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A review by sbn42
The Word Exchange by Alena Graedon
3.0
In 2014 when this was written the storylines were speculation. Reading it in 2022 was like reading a recap of the past couple years. It nails the fear and suspicion of COVID as it was spreading mysteriously around the world and for good measure throws in the ubiquity of electronic devices (MEME devices? Really? How did the author predict that?) that today have taken over thinking for us.
Unfortunately, the severity of the actual pandemic was orders of magnitude worse than the "word flu" pandemic in body count, and the lack of privacy and verifiable sources coupled with massive vitriol and disinformation in online devices eclipsed her wildest speculation.
The author filled the first half of the book with many examples of her skills in using a thesaurus. Antonym and synonym pages must have been worn thin with all her looking for a $5 word when a $0.05 word would do, or may a $0.25 one. Oddly enough the corporation trying to steal language had "money words" that they charged you to look up. I think she might have been expecting her cut of the lookups.
In the latter half when word flu victims lost their ability to communicate, she turned to made-up words like "blavvo dox", "kyffen", "neeben", and "lodelensen", to illustrate the infliction's impact. Throwing nonsense words into every sentence was frustrating to say the least. I guess that was the point.
Ultimately, I liked the book despite the inanity spewed into the last part. The electronic devices were quite on target for today. I am glad that I could get a copy from the library. I would have been so mad about spending anything on it, since it would have ended up in the recycling bin rather than on a shelf.
Unfortunately, the severity of the actual pandemic was orders of magnitude worse than the "word flu" pandemic in body count, and the lack of privacy and verifiable sources coupled with massive vitriol and disinformation in online devices eclipsed her wildest speculation.
The author filled the first half of the book with many examples of her skills in using a thesaurus. Antonym and synonym pages must have been worn thin with all her looking for a $5 word when a $0.05 word would do, or may a $0.25 one. Oddly enough the corporation trying to steal language had "money words" that they charged you to look up. I think she might have been expecting her cut of the lookups.
In the latter half when word flu victims lost their ability to communicate, she turned to made-up words like "blavvo dox", "kyffen", "neeben", and "lodelensen", to illustrate the infliction's impact. Throwing nonsense words into every sentence was frustrating to say the least. I guess that was the point.
Ultimately, I liked the book despite the inanity spewed into the last part. The electronic devices were quite on target for today. I am glad that I could get a copy from the library. I would have been so mad about spending anything on it, since it would have ended up in the recycling bin rather than on a shelf.