Yes, I feel the same way. I'm happy to be manipulated as long as I can't see someone doing it - can't stand overt, manipulative sentiment either.

I'd love to know how you find this book. One of the things I liked was that it feels like a YA book that would be good for introducing teenagers to lit concepts. It's all written in dialect and the way The Noise is included uses a really cool style element. And it's really good at producing really complex moral and emotional set ups, without being too 'dundundun' about it.