Purple People has a really interesting premise and was a very fun read!

A near-future dystopian set in the U.K., at times it feels very close to something that may actually happen. Its such a multilayered book, exploring some really deep social issues while maintaining plenty of humour and satire. I particularly loved all the ‘British-isms’. There were maybe a few too many characters but overall they were well written and Eve was a strong protagonist.

I enjoyed this ‘light’ take on dystopia and would love to read more from this author!

Do you want to read a weird but interesting book? Well.. don't look any further!

Purple People is a debut novel that has a completely original plot with an interesting cast of intriguing and lifelike characters., Honestly, what a great, funny book with a serious current running through it.

Highly recommend you to read it. Thanks to Goodreads and the publisher for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review

I can see lots of positive reviews, but I am feeling more neutral about the book.

I loved the premise, and really appreciated the messages about society, policing, crime etc. it was conveying. These aspects were right up my street, and a key reason I chose the book. However the writing style did not suit me at all. There were far too many words for my liking, and quite a lot of them I felt didn't add anything.

I see from other reviews people found it funny. Sadly I was not one of them, and may explain why there were so many words - there were funnies I didn't get.

So overall great story and idea, but the style of execution didn't suit me.

Thanks to Net Galley for a free copy in exchange for an honest review.

This was a really interesting concept and definitely very well executed! The writing was amazing, and I found it hard to put down because I felt like I had to know what happened next!

I will definitely be picking up more books by Kate Bulpitt in the future!

Intelligent intriguing thought provoking.From the eye catching cover to the literary writing really entertaining read.Will be recommending #netgalley#unbound,

Intriguing book, Purple People had me glued to the page! Makes you think about behavior and judging people...

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for a copy of the book.

The synopsis for this book sounded incredible so I wouldn't wait to read it. It's a really clever concept especially in light of the current situation with Brexit and prejudice based on what people look like. Unfortunately I didn't enjoy the book - I found it really hard to get through. Interesting and fast-paced scenes were mixed with scenes that I didn't understand the purpose of - and included characters that I really didn't care about. The issue was that every time I picked the book back up, I'd forgotten who the characters were so it made it really slow going. It's a great idea though so I look forward to seeing what the author does in the future.

3.5 stars, rounding up.  The UK government is turning criminals who engage in anti-social behavior purple, and Eve Baxter, a journalist with a tabloid-like news agency in the States, returns to her hometown to figure out the how and why behind the purpling.      There was a lot I enjoyed about this book, from the wit, the satire, and the prose.  What brought it down for me (and this is all personal opinion and nothing to do with the author's writing) was the random focus on lost love opportunities.  It seemed like every time I came across a two page paragraph focusing on this, my mind would shut down and I would put the story away for several days.  Other than my own personal tics with the storyline, I thought this was well-written, entertaining, and great at social commentary without shoving it down the reader's throat.  Recommend.

How are people being purpled?’. Let’s rewind. Kate Bulpitt uses the concept that, in a near-future dystopian England, crims and the anti-social are dyed purple by the state to deter them from bad behaviour. It’s a light-hearted read that explores crime and punishment, relationships – both romantic and familial, the role of technology, and many other social issues that have gained contemporary resonance during crazy 2020, without damping down the fun element. There’s a big cast of memorable characters including our hero, journalist Eve, who displays a self-doubt that makes you warm to her..

I didn't know the author, the publisher and I had never heard of the book before, but I read the synopsis and I was sold. The government in Britain has a great new idea to tackle spiralling levels of crime and anti-social behaviour. The offenders will be dyed purple.

When investigative wacky news journalist Eve Baxter hears about this scheme she rushes back home to find out more about this plot. However much fun it sounds, it actually has a big impact on those tainted by it.

While the nation becomes more and more divided on the subject, Eve tries to uncover what it is that turns people purple in the first place.

The way the synopsis is written made it sound like a fun read, and fun it is! Bulpitt uses a slightly sarcastic tone throughout the novel, which makes for fun dialogues. I can't say I was completely at the edge of my seat to find out what happens to people and why, but it was a good read nevertheless.

I definitely hope that our governments don't use this kind of scheme to tackle anti-social behaviour because it sounds absolutely terrible :-) It's a great book by first time author Kate Bulpitt. I would recommend it if you enjoy a bit of British humour in your novels.

Many thanks to the publisher Unbound and Netgalley for providing me with a review copy.

Purple People is a dystopian novel set in the UK in the near future where people who have been caught committing a crime are turned purple as punishment.

I was really drawn to the description of this book. I was unsure how the novel would turn out, whether it would be serious or more of a light-hearted read. I was pleased to find satire and a hilarious cast of characters. I found myself giggling even though the narrative is a close parallel of current events here in the UK, although with a very dystopian spin on them. The book is set in the near future where a well-meaning Prime Minister launches a new initiative to tackle crime. Overnight people start turning purple… the problem is nobody really knows how…

Journalist Eve heads back to the UK from New York to investigate the purple people and just what is going on behind the scenes. The book follows her experience as she attempts to find out how people are caught committing crimes and just how their skin is turned purple. There are British idioms aplenty and some really well thought out characters who will seem familiar to UK readers.

Purple People is a great read for a bit of escapism and abstract social commentary. Very enjoyable!

Firstly, I thought this book was very unique- I loved the satire of it, the setting of a not to distant dystopian future that doesn’t seem to far away from our lives right now and the character of Eve, who is a likeable and relatable character. The nods to society right now we’re funny and clever. Yes there are an awful lot of characters in this book making it slightly difficult to remember who’s who in places but that doesn’t take anything away from this read- it’s worth the slight struggle.

A clever satire that can definitely link with issues in todays society. The humour is funny and en-pointe and I loved the reference to the 'Lavs' . Eve is a great character, the permanent un-achiever who realises that this is her moment, her chance to do something and to be someone. This is definitely a story to make you think.

I found the description intriguing and so as soon as I got this book I set all others aside to begin on it, but found it sadly didn't meet expectations. Perhaps this is my fault, but given the title I was expecting it to be of a similar vein to the Jasper Fforde books wherein they're set in our normal world, yet there's a lot not normal in it, making it sci fi but with semblances of normality in it. Sadly this wasn't the case with this book and to be honest I found it rather dull which is quite shocking given what it is about. It was an interesting premise the government turning people purple as punishment yet the book was so slow going, and introduced so many unnecessary characters doing boring things that I soon lost the will the carry on reading. I pushed on through it and sadly can't say it was worth it, rather I feel reading this book was a waste of my time as it didn't hold my interest and wasn't interesting. I wouldn't recommend unless you're wanting a book which will provoke debate in which case maybe it'd work for you

Purple People has such an intriguing premise. A fight against crime that takes on a literal approach when the criminals i.e. bruises on society get turned purple/aubergine/damson to match. It’s one of those thinkers/conversation starters, hugely divisive, distinctly British in this new world post Brexit order. Actually Brexit isn’t mentioned in the book, but it’s set in either parallel or not so distant at all future where some controversial measures to control society have already taken place and this is just the latest scheme of the charismatic well meaning PM. One of the preceding ones was banning smartphone like technology, which is hugely divisive in itself, though even the most devout phone junkies would probably be able to understand how that addiction affects the cohesive fabric of society, good manners, etc. But now, the purpleness must be a step too far. Or is it? The measure has a good amount of supporters to balance out the dissenting voices. But no matter what everyone thinks of it, everyone wants to know how the purpling occurs. It seems completely out of nowhere. Oftentimes before the crime has even been reported. A proper mystery indeed. One a bubbly reporter Eve until now specializing in silly light news for a NY publication becomes obsessed with upon returning to her native Britain to visit her family. It turns out to be a legitimately serious investigative work for Eve and a legitimate mystery thriller for the readers, right up until a fairly simple Gordian knot sort of a solution. But first, there will be misleading clues, confusion, much debating on the sociopolitical values of purpling, some romance, a family reckoning of sorts, and a good amount of political intrigue. So something for everyone. For me personally, the sociopolitical angle was the most interesting one. The merits of extreme measures to counteract the violence and their effects on society at large. In fact, one might even argue for purpling, until like all manmade measures, it spins right out of control and starts including such silly non offenses as littering and other perceived antisocial behaviours. And therein is the crux of the matter…the definition of justice isn’t the same for everyone and unless you got Judge Dredd available, citizen surveillance state can’t be made to extent to crime and punishment measures, certainly not in absolutes, not the way the PM’s plan is meant to work. So it’s morality tale, that sort of thing. One that would have been considerably more effective had it not been done in quite such a bubbly way, to match its lead, presumably. To be fair, the seemingly peculiar juxtaposition of such a serious scenario with such a romcom light tone actually did work. It made the book read like a quaint satire. Instead of a dark dystopian cautionary tale of the dangers of closely monitored society. But at any rate, this was a fun read. I did sort of predict one aspect of it, but not enough to counteract most plot twists and surprises. The writing was good, too bubbly at times for me, but good. Unbound press continues to put out really decent books, continuously surprising with the fact that significant numbers of people can actually make good smart choices. Why doesn’t political voting reflect this trend? But anyway, fun read, well worth checking out. Definitely a great discussion fodder. Recommended. Thanks Netgalley.

The premise of this book made me want to devour this immediately. The UK government turns people who’ve been caught committing crimes purple.

I was genuinely curious how this was going to play out politically and ethically. With this I think the author did a great job of showing realistically how people would react. It seemed very believable that this could actually happen.

My problem is that there were about 20 too many characters and the book was way too long. The sheer amount of characters combined with the length of this book seriously made it drag. It became a chore to continue reading it. The only reason I finished it was because I wanted to know how people were being turned purple. I wish I would have liked this more.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me access to this book.

Outlandish, entertaining, and thought-provoking. Great cover. My only gripe was the abuse of my favourite colour!

It’s not often that I choose to read science fiction or dystopian novels, but when one comes along that sounds so outlandish and tongue in cheek, there’s no way I can resist!
To tackle anti-social behaviour and street violence in the UK, the Prime Minister has come up with a plan to colour offenders Purple in the hope of shaming them into staying indoors and away from the public. Eve Baxter has been thinking about a way to get into a more serious form of journalism than the happy news site she works for, and whilst she’s not sure how she feels about the ‘Turning’ of people, she does want to find out how it all works. When it hits even closer to home and her friends and family are affected, she knows she must get to the bottom of things.
Of course elements of this story are fairly farcical, but quite honestly with things the way they are politically, it wasn’t as far fetched as I might imagine! It was certainly the most original novel I’ve read this year, and Bulpitt is brilliantly funny - this was a real comic gem! I loved our heroine Eve, who wanted to do more in life, but like most of us, didn’t feel brave enough to - she felt very real and relatable.
This was a really unique, interesting and witty novel - no doubt Bulpitt will become a big name in literature soon enough!

They say there are no longer any original stories but I think this one is mighty unique! Satire, humour, and a touch of dystopian thriller make this a quick and engaging read.

A government developed system to diminish crime turns felons purple. In a time when we have so little trust in our government there are parallels in this story that ring too true. There are subtle lessons on classism and racism that we could all use right about now.

The characters are strong and heartfelt. Even those characters who you don’t like will make you shake your head while smiling.

I don’t want to say too much but I would suggest you give this book a read!

I’m really interested in what Kate Bulpitt comes up with next.

4.5★s
Purple People is the first novel by British author, Kate Bulpitt. It sounds like a story that would be right up Eve Baxter’s alley. She is always on the trail for unusual pieces for boss at Say Fantastique, a New York agency supplying weird stories to news media. The early-morning call from her friend in England is about Purple People. Eve is sceptical: surely too bizarre to be true?

So the family emergency, her dad Vince in the ICU after an attack in a pub, gives her the perfect opportunity come home from New York to check it out. There’s plenty of speculation: “Terrorist contamination of water supplies, terrorist contamination of meat supplies, terrorist contamination of beer supplies… and my favourite: alien invasion.”

The announcement from Prime Minister Theo Fletcher just adds to the fascination: a scheme to solve the epidemic of anti-social behaviour, where offenders are Purpled, branding “you as visibly bruised as our communities have been by your actions, and illustrates for all to see that you show no respect, that you seek to damage our society.”

“So what was this, then, the Purpleness? A diabolical scheme built on a handy foundation of fear, or a necessarily extreme measure to protect the good folk, the decent and deserving? And would Eve despise herself for believing the latter?” The fact that it is done with any sort of trial or appeal is troubling. A cab driver comments: “I’m not going to say judging a man by his colour could be a good thing. Seems backwards. Can’t see how that’ll help anybody, right?”

Finding out just how it is done, though, is proving more challenging that Eve would have believed possible: everyone in authority is very tight-lipped and the Purpled themselves have no idea of what happens. Bunsen Burner Bob, Eve’s scientist friend has a theory, but overt investigation soon becomes punishable by law, so her curiosity needs to be veiled.

The scheme certainly polarises the country, and there is spirited community debates and a protest rally. At the Anti-Purpling rally, one Purpled man pleads with the crowd: “… you can’t… you shouldn’t define someone by their worst action, the most stupid thing they’ve done. Because then how do they get past that? How do they have the will to be better, to improve themselves, if everyone’s expecting the worst from them?”

But when a bunch of Purpled thugs attack the police at the rally, it doesn’t do a lot for their cause. And how effective will this scheme be if those already Purpled have nothing else to lose? Then things come closer to home, Eve has a severely depressed friend on her hands, and still no clue how to improve the situation. Will Eve, too, be Purpled, or will she save the day?

The alternate world that Bulpitt has created has a very Jasper Ffordian feel (and that’s high praise) and the novel touches on several important themes, including the deterrence of crime and the mental health effects of stigma. This outstanding debut novel is clever, funny and thought-provoking.
This unbiased review is from an ecopy provided by Unbound and NetGalley