re:mote voices

Title: The Savage Girl
Author: Alex Shakar
Publisher:Scribner

ursula van urden was a struggling artist, but when her model wannabe sister ivy has a breakdown, ursula finds herself in middle city trying to help and understand. as a result she takes on a job as a trendspotter with tomorrow inc, the company run by ivy's boyfriend. in the meantime ivy reveals that the trendspotters are evil, and the only thing that can save the world is her becoming famous. the result for shakar's novel is a mixture of commentary on modern culture, and how marketing and trends fit into that, contrasted by ideas of paranoia and corruption that seem to result from that. while the savage girl is particularly contemporary on that front, it is perhaps also a little retro, in that there is something about the paranoia and madness which comes across as being something which could have come from the pages of the likes of philip k. dick or kurt vonnegut.