Qualityland

By: Marc-Uwe Kling

Narrated by: Patricia Rodriguez

Length: 10 hrs and 42 mins

Publisher's Summary

In the near future sci-fi world of Qualityland, algorithms help create an idyllic life for its citizens, but what if the perfect world wasn't built for you?

Welcome to QualityLand, the best country on Earth. Here, a universal ranking system determines the social advantages and career opportunities of every member of society. An automated matchmaking service knows the best partners for everyone and helps with the break up when your ideal match (frequently) changes. And the foolproof algorithms of the biggest, most successful company in the world, TheShop, know what you want before you do and conveniently deliver to your doorstep before you even order it.

In QualityCity, Peter Jobless is a machine scrapper who can't quite bring himself to destroy the imperfect machines sent his way, and has become the unwitting leader of a band of robotic misfits hidden in his home and workplace. One day, Peter receives a product from TheShop that he absolutely, positively knows he does not want, and which he decides, at great personal cost, to return. The only problem: doing so means proving the perfect algorithm of TheShop wrong, calling into question the very foundations of QualityLand itself.

Qualityland, Marc-Uwe Kling's first book to be translated into English, is a brilliantly clever, illuminating satire in the tradition of Kurt Vonnegut, Douglas Adams, and George Orwell that offers a visionary, frightening, and all-too funny glimpse at a near future we may be hurtling toward faster than it's at all comfortable to admit. So why delay any longer? TheShop already knows you're going to love this book. You may as well head to the cash register, crack the covers, and see why that is for yourself.

©2020 Marc-Uwe Kling (P)2020 Grand Central Publishing

Critic Reviews

"Kling's sharp observations target the economy, the law, xenophobia, relationships, security, and government, sparing few and exposing with delightful brutality how close QualityLand is to reality." (Booklist)

"A hilarious romp through an absurd hypercapitalist dystopia...This is spot-on satire." (Publishers Weekly)

"How much you enjoy this is in direct proportion to how much trouble you think we're all in. Sleep tight." (Kirkus)

Patricia Rodriguez does an amazing job narrating

Patricia Rodriguez won a well deserved "Earphones Award" from audiophile magazine for her narration of this book. This book is particular challenging considering the number of different characters she had to bring to life. She brings a distinct voice to each character, bringing them all to vibrant life. The story itself is a humorous look at the real issues and repercussions facing our society regarding how the internet is feeding us only what it "thinks" we want to see and read based on search engines algorithms. The book points out the reality of how we are not customers of the internet, but rather, we are the products of the internet, with our information being sold to big corporations, the actually customers.

This book helped me come to terms with filing my ******* taxes.

It’s usually pretty difficult for me to find books that really catch my eye, but this one did. The cover and the premise were very interesting. The book started off a little slow, but that’s not a problem. Once I gave the author a chance to set the scene, the story became much more entertaining. The characters developed well. The circumstances enraged me but also made me laugh more and more as the story went on. The conflict built really well and left me wondering how it could possibly end. And then it did. Really well. As Neil Gaiman says, “Fairy tales are more than true: not because they tell us that dragons exist, but because they tell us that dragons can be beaten.” I recently had to send the government a check for three whole dollars via snail mail because I didn’t have the proper ID to do it online anymore. This book helped me come to terms with that. So thank you Mr. Kling lol. Also, the narrator did a great job of making the propaganda sound sickeningly nice.

My rate is to keep the algorithms happy.

I hope by like this book, I can make my profile the type that gets the attention of nerdy hot people.

One of the best I've read in a while

Kling weaves a compelling narrative around many of the most important social issues of our times.

Very average story not suited for audio

Reader was fine, but reading out commercials etc is irratating. This story meanders for so long before anything interesting happens, when it finally does it goes nowhere. The ending is beyond simple and shallow. I got the satire and it didn't help. Not a fan at all, but I don't blame the reader for the material.

fantastic book and marvelous narrator

absolutely loved it. entertaining, witty, and thought provoking. this book is perfectly done and the narrator's voice is just a great fit for the story as well. money well spent.

Funny and insightful

Get this in your brain. Funniest book I’ve heard in a long time. Laugh out loud belly laughs from beginning to end 😁😆

Tries really hard

I purchased Qualityland because I was looking for a hidden gem that would make me laugh like Hitchhiker's Guide, and it was listed on a couple is websites with good reviews.

The first half presrnted a clever situation and a few chuckles, but was already not living up to the hype. But the second half ceased being funny at all. Oh, it was trying, and clearly thought it was hilarious while offering a heavy-handed socio-political commentary that the author clearly thought was insightful and biting.

It failed to be any of the things it was trying so hard to be. Ultimately, the conclusion was unsatisfying, many threads were left dangling, and what it did resolve were done so quite clumsily. And it wasn't funny.

The fact that I largely enjoyed the first half warrants a couple of stars, but in my opinion, there was too much soapbox ranting and heavy-handed lecturing, and not enough storytelling in the second half.

Great story very small issue with reader

The story was hilarious. The reader was great minus the voice for two characters, Pink and the combat droid. Pink's voice was just grating and I am not fully sure what the combat droid said so I just assumed "kaboom". Other than that everything was awesome and well done.

Fascinating dystopian AI read

Satirical-George-Orwell-Hunger Games/Handsmaid/Westworld (w/o the killings, baby making handmaids...) + a bit of 🇨🇳 with the universal social ranking system type spin on a futuristic dystopian AI world created by privileged multi-billionnaires who think they know best and can control people.

The book touched on everything... Socio-economic inequality, racism, history of colonization and slavery, government control, dictatorship, political end game, religion, abortion, capitalism and consumerism, data sharing, social media, dating, gender roles, what family "looks like" and so much more... Definitely an interesting read. I did the audiobook

Qualityland= hands down the U.S
EveryBody= Facebook + Mark Zuckerberg
TheShop= Amazon +Jeff Besos
John of US = the elite of the world's top 1% billionaires
Martyn Chairman= Tesla + SpaceX+ now Twitter + Elon Musk
Peter Jobless= The average American who doesn't want to be controlled by social media, consumerism, and the government

I hear HBO is making this book into a series... Can't wait to see how this turns out