Scepticism Inc.

Rating:
Summary: EYES OPEN!!!
Review: Before you read this book please open your mind. Those who go into this book with a closed mind will soon be putting it down, but those who are able to open there minds will soon be delighted. It's simply a delicious satire on religion, and his whitty style makes it a pleasure to read. He attacks ideas but does it in a humorous way so no one gets too offended. It's truely splendid.

Rating:
Summary: Thoughtful, and profoundly funny
Review: First of all, let me assure you that this is, in fact, a very funny, and quite well written parable. And yes, it is a parable. A satirical parable, an quirky parable, and a parable that is more than a bit odd, but a parable none the less. It's also very enjoyable.

Now, if I may get on my soapbox for a moment, I want to also note that it is also a science-fiction story. I mention this because the publisher seems to have gone to pains to avoid placing it in the science-fiction section. How else would you describe a book whose purported author is a sentient shopping cart sending a transmission back to Earth 80,000 in the future?

My guess is that they wanted to appeal to literatti -- and anyone who considers themselves a member of that self-selected group of high-minded individuals is going to turn their nose up at the first whiff of SF. Sure, they let Vonnegut slip by, but that's only because the science-fictional elements in his books were deliberately (one hopes) campy and self-effacing. How often did KV describe is unaltered-ego, Kilgore Trout, as a bad writer?

The downside is that many people who read SF are never going to notice this great little story because it will be sitting on a shelf that a lot of them never look at, while the people who do purvey the "General Fiction" racks will, more likely than not, give it a miss after a cursory glance at the first few pages. More the pity.

Much the same thing happened with another notable (albeit somewhat less laudible) book, "Resume with Monsters", which clearly belonged in the Horror section of the bookstore but which was, never the less, shelved in that vast expanse of uncatagorized titles.

I guess the lesson is that a lot of publishers have a low opinion of genre fiction readers, beliving them to be interested in cliches and stories whose plots could be written on the wrapper of a pack of bubble-gum, so they attempt to steer literate examples of genre fiction away from the very readers that such fiction is most likely to appeal to. The consequence is that, because genre fiction is perceived as being distinct from literature, it ends up getting cumulatively dumbed-down, while those examples of works that deserve to be called literature is fed to an audience that's primed to reject them on the basis of similar sentiments. In short, such works are the victim of a self-fufilling, self-purpetuating philosophy that ends of hurting everyone in the long run.

Okay, enough of the soapbox. It's a very good, very fun story, and if you don't have any prejudices against science-fiction or "literate" works, and you don't mind a plot that is simultaneously strange and theologically controversial, I imagine that you would probably enjoy the book.

Rating:
Summary: Just...well...excellent!
Review: First off, I don't give five stars. Except here. And its not because this is the finest piece of literature I have ever read. It's just a very good, very funny book with a great deal of heart.

Scepticism, Inc. is a look at the ways in which religion makes people act and manifests itself in society. Through farcical extremes, Fowler puts religion and human nature under a microscope. And its funny...and true.

It's very hard to review something like this without giving away the magic. It's not for everyone - those with strict religious beliefs might not appreciate the fun Fowler pokes, but for those with open minds (or even those with closed minds with good senses of humor), Scepticism Inc is worth the read.

Rating:
Summary: Please don't feed the angry little man.
Review: For someone brought up in a Christian home like myself, this book clearly has the potential to easily offend the devout and the hypersensitive. Having a very independent spirit myself, however, the book tagged my curiosity. Chronicled in the pages of this Bo Fowler novel is the adult life of agnostic Edgar Malroy, who reasons that you should believe enough in your religious standpoint to bet money on its absolute truth. Edgar rakes in ungodly amounts of cash (no pun intended) on this idea as several decide that betting on their faith is the best way to profess it.

However, just as many are opposed to the idea, including a shapely Christian woman named Sophia whom Edgar falls deeply and madly in love despite proclaiming her the nuttiest of all nuts. The indubitable success of Scepticism, Inc. causes an enormous holy war involving all the world's religions to start, and all the while, an automated shopping cart looks for God and answers at the top of Mt. Everest.

Attacking mostly Catholicism and Christianity, Fowler holds no punches on any religion or denomination, which is no doubt much to the dismay of the more conservative followers of any religion who pick this book up. If you appreciate the blatant satire, however, you will find a book that, with two parts consisting of 50 chapters each, surprisingly comes off as easily digestible rather than choppy and is quite funny. However, the book doesn't start winding down until very far in, meaning it has to contrive itself and settle for a rather unpleasant and unsatisfactory ending. The biggest laughs come from the intense disagreements and battles between the two Popes - yes, you read that right - and the musings of the shopping cart as he talks with Edgar Malroy. If the book offends you, you shouldn't compromise yourself by finishing it in the first place. Only if your most metaphysical fancies are tickled should you explore it more deeply.

Rating:
Summary: Entertaining but inconsequential
Review: I enjoyed Scepticism Inc., but thought it fell a long way short of the lofty (but nonetheless unremarkable) ambitions expressed in its author's note. I didn't get the joke about Ceramic Art, and if all Bo Fowler wanted to say was "People matter more than the Truth" he could have picked any number of more effective ways of saying it (a six word poem, for example).

The central premise around which Fowler constructs his tale - a wise guy profiteering out of silly people putting hard money on improvable things - is a nice idea for a short story, or a joke, but it can't sustain the sort of close examination it gets in a full novel. Some of the surrounding surrealism (such as the narrator being an artificially intelligent shopping trolley who climbs Mt. Everest) had no obvious point, other than the sight gag. And how I laughed.

Fowler's beef is with religion. It's definitely fair game, but it seems to me to be an easy enough target for satire without the need for this level of absurdity, and that undermines the force of the (otherwise sensible, if Philosophy 101-derived) criticisms Fowler wants to make. As a result Scepticim Inc. won't rescue anyone from under the spell of fundamentalism, and it won't do more than prove a few belly-laughs for the already saved.

The humour is a little self-satisfied, though there are some nice lines - the best (like "there's a Messiah born every minute") did actually make me laugh out loud - but Fowler tends to beat his darlings to death, and so even though it's a short and easy read, you have the sense it could profitably have been much shorter still, without losing anything of significant value. Still, a nice try for a first novel from a guy who did a creative writing course at University.

In fact, that pretty much sums it up.

Olly Buxton

Rating:
Summary: Student-style creative writing hurts a book I wanted to like
Review: It's true: this book is funny (unless you are fervently religious in which case you will probably find not to be funny). It is also annoying, repetitious and single minded. Bo Fowler is a creative writing instructor and this book comes off as an over-long experiment in creative writing. While I like the satirical premise of the "metaphysical betting shops" I found the deliberately choppy and repetitious style to be very irritating. This book would have made a nice essay or short story but instead we get a stretched out novel which tries way too hard to be oh so clever with too few ideas. Contrary to what one reviewer wrote, I would say this is a tough book to read-not because of its subject matter but because of its ultra choppy style.

Rating:
Summary: Does a review really matter? Who knows?
Review: This book is an excellent first attempt and should be received joyfully by those with an open mind. Both my criticism and appraisal would be that it is reads like Douglas Adams, but a poorer version. Perhaps it was stretched out longer than necessary, perhaps the ending could have had a little more thought, Who knows?
One gets the impression that this book was written on the back of a dumping because 'people matter more than truth' but then, does this really matter?
Sometimes the book reads as the rambling thoughts of a confused philosophy student, which i suppose is better than being the rambling thoughts of a Media & Cultural Studies student.
Anybody who can link something as ridiculous as a shopping trolley to something as ridiculous as religion deserves to be read. Concepts such as 'metaphysical betting shops' and 'popecorn' bring a smile to one's face and at the end of the day, surely this is what life is all about... Who knows?

Rating:
Summary: Please don't feed the angry little man.
Review: This is a beautiful, beautiful book... Until about halfway in. The book has a Vonnegut-like style which is fun to read. Part 1 is a light, although sometimes heavy-handed, satire of religion and society and, I thought, of agnosticism also.

And then the author shows his stripes. Part 2 decends further into a mockery of all things religious, and the author starts pontificating about how atheism is so much better than religion. Not agnosticism, but atheism. For all his self-proclaimed skepticism, the author is 100% convinced that believing in God is Stupid, with a capital S. The point of this book isn't "Who knows?" as he keeps repeating, but "I know so much better than all of you."

I HAVE an open mind. I AM a skeptic. I'm between religions right now because I don't know what to believe. And this book HIDEOUSLY offended me.

Rating:
Summary: Thoughtful, and profoundly funny
Review: This is one of the funniest books I've ever read. It is also a very unusual, odd book, and is very easy to read. In fact, I keep an extra copy around, that I keep lending to people. I eagerly await the author's next book.

In addition to being a really enjoyable read, the book does have a message -- one that not everyone will appreciate. A person of strong faith and a sense of humor, will be able to smile at the fun the author pokes at religion. Those with little faith, and no funnybone would attack it.

Highly recommended.