Rule No 1

by Rupert Morgan

In the months after 9/11, critically-acclaimed satirist Rupert Morgan wrote a comic novel predicting what would happen next: 'Rule No. 1', the third in his trilogy of satires set in an allegorical version of the west named Atlantis.

His British publishers were too nervous to publish a satirical look at the War on Terror at a time when the subject was very sensitive and so sat on the book for two years. His French publisher told him 'If we publish this novel, not only will your career be finished, but so will mine'. Indeed, the only country that dared publish it at the time was Croatia, where the memory of the horrors of war were still fresh and the book was a best-seller.

It eventually appeared in Britain and other English-speaking countries with a minimum of publicity long after the sequence of events the novel predicted had come true. Rupert Morgan did not write again for the next ten years.

Genres: Fiction

320 pages

First published January 1, 2003

Reviews

[Ivona Brleković · Rating 1 out of 5]

Ne mogu reci da je knjiga loša, na trenutke je bila smiješna i pomalo čudna, ali ovo definitivno nije tematika koja me zanima i zabavlja.

[Željko Erceg · Rating 5 out of 5]

Možda bi ova knjiga za desetak godina mogla biti proglašena kultnom, poput 'Kvake 22'. Antiratna, suvremena, metaforična, duhovita i jednostavna. Je li petica prevelika ocjena? Ne znam ali netko mora nekad dobiti i peticu, zar ne.

[Anja · Rating 3 out of 5]

this book was fucking weird. funny, but weird

[Zdenko Klun · Rating 5 out of 5]

Petica nije tu zbog veličine i majstorstva pisane riječi Ruperta Morgana.
Već je tu zato što je lijepo povremeno naletjeti na suvremenika koji ima relativno jasnu viziju kompleksnosti i konkretnosti današnjeg svijeta. Daleko od toga da je nepismen.
Franzen, Vodolazkin, Houllebecq, Harari, Morgan.
Spisak je kratak, no nikada nije bilo puno ljudi koji razumiju svoje vrijeme. Naknadne pameti je pak prepuna povijest, sadašnjost i budućnost.

Uzgred budi rečeno, vrlo zabavna knjiga.

[Nives Tomašković · Rating 3 out of 5]

My book taste is a lot different kind of fiction / science fiction. There is no much action... Of any kind. My understanding of this book is this:
-this planet is earth but on the other side of sun from our earth so we do not know about each other.
-story is about a guy that is beekeeper. He gets a package to his brothers house where he lives. His brother tells him (comly drinking morning coffee and reading newspapers) that he got bomb delivered.
-guy realise bomb is actualy bees and he want to take them to beehave.
-on the way to the beehave there is a speach of dictator of some kind, and bees got loose.
-when he finally got to his beehaves, he found a girl sleeping in mini house he has there. He fead her his honey, and teach her how to take care of bees.
-one day he gets killed (for no obvious reason) and killers searching the place find girl.
-she scares them with bees.
-the end.

[Valentina Markasović · Rating 4 out of 5]

2015 reading challenge - a book with a number in the title


I'd never have picked this book up had it not been for its extremely cheap price of only 5 kn (one dollar). But in the end, I was glad I decided to buy it.

This book is pure satire. Even the cover (notice the colour theme of the giant rooster picking on the rest of the world). The story is about the United States of Atlantis (USA for short) starting a war with the country of Erat, after a series of unfortunate misunderstandings. I know the language barrier wasn't the point, but its one of the things the book made me think about.

There were a couple of laugh out loud moments and although I wasn't really interested in politics at the time of publishing (with me being 7 years old then and everything), it did nothing to lessen my enjoyment of the book. The satire was unmistakable.

[Ivan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ne mogu vjerovati da sam ovu knjigu platio samo 5 kn. Nešto najsmješnije što sam ikad pročitao. Sad mi je i jasno zašto se nije dobro provela u SAD-u i UK.
Britko ruganje američkoj politici straha koju SAD-e uporno provodi cijelim svijetom od pada blizanaca.
Savršeno opisivanje narcisoidnosti, i gluposti velikih svjetskih sila.
Sve je suludo, sve se ismijava, a opet je svatko opterećen sa svojim križom.
I naravno, za sve zlo su krive nasilne videoigrice.

[Ketan Shah]

Cries out to be made into a feqature film or miniseries. Some of the scenes are laugh out loud funny ,but there's a more subtle wry wit on display as well.