The Blue Light Project: A Novel [NOOK Book]

The Blue Light Project

The Blue Light Project is a social commentary into today's society. What starts out as a mysterious person takes hostages at a television studio during a children's talent show, it is certainly not the central arc of the novel, but more of an action that somehow connects the characters of the story. You have the street artist, a former Olympic athlete, and a journalist whose points of views are the crux of the novel. This is not a thriller but a study of today's culture and the obsession with fame.

One has to be in the right mind set to read this book as it doesn't follow the norm with no clear plot line. I had a times difficulty getting into it.

67 out of 68 people found this review helpful.

Ugh.

I cant download it either. So everyone isnt crazy.

8 out of 27 people found this review helpful.

Blah

It doesnt sound good @ all. Was going to download it cause thought it was a mystery/thriller but after reading grumpydan's review im glad i didnt. Blah book for free friday! Love reading reviews cause they are very helpful so you dont waste space w a book you're not going to like. Thanks people for the helpful reviews!!!

6 out of 33 people found this review helpful.

Ops

Yea I can not down load it eather!

6 out of 30 people found this review helpful.

Cant downlod

Cant download tried powering down, trying re syncing...whats the deal

5 out of 24 people found this review helpful.

I think the real savior in the book is Rabbit, whose great achievement, his technological message, would seem to be "Let There Be Light!" Reminiscent of the creation, isn't it? Is that all that we need? Are we looking for a way back?

This novel is strange. It is difficult to ascertain a specific time frame or a locality. The story moves back and forth from one location to another, from one character to another and also from one time frame to another. It does come together at some point, but not all of my questions were resolved. It seems to be set in a time when the whole world is suffering from ADD, taking risks, almost just to attract attention and dazzle crowds that love meaningless soundbites to which they assign great meaning, street cultures are revered and have taken on the persona of the "gang" in a completely different, almost more acceptable way, it is as if the street sub-culture is all on drugs, spaced out, looking for trouble, yet they are perfectly accepted by the younger generation and media. They seem hyper, and several rival gangs vie for street space, turf, to voice ideas or plaster walls with them. The defiance is justified and applauded, authority is mocked and disrespected, greed and envy are thriving as is schadenfreude! Does this pattern sound familiar yet? There is little transparency in the world and it sounds awfully close to the way we live today; it makes the premise of the book even more frightening; it is almost too close for comfort. The book comes together around a hostage crisis. Some of the children from KiddieFame, a children's talent show, of sorts, have been taken captive during a "kill" episode, in which one of the contestants is removed from the competition, often the best one, as schadenfreude often does rule. It turns into a real rather than a pretend, game of violence. But, no one knows why, no one knows who is behind this heinous act. Who would capture children, and yet, it is vaguely familiar, isn't it? It is reminiscent of the Russian hostage crisis, in Chechen, which took place on the same date, years before. The populace seems to identify with issues far too deeply, to assume too much self importance and a pretense of having influence to change things dramatically in bizarre and unusual ways. Discontent and anger permeate the atmosphere and this novel surely illustrates what can happen when a "world goes mad", when someone goes mad and tries to infect the world with that madness; in order to achieve redemption for his "crimes" he spreads the feeling of terror, like a disease which moves out into the ether. We have only to think about the cult of people that arose to follow Casey Anthony, for and against. We have only to think of the bizarre ways in which the lawyers used facts to influence judgment, to know that our time is dangerously close to the time in the book. Society is failing. There is an equal feeling of vicarious pleasure and disappointment, shared by the mob. It comes in waves. When the hostage taking begins, there are people making frantic predictions, having no idea whatsoever about what they are saying. They are assuming the hostage taker is a terrorist, they accuse a government they don't trust of orchestrating the event, they think it will blow over, be nothing. They live in a fantasy. They actually seem to enjoy this crisis. They, the people, that is, seem to have been geared up for this. Maybe it is all the reality shows that have prepared them to feel this way. They like being voyeurs, feeling like authority, defying authority, feeling like they are important. One has to wonder why we are obsessed with the dysfunctional, especially after reading this novel. Are we simply obsessed with schadenfreude?

3 out of 3 people found this review helpful.

Wonderfully refreshing, I loved it.

With the mixed reviews I wasn't sure about reading it, but I'm so glad I did. Learned a few things about the physical social world out on another level, one that very few of us ever see. Although the hostage crisis is proported to be the center of the interaction between the characters, I felt that their own stories rode over that crisis - that their stories were really the center of the stage of the book. You can put this book down, and pick it up later, but the veins of the storylines keep running through your brain when you're not reading it. It's a story of hope and change - give it a try, you won't regret it.

3 out of 3 people found this review helpful.

Free friday books!

FYI....Barnes & noble the book - 1-800-843-2665 just told me that free friday books are only gonna be available for one day on friday's now. I told them they might want to send email out to let people now this. They change something and don't let their customers know, kinda sucks.

2 out of 7 people found this review helpful.

Download works

Not as interested in this type of novel but I tried the download and got the book witihin seconds....try it again fellow Nook Users. It opened just fine and its technically Sat. So free Fri is still on! Will try to review if I read it.

2 out of 10 people found this review helpful.

Cant download

Cant download, but book looks good.

2 out of 13 people found this review helpful.

Slow build to an interesting story

It took some time to get into this book, but it eventually grabs your attention.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Not for me

I wish I had not wasted my time reading this book. There was a lot of detailed character development which was unnessary for this weak plot.

1 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

Thought it was just another free book.

This was a fun, quick read. Had an interesting plot. It did jump around a bit which was at times confusing, but it was still a good read.

1 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

Free Friday was 9.99 for Blue Light Project

The Blue Light Project which was indicated as Free Friday selection came up as costing 9.99. Be careful.

1 out of 4 people found this review helpful.

Easy download

The download issues must have been resolved because i had no problems.

1 out of 5 people found this review helpful.

My downloaded fine?

The book downloaded easilty on to my nook color.

1 out of 11 people found this review helpful.

Downloaded Fine

I downloaded without any problems at all. Try again, NookLovers.

1 out of 12 people found this review helpful.

Not for Me

This book read more like a first draft than a finished manuscript.

Couldn't really get into this one...

I must be honest. I don't believe I ever really got "into" this book at all. It's well-written and the author did an excellent job of describing the setting and the majority of the characters, but in the end, there are way too many pieces of the puzzle left and none of them fit together. I feel more confused about what I just read than anything else. Three stars for this one. I liked it, but I just don't get it.

Not good

One of the worst books I've evr read. Spends way too much time on character stories with no real conclusion. It took a long time to read as I just couldn't get into the book...I had to force myself to finish it