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Scepticism Inc Bo Fowler 9781582340722 Books

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Scepticism Inc Bo Fowler 9781582340722 Books

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Tags : Scepticism Inc. [Bo Fowler] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Edgar Malroy is the founder of a metaphysical betting shop. A weary atheist, Edgar challenges people to put their money where their mouths are about their faith. If someone really believes that the 16th reincarnation of the Dalai Lama is the one true incarnation,Bo Fowler,Scepticism Inc.,Bloomsbury USA,1582340722,Literary,FICTION Literary,Fiction,Fiction - Coming of Age,Fiction - General,GENERAL,General Adult,Great BritainBritish Isles,InspirationalDevotional,POPULAR ENGLISH FICTION

Scepticism Inc Bo Fowler 9781582340722 Books Reviews

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
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.
This is obviously a book that divides opinion, & I'm glad I chose not to read any reviews of it before I read it!
Having said that, there's much to enjoy in Skepticism Inc., once the reader gets aligned with the rhythm of the writing - although it can become quite an exhausting read at times too.

There's a very British kind of eccentricity present in Bo Fowler's writing (this was his first published book) as he tackles metaphysics & religious philosophy. He exposes all the crazy elements that feed into human mass-brainwashing & blind belief, all from the central focus of the Metaphysical Betting Shop (street betting shops being very commonplace as they are in the UK) set up by Edgar Malroy, founder of the eponymous Skepticism Inc.

It has to be applauded that the narrator of this maniacal future world is a shopping cart (or supermarket trolley, as they are called in the UK), & if the reader can accept this off-the-wall concept at the outset, you'll probably be better-equipped to stay for the ride...

It's by no means an easy read, & would have benefited from being edited down, but it's a startlingly original & bravely experimental book that pushes back established boundaries of writing, finding new ways of tackling the human folly of religious adherence in what is nothing more really than an over-extended satirical joke.
But having said that, I liked this book & stayed the course, & have some sneaking admiration for the audacity of the writer in pulling it all off. I'm betting that some of you will too...
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