecked and the characters have no real conflicts. Noon does an excellent job of making his setting TRULY interesting because he respects the rules he lays out for his story and thus maintains an idea of consistency in his plot and characters. Lastly, I love the prose and punctuation Noon uses in this book. It is rare that an author can pull off a first-person perspective that actually enhances the story. I believe Noon did this very well indeed. Even though the perspective bounces around a bit--and some of the transitions are a bit rough--Noon does a noteworthy job of handling his first-person perspectives. Noon's artistically rhythmic use of punctuation fits in perfectly with the tone of the book; and his use of simple but VERY effective vocabulary make even the most stream-of-conscience sequences easily readable. Despite the extreme setting and ideas present in this book, Noon's mastery of the English language makes this work much more timeless than less-risque works in science fiction. Normally, I am a very harsh critic of science fiction; but Noon's work I believe to be truly exceptional. Not only are his ideas really unique and interesting, he fully explores the implications of his ideas. Also, Noon is a wordsmith. No, he doesn't rip out the fifteen letter words for even the most benign conversations. Noon is a master of simple and effective language that is riddled with subtlety. I really enjoyed reading this book, and I can't wait to get my hands on Noon's other works.

Rating:

- excellent futuristic book
Pollen is the sequel to Noon's most known book Vurt. The madness of the Vurt drug is spreading and our dreams and becoming alive and are ready to take over the world. Noon's book oozes sex, heroism and psychedelia and won't disappoint. I really love Noon's work.

Rating:

- novel
i gave this book as a gift to my teenage brother and he really enjoyed it!

Rating:

- Not my favorite book by Jeff Noon
This is the third Jeff Noon book I've read, the others Vurt and Nymphomation both taking place before this one. While I enjoyed the vivid writing style of the book and the expansion on the shadow theme from Vurt I was let down by the characters which didn't feel as fleshed out as in the prior books. The character of Boda, in particular, which is an enigmatic ball of love and hate, really showing the most emotion of any character in the book, never has the reasons behind her emotions revealed. The mystery behind her character was the main thread that grabbed my interest through the beginning of the book and the lack of resolution of that mystery left me dissatisfied. This isn't meant to discourage any potential readers as overall the story is well paced and immensely imaginative. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoyed Vurt but urge anyone who hasn't read any of Jeff Noon's work to start with Vurt or Nymphomation first as a good deal of the background as well as some minor characters draw from these books and benefit from some prior exposure.