Amped: A Novel (Audiobook)

Author:  Daniel H. Wilson

Title: Amped: A Novel

Publication: June 5, 2012

Publisher: Doubleday

Genre: Adult, Adventure, Science Fiction, Futuristic

Pages: 288
Length: 8 1/2 hours

Audience: 18 and up

Rating: 3.5 out 5

Source: Public Library

 Favorite Quote: "I'd rather be weird and know it than be a stupid ass."- Nick


Synopsis (from the cover):
 Twenty-nine-year-old high school teacher Owen Gray had long ago come to terms with the tiny device in his head, which was implanted to control the seizures he suffered in his youth. Owen's "amp" gave him a normal life, even though he question where his brain ended and the computer began. 
But when the Supreme Court rules that "amplified" humans like Owen are not protected by the same basic laws as pure humans, his world in downtown Pittsburgh instantly fractures. Before he can get his bearings, Owen receives desperate news from his father, the doctor who originally implanted Owen's "amp". He confides a dangerous secret: Owen's "amp" has the potential o do something extraordinary- and there are people who will come for him, and want to kill him for what is in his head. 
Owen begins a harrowing journey to a dusty community in rural Oklahoma where he finds the one man who can explain his true abilities He also meets Lyle Crosby, whose stunning physical abilities and ruthless ideas show Owen how to harness his own startling gifts- but also threaten to drawn him into a dark world from which there may be no moral return.

My thoughts:
This book has been on my mind ever since I read it. I want to know why it bothered me so much to listen to this book. I've read books by Chuck Palahniuk, the author of books like Fight Club, Diary, Rant, Choke, etc. He isn't an easy author to read. His books are very graphic, gritty, dirty, and painful. I've watched graphic movies and TV shows like Dexter, The Expendables, etc. and I've had to look away every now and then because it was hard to watch. I think I didn't like the book for three reasons 1. I was listening to it with my boyfriend who loved it, and felt bad if I turned it off (we were on a looooong road trip). 2. I can look away at graphic scenes or I can imagine them less graphic when I'm reading. However, when something is being read to me in a certain tone...I can't exactly stop or look away...I just listen and imagine. 3. This book scared me because I can see medical implants with chips coming into existence in my lifetime, and having to deal with the issues the people in the book had to deal with. I will go out on a limb and call this book a boy book. A friend of my boyfriend suggested it and he and my boyfriend loved it. If you like really gritty books and science fiction, then I recommend it. It may not be so bad if you read it, but listening to it was so hard for me. There were times I know I had to look goofy because the details were so painful that I was making pained and disgusted faces for most of our trip. As for the idea and the storyline- I loved it. I think the way the book was written with little snippets from news blogs and historical documents was really cool. The characters were well written that I could actually imagine people I know as some of the characters. I love the quotes in the first chapter of the novel because it talks about how reliant we are on technology that it is inside of us, taking over us. I enjoyed the book overall, but I think I would have enjoyed it more if I had read it instead of listening to it.