Lexicon

A Novel

By: Max Barry

Narrated by: Heather Corrigan, Zach Appelman

At an exclusive school somewhere outside of Arlington, Virginia, students aren't taught history, geography, or mathematics - at least not in the usual ways. Instead, they are taught to persuade. Here the art of coercion has been raised to a science. Students harness the hidden power of language to manipulate the mind and learn to break down individuals by psychographic markers in order to take control of their thoughts. The very best will graduate as "poets": adept wielders of language who belong to a nameless organization that is as influential as it is secretive.

Whip-smart orphan Emily Ruff is making a living running a three-card Monte game on the streets of San Francisco when she attracts the attention of the organization's recruiters. She is flown across the country for the school's strange and rigorous entrance exams, where, once admitted, she will be taught the fundamentals of persuasion by Brontë, Eliot, and Lowell - who have adopted the names of famous poets to conceal their true identities. For in the organization, nothing is more dangerous than revealing who you are: Poets must never expose their feelings lest they be manipulated. Emily becomes the school's most talented prodigy until she makes a catastrophic mistake: She falls in love.

Meanwhile, a seemingly innocent man named Wil Jamieson is brutally ambushed by two strange men in an airport bathroom. Although he has no recollection of anything they claim he's done, it turns out Wil is the key to a secret war between rival factions of poets and is quickly caught in their increasingly deadly crossfire. As the two narratives converge, the shocking work of the poets is fully revealed, the body count rises, and the world crashes toward a Tower of Babel event which would leave all language meaningless.

©2013 Max Barry (P)2013 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

"A dark, dystopic grabber in which words are treated as weapons, and the villainous types have literary figures’ names. Plath, Yeats, Eliot and Woolf all figure in this ambitious, linguistics-minded work of futurism." (Janet Maslin, New York Times)

"Imagine, if you will, a secret group of people called Poets who have the power to control others simply by speaking to them. Barry has, and the result is an extraordinarily fast, funny, cerebral thriller." (Time Magazine)

"An extremely slick and readable thriller." (Washington Post)

Mind Blowing Plot-Excellent Narration

Having never really paid a lot of attention to the insidious ways information is collected on me-(I even volunteer to participate in studies for which I am rewarded with $25.00 gift cards for Target)-I at first thought this novel was a conspiracy theorists kind of thing. Plus this is my first Max Barry Novel, I wasn't prepared for all the ideas that the story brought to my attention. Even our reviews here can become part of data gathering, all our online purchases are recorded, our purchases via credit card, store "Loyal Customer" input is collected volunteered by us to get minor discounts on purchases.

Other reviewers have already detailed the story arc so I won't repeat it here...I just suggest that even readers who aren't interested in the conspiracy theorists ideas listen to this book...and I suspect it translates better in the audio form than in the paper.

I found the audiobook enlightening, sort of scary, relevant and entertaining. Heather Corrigan and Zach Appelman are excellent narrators and the story is one that responds well to having 2 different narrators....Basically Corrigan is Emily and Appelman is most of the male voices. He brings off Harrys Aussie accent ok and it's pretty easy to figure out who is talking in 1st person from the sound of Appelmans voice. Corrigan is a popular narrator for a reason---she brings so much to the person she's being in any audiobook I've heard her narrate.

As a primary protagonist, Emily isn't always someone you'd identify with-even as a homeless 16 year old hustler. She grew on me.

The story has an unexpected ending - I wasn't at all prepared for it. It's tempting to go into more detail, but I just can't do it without spoiling so I'll just leave my review here.

Worth a credit? You bet. One of the best I've heard on Audible by far.

1) Are you an Audible person or a Kindle person?

Author Max Barry weaves a well conceived story with great irony and likeable characters.

is there more?

I enjoyed it quite a bit. maybe I am just an easy audience, but this book was great. I was a little lost as to the temporal jumping about at first, but I caught on quickly enough. neat concepts, engaging storyline, and interesting characters. well done

interesting ideas...

Introduced an interesting concept concerning word and sound and brain reactions. Even related history as part of the background.

My new favorite author.

Great story. Fantastic characters. Perfect pace. Suburb narration. Reminiscent of “Carrion Comfort” and “The Magicians”.

Are you a dog person or a cat person...?

This book is most definitely worth a listen. This is one of the most unique takes on "bringing magic into real, contemporary world" I've seen. Not 100% believable, but still. The decision to start with 2 different characters with 2 different perspectives that meet gradually makes it even more interesting, especially once you realize one of them sort of starts in the middle of the story and the other is a flashback to the very start. Connecting these dots as you go along the narrative is pretty fun. The characters themselves aren't that special, I'll admit (especially the main villain who is very basic and one-dimensional), but the book makes up for it with interesting in-world lore and mechanics it has established. I'm also glad this audiobook has 2 narrators, male and female, for different situations - makes it feel more relatable. The guy does a great aussie accent, but the girl though... not so much. Ruined the immersion for me a little bit.
The ending was great, and by ending I mean the very very end where it tells you to subscribe to their mailing list. You'd think it was just an ad, but it's still part of the story. Made me smile.

Australia is a sovereign country comprising the...

Fair warning -- if you are Australian, maybe you should skip this book. A large portion of this book is set in the Australian Outback, but, as far as I can tell, no one involved with this book has ever been to Australia. Or, heard an Australian speak. Or, seen a movie about Australia. Or, frankly, even seen pictures of Australia. I am far from an expert, but the Australian characters portrayed in this book are cardboard cutouts, not real people. People who live in small Aussie towns hundreds of kilometers from major cities are very unique and none of that is evident in this book. For the most part, the narrators did not attempt Aussie accents, but when the did...oy...not good.
Overall, I liked the book. The pacing was quick. The characters were reasonably well fleshed out. It kept my interested and I was interested to see how it would end. But, the lack of knowledge of Australia suggests that maybe, the author (and the narrators) would have been better off if the book was set somewhere in the desert southwest.

For a book about language, I was disappointed

Fair story, it is just discouraging to have an author who's vocabulary is seemingly limited to words 4 characters long..

Good for those with interest in linquistics/words

This was a good story, though very technical in terms of the world of language it creates. The story jumps in time and between narrators so you have to pay attention quite carefully to follow it. I liked it well enough to finish it, but it isn't something I would listen to twice. Narrators were both very good though, especially with some difficult vocabulary. If you don't have a fairly extensive lexicon and don't have any interest in linguistics or the psychology of persuasion, this book may be too boring or didactic for you. I have some interest in these areas and still found my mind wandering when the book became too much like a college lecture and less like a story.

Meh -- 2.5 Stars

Disappointed after all the hype. If you're not a young adult, you probably won't like this. It was an ingenious idea behind this story but the story itself was silly and amateurish.