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The Beast
Jeremy Underwood is a long-suffering subeditor on The Daily Beast, Britain's mightiest tabloid. Returning from holiday, he notices two burqa-clad figures lurking outside the paper's offices in Kensington. Fear is in the air since two male suspects escaped from a mosque. Jeremy's observation sets off a chain of events that rapidly escalates, as the great Beast comes under siege.
Alexander Starritt's novel is a vivid anatomy of that most uncontrollable and irresponsible of large creatures, the British tabloid newspaper. He writes with pinpoint precision about the ways in which scapegoats are selected by an institution that sees itself as the voice of Middle England. The fearsome professionalism and manic rivalries of a newsroom have rarely been so well described. This is a compelling novel in which comedy teeters on the edge of horror.
Alexander Starritt's novel is a vivid anatomy of that most uncontrollable and irresponsible of large creatures, the British tabloid newspaper. He writes with pinpoint precision about the ways in which scapegoats are selected by an institution that sees itself as the voice of Middle England. The fearsome professionalism and manic rivalries of a newsroom have rarely been so well described. This is a compelling novel in which comedy teeters on the edge of horror.
Hardcover
Published September 7, 2017
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About the author
Alexander Starritt
13 books39 followersAlexander Starritt is a Scottish-German novelist, journalist and entrepreneur. Starritt was educated at Somerville College, Oxford. He came to public attention in 2017 with the release of his novel The Beast.
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Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews
October 11, 2017
About 40 years ago Punch published a cartoon strip in which a downtrodden journalist walks into his editor’s office.
Editor: Now, about that nun who was raped by the International Red Cross.
Journalist: But that was last week.
Editor: It sold six million, so we’re having her raped again. Dammit, do I have to do everything round here myself?
The cartoon was, I think, by the great J.B. Handelsman, whose work graced not only Punch but also The New Yorker. I found myself thinking of this strip while reading Alexander Starritt’s The Beast, a savage and funny satire set on the sub’s desk of a British tabloid.
Evelyn Waugh’s original Beast was apparently the Express; Starritt’s is clearly the Daily Mail. Apart from anything else, its HQ definitely sounds like that of the Mail, in the old Biba building in Kensington; I visited it a couple of times when, as I young man, I had an abortive try-out as a feature writer. In fact, I bet its lawyers have given the book the once-over. If they have, they’ve likely told management to draw as little attention to the book as possible. I would, if I were them.
The story in The Beast is simple enough. Sub-editor Jeremy Underwood, returning from holiday, walks past two women in burqas apparently hanging around near the building. Feeling he should tell someone, in case it’s a story, he tells the reporters. They do see a story and quickly “confirm” that there is a credible threat to the Beast. In fact, the two young women in the burqas were looking for a branch of Wholefoods. But nothing can now stop the awfulness that starts to unfold, as the Beast embarks upon a string of stories about an alleged Muslim plot to destroy it. This starts to have very grim consequences in the world outside. The book ends with a slightly bathetic tragedy that you don’t see coming, but is entirely logical. In between, tabloid journalists scream and growl at each other and seethe with casual racism.
The Beast is a satire of newspapers in the tradition of Waugh’s Scoop and J.B. Priestley’s Wonder Hero. The newspapers actually have the same names as Waugh’s (Beast and Brute). But this book is better than Waugh’s (though perhaps not Priestley’s). Scratch its surface and you will find much more than satire; you’ll find a vivid picture of how a story comes together once it hits the sub’s desk, and it all has a ring of truth. Boring facts relayed by some reporter drudge in a county court can be quickly reassembled to support whatever theory the paper is pushing that week, whether it be on health foods or Muslim terrorists. It’s all done under a tyrannical, slightly bonkers editor who sees himself as the embodiment of British values.
Even better, The Beast is a very shrewd depiction of who tabloid journalists are, and how their sub-culture has survived, insulated against a changing world. Here Starritt is especially strong. The older ones remember the world of Fleet Street as it was. It’s a world that I myself saw briefly, just before it ended; the hot-metal typesetters, the clatter of machinery, the great rolls of newsprint being winched from lorries in the narrow streets that ran from Fleet Street down to the Embankment. The subs also remember the legends who worked there, the long liquid lunches, the tradition of boozy contempt for morality. And they proudly pass this tradition on to the young recruits who join them.
Yet it’s not a world that anyone should be proud of preserving. The Daily Mail whipped up alarm about Jewish refugees in the 1930s, and perpetrated the awful Zinoviev Letter hoax in the 1920s in order to discredit the Labour Party. Lord Northcliffe is alleged to have said “Give them something to hate every day”; in fact this is apocryphal, but that is certainly how the tabloids have been sold. As for the Daily Express, one remembers what Max Hastings wrote about a famous prewar journalist, H. V. Morton – that he had “the qualities of an outstanding Beaverbrook journalist of his period: masterly understanding of public taste, deployed in a moral void.” Starritt’s characters clearly do function in a complete moral void, and there are terrible consequences.
I have two reservations about this book. One is simply that Starritt lays it on with a trowel now and then. Satire’s at its best when it’s a bit subtle. The second, more serious, is that the newspaper world Starritt describes is a dying one. His characters know that; they look over their shoulder at the online editions that they know will soon replace them. But what is nowhere mentioned is fake news; the bizarre websites that spread rumours – for example that the Sandy Hook shooting was a hoax, or that the liberal establishment was running a child-abuse ring in restaurants (2016’s Pizzagate “scandal”, which led to a shooting). Compared to the damage these may do, tabloids are mild stuff. British newspapers are vicious and mendacious. But they always were, and we may soon miss them as we are hit with something much worse.
Even so, Starritt’s done a great job. This is a very dark story but also a funny one. As always, the best satire knows its target well, and cuts near the bone.
Editor: Now, about that nun who was raped by the International Red Cross.
Journalist: But that was last week.
Editor: It sold six million, so we’re having her raped again. Dammit, do I have to do everything round here myself?
The cartoon was, I think, by the great J.B. Handelsman, whose work graced not only Punch but also The New Yorker. I found myself thinking of this strip while reading Alexander Starritt’s The Beast, a savage and funny satire set on the sub’s desk of a British tabloid.
Evelyn Waugh’s original Beast was apparently the Express; Starritt’s is clearly the Daily Mail. Apart from anything else, its HQ definitely sounds like that of the Mail, in the old Biba building in Kensington; I visited it a couple of times when, as I young man, I had an abortive try-out as a feature writer. In fact, I bet its lawyers have given the book the once-over. If they have, they’ve likely told management to draw as little attention to the book as possible. I would, if I were them.
The story in The Beast is simple enough. Sub-editor Jeremy Underwood, returning from holiday, walks past two women in burqas apparently hanging around near the building. Feeling he should tell someone, in case it’s a story, he tells the reporters. They do see a story and quickly “confirm” that there is a credible threat to the Beast. In fact, the two young women in the burqas were looking for a branch of Wholefoods. But nothing can now stop the awfulness that starts to unfold, as the Beast embarks upon a string of stories about an alleged Muslim plot to destroy it. This starts to have very grim consequences in the world outside. The book ends with a slightly bathetic tragedy that you don’t see coming, but is entirely logical. In between, tabloid journalists scream and growl at each other and seethe with casual racism.
The Beast is a satire of newspapers in the tradition of Waugh’s Scoop and J.B. Priestley’s Wonder Hero. The newspapers actually have the same names as Waugh’s (Beast and Brute). But this book is better than Waugh’s (though perhaps not Priestley’s). Scratch its surface and you will find much more than satire; you’ll find a vivid picture of how a story comes together once it hits the sub’s desk, and it all has a ring of truth. Boring facts relayed by some reporter drudge in a county court can be quickly reassembled to support whatever theory the paper is pushing that week, whether it be on health foods or Muslim terrorists. It’s all done under a tyrannical, slightly bonkers editor who sees himself as the embodiment of British values.
Even better, The Beast is a very shrewd depiction of who tabloid journalists are, and how their sub-culture has survived, insulated against a changing world. Here Starritt is especially strong. The older ones remember the world of Fleet Street as it was. It’s a world that I myself saw briefly, just before it ended; the hot-metal typesetters, the clatter of machinery, the great rolls of newsprint being winched from lorries in the narrow streets that ran from Fleet Street down to the Embankment. The subs also remember the legends who worked there, the long liquid lunches, the tradition of boozy contempt for morality. And they proudly pass this tradition on to the young recruits who join them.
Yet it’s not a world that anyone should be proud of preserving. The Daily Mail whipped up alarm about Jewish refugees in the 1930s, and perpetrated the awful Zinoviev Letter hoax in the 1920s in order to discredit the Labour Party. Lord Northcliffe is alleged to have said “Give them something to hate every day”; in fact this is apocryphal, but that is certainly how the tabloids have been sold. As for the Daily Express, one remembers what Max Hastings wrote about a famous prewar journalist, H. V. Morton – that he had “the qualities of an outstanding Beaverbrook journalist of his period: masterly understanding of public taste, deployed in a moral void.” Starritt’s characters clearly do function in a complete moral void, and there are terrible consequences.
I have two reservations about this book. One is simply that Starritt lays it on with a trowel now and then. Satire’s at its best when it’s a bit subtle. The second, more serious, is that the newspaper world Starritt describes is a dying one. His characters know that; they look over their shoulder at the online editions that they know will soon replace them. But what is nowhere mentioned is fake news; the bizarre websites that spread rumours – for example that the Sandy Hook shooting was a hoax, or that the liberal establishment was running a child-abuse ring in restaurants (2016’s Pizzagate “scandal”, which led to a shooting). Compared to the damage these may do, tabloids are mild stuff. British newspapers are vicious and mendacious. But they always were, and we may soon miss them as we are hit with something much worse.
Even so, Starritt’s done a great job. This is a very dark story but also a funny one. As always, the best satire knows its target well, and cuts near the bone.
August 18, 2017
I won this book recently in a Goodreads First Reads giveaway.
This is a well written book and if you enjoy this genre, then it is certainly well worth a read. It is not a genre that i would normally read by choice, but glad of the opportunity to try something different. I shall be passing this book on to family, who i know will enjoy more than i.
This is a well written book and if you enjoy this genre, then it is certainly well worth a read. It is not a genre that i would normally read by choice, but glad of the opportunity to try something different. I shall be passing this book on to family, who i know will enjoy more than i.
March 31, 2020
Lively and grimly comic novel about The Daily Mail written by an insider. Also a fresh reminder why putting Paul Dacre in the stocks - and inviting the public to pelt him - would be no bad thing.
July 5, 2017
The Beast is a compelling and at times horrifying novel about the modern tabloid press and how it exploits the nation’s fears and current events. Jeremy Underwood is a subeditor for The Daily Beast, which sees itself as the voice of Middle England, and when he comes back from holiday to spot two figures wearing burqas outside the newspaper offices, he sparks off a chain of events that he could have hardly imagined or planned. Fear is in the air as there are escaped suspects at large and The Beast needs a compelling story to keep its circulation up. Soon the staff are off to a secret bunker and the country is being divided by the story that Jeremy has set off.
Starritt’s novel is difficult to put down, partly due to the fast-paced narrative that feels akin to a film or feature-length drama, and partly due to the dark comedy as the events escalate, which carries with it a terrifying sense of observation. The author worked in a newsroom and The Beast’s one is described in careful detail, from its hierarchy to questionable working practices. His depiction shows the level of work ethic and rivalry that goes into making a newspaper, but also charts the way in which a single paper can affect national events and stoke fear and hatred. It is not entirely scathing, but is unlikely to appeal hugely to those who enjoy reading the kind of newspaper it depicts.
Though the book is Evelyn Waugh-esque (the name of the newspaper is the same as that in Waugh’s novel Scoop), its level of modern relevance makes it more horrifying and less light than reading Waugh today. Not only does it depict the media’s involvement in Islamophobia in Britain and look at how terror attacks might be reported, but it touches upon topics of press freedom, print vs online journalism, and how newspapers might make the news rather than report it. The fictional papers within the novel all have fairly obvious real life counterparts and the satire is pointed even for those who have little knowledge of modern journalism.
The Beast is a kind of escalating dark comedy that mostly tips into a tense and horrible narrative about tabloid reporting in relation to extremism and hatred in Britain today. Some readers will find it funny, but its lingering feel is one of exposition, an anatomy of a kind of newspaper that many people read and devour and many others loathe.
Starritt’s novel is difficult to put down, partly due to the fast-paced narrative that feels akin to a film or feature-length drama, and partly due to the dark comedy as the events escalate, which carries with it a terrifying sense of observation. The author worked in a newsroom and The Beast’s one is described in careful detail, from its hierarchy to questionable working practices. His depiction shows the level of work ethic and rivalry that goes into making a newspaper, but also charts the way in which a single paper can affect national events and stoke fear and hatred. It is not entirely scathing, but is unlikely to appeal hugely to those who enjoy reading the kind of newspaper it depicts.
Though the book is Evelyn Waugh-esque (the name of the newspaper is the same as that in Waugh’s novel Scoop), its level of modern relevance makes it more horrifying and less light than reading Waugh today. Not only does it depict the media’s involvement in Islamophobia in Britain and look at how terror attacks might be reported, but it touches upon topics of press freedom, print vs online journalism, and how newspapers might make the news rather than report it. The fictional papers within the novel all have fairly obvious real life counterparts and the satire is pointed even for those who have little knowledge of modern journalism.
The Beast is a kind of escalating dark comedy that mostly tips into a tense and horrible narrative about tabloid reporting in relation to extremism and hatred in Britain today. Some readers will find it funny, but its lingering feel is one of exposition, an anatomy of a kind of newspaper that many people read and devour and many others loathe.
September 16, 2017
Journalists, it has to be said, don't always make good novelists. Some certainly do (Terry Stisatny is a recent fine example) but I'm afraid I don’t think the same can be said of Aleaxander Starritt and I really didn't get on with The Beast. It is intended as a satire of an unscrupulous, bigoted and bombastic tabloid newspaper whose staff indulge in all kinds of horrendous practices to twist, distort and outright lie in order to create stories which will outrage their supposedly bigoted readership, boost circulation and shift the mood of the country. Starritt has lived and worked in that world, so it's possibly an accurate (or at least semi-accurate) picture of what goes on, but as satire, or even a readable story, I found it sadly lacking.
The present-day story is set in the fictional newspaper from Evelyn Waugh's Scoop, but there the comparison ends. Where Waugh is witty and scalpel sharp, I found Starritt plodding, unfunny and very, very predictable. This isn't a new area for satire (especially following the News International phone-hacking scandal) and The Beast felt tired and unoriginal, with stock characters, rather a clunky feel and a story which is sordid and depressing without the necessary leaven of wit and clear-sighted originality which is essential in good satire. We get plenty of intricate detail of office politics which dilutes the central story further. Starritt even makes it obvious from the geography of The Beast's offices that it's really the Daily Mail; now the Mail may well deserve this sort of bashing, but here it just removes more of the subtlety required in such a book – and there wasn't much to start with.
I got thoroughly fed up with The Beast. I found it an increasing struggle to read, increasingly unpleasant and wholly unrelieved by the humour and satire I had hoped for. I'm sorry to be so critical, but that's the truth and I really can't recommend it.
(I received an ARC via NetGalley.)
The present-day story is set in the fictional newspaper from Evelyn Waugh's Scoop, but there the comparison ends. Where Waugh is witty and scalpel sharp, I found Starritt plodding, unfunny and very, very predictable. This isn't a new area for satire (especially following the News International phone-hacking scandal) and The Beast felt tired and unoriginal, with stock characters, rather a clunky feel and a story which is sordid and depressing without the necessary leaven of wit and clear-sighted originality which is essential in good satire. We get plenty of intricate detail of office politics which dilutes the central story further. Starritt even makes it obvious from the geography of The Beast's offices that it's really the Daily Mail; now the Mail may well deserve this sort of bashing, but here it just removes more of the subtlety required in such a book – and there wasn't much to start with.
I got thoroughly fed up with The Beast. I found it an increasing struggle to read, increasingly unpleasant and wholly unrelieved by the humour and satire I had hoped for. I'm sorry to be so critical, but that's the truth and I really can't recommend it.
(I received an ARC via NetGalley.)
December 10, 2018
A satire on right-wing tabloid newspapers and their obsession with Muslim terrorism. The Daily Beast is obviously the Daily Mail although Starritt is so keen to show off his skill at creating clever punning headlines that he injects it with dashes of The Sun (The Fun in this novel). Unfortunately, the satire here is far too broad and obvious. For me, the best satire always stays just one remove from reality so that it becomes scarily believable. It also helps to have at least one character who is sceptical and/or conflicted. Here, all the characters are stereotypes with little or no life outside the newspaper offices.
There are some good bits but they’re smothered by Starritt showing off his, I assume, detailed and accurate knowledge of how digital newspapers go to press - interesting, perhaps, for fellow journalists but less so for the general reader.
There are some good bits but they’re smothered by Starritt showing off his, I assume, detailed and accurate knowledge of how digital newspapers go to press - interesting, perhaps, for fellow journalists but less so for the general reader.
September 30, 2017
Spinning out of control.
On his way into work, wishy-washy sub-editor Jeremy Underwood spots two suspicious burqa-clad figures peering up at The Beast’s offices. Could they possibly be the two male terror suspects known to be on the run dressed as women? Surely they couldn’t be planning to attack the HQ of Britain’s best-selling mid-market tabloid – could they? Jeremy’s career is on the slide but his observation propels him centre-stage and the situation rapidly spins – or, to be more precise, is spun - out of control.
The Beast roars into action excoriating what is obviously The Daily Mail, its editor, its staff and its readers. Billed as satire, this book lacked the wit to touch my funny-bone but I did find it tremendously entertaining. The bull-pit nature of the newsroom and the speed with which the sub-editors have to work to meet the night’s deadline is riveting – Starritt is brilliant at showing us how they re-write under such pressure - building up page after page of the paper from the back going forwards until they reach the front page and the big news story ‘splash’. Then the traditional sign-off: “We’re off stone”.
Just one line made me laugh. If you don’t want to know what it is, look away now. Talking of the daily meeting in which The Beast’s ogre-like editor meets up with his heads of department: “the news conference was nicknamed the Vagina Monologue, because only the Editor spoke and he called everyone a c***.”
On his way into work, wishy-washy sub-editor Jeremy Underwood spots two suspicious burqa-clad figures peering up at The Beast’s offices. Could they possibly be the two male terror suspects known to be on the run dressed as women? Surely they couldn’t be planning to attack the HQ of Britain’s best-selling mid-market tabloid – could they? Jeremy’s career is on the slide but his observation propels him centre-stage and the situation rapidly spins – or, to be more precise, is spun - out of control.
The Beast roars into action excoriating what is obviously The Daily Mail, its editor, its staff and its readers. Billed as satire, this book lacked the wit to touch my funny-bone but I did find it tremendously entertaining. The bull-pit nature of the newsroom and the speed with which the sub-editors have to work to meet the night’s deadline is riveting – Starritt is brilliant at showing us how they re-write under such pressure - building up page after page of the paper from the back going forwards until they reach the front page and the big news story ‘splash’. Then the traditional sign-off: “We’re off stone”.
Just one line made me laugh. If you don’t want to know what it is, look away now. Talking of the daily meeting in which The Beast’s ogre-like editor meets up with his heads of department: “the news conference was nicknamed the Vagina Monologue, because only the Editor spoke and he called everyone a c***.”
August 26, 2017
I won this ARC in a Goodreads giveaway in exchange for an honest review.
___
"The Beast" by Alexander Starritt takes the newspaper maxim "If it bleeds, it leads" and absolutely blows it up in a fast paced and funny satire of the newspaper industry.
The story follows Jeremy Underwood, a sub editor for "The Daily Beast," who sees two burqa-wearing people outside the newspaper's office and unwittingly sets off a chain reaction in the newsroom. It quickly gets turned into a story about a bomb plot on The Beast offices and sparks accusations of terrorism that gets out of control.
While the plot itself is a huge exaggeration and it is very much a satire, it makes important points about today's media, its exploitation of our fears and the tremendous power it holds upon a nation. It also paints a ruthless picture of journalists who have been desensitised by their jobs - in a scene where a bus has crashed and seventeen people are killed, all of the employees at The Beast only care about getting the story and spinning it in a way that will sell papers, completely overlooking the fact that people have died.
Starritt also paints a great picture of a newsroom and the stress of putting out a newspaper under the pressure of a deadline. However, I only understood most of the jargon the characters use because I have a journalistic background - readers who do not have that may find it difficult to understand all of the terms.
Overall, this is a great read that is equal parts appalling and funny.
___
"The Beast" by Alexander Starritt takes the newspaper maxim "If it bleeds, it leads" and absolutely blows it up in a fast paced and funny satire of the newspaper industry.
The story follows Jeremy Underwood, a sub editor for "The Daily Beast," who sees two burqa-wearing people outside the newspaper's office and unwittingly sets off a chain reaction in the newsroom. It quickly gets turned into a story about a bomb plot on The Beast offices and sparks accusations of terrorism that gets out of control.
While the plot itself is a huge exaggeration and it is very much a satire, it makes important points about today's media, its exploitation of our fears and the tremendous power it holds upon a nation. It also paints a ruthless picture of journalists who have been desensitised by their jobs - in a scene where a bus has crashed and seventeen people are killed, all of the employees at The Beast only care about getting the story and spinning it in a way that will sell papers, completely overlooking the fact that people have died.
Starritt also paints a great picture of a newsroom and the stress of putting out a newspaper under the pressure of a deadline. However, I only understood most of the jargon the characters use because I have a journalistic background - readers who do not have that may find it difficult to understand all of the terms.
Overall, this is a great read that is equal parts appalling and funny.
August 11, 2017
This book is set in the offices of a tabloid newspaper, the Daily Beast, and tells a plausible but exaggerated tale which begins with two burqa clad young women looking for a branch of Wholefoods and ends with a horrifying denouement. The plot is creaky, the characters are stereotypes, the satire is a bit too heavy handed for my taste and I didn't find any of it funny but the book is redeemed by the excellent picture it provides of a newsroom. (Ian Jack in the Guardian vouches for its authenticity: https://www.theguardian.com/commentis...)
The work of the sub-editors is minutely detailed and proved to be an effective way of of building tension. The emotional detachment of the newsroom staff (at one point, physical isolation as well) from the substance of the real-world stories that they are dealing with, and the consequential effect on ethical behaviour, is well conveyed. Some of the characters do have qualms about this which gives a bit of balance but this is not explored in any depth so I think the book fails both as really biting satire and as a more nuanced study of the role of the press. But it's a pacy read, nevertheless.
(I received an ARC from Netgalley.)
The work of the sub-editors is minutely detailed and proved to be an effective way of of building tension. The emotional detachment of the newsroom staff (at one point, physical isolation as well) from the substance of the real-world stories that they are dealing with, and the consequential effect on ethical behaviour, is well conveyed. Some of the characters do have qualms about this which gives a bit of balance but this is not explored in any depth so I think the book fails both as really biting satire and as a more nuanced study of the role of the press. But it's a pacy read, nevertheless.
(I received an ARC from Netgalley.)
December 28, 2023
:: The next moment a vituperative argument broke out between eveyone at once, Each fought to make his or her point about what they'd just seen and, to varying degrees, participated in. ::
We join struggling journalist Jeremy Underwood as he comes back to his job working at The Beast newspaper after being away on holiday for a week. But the usually mundane task of bringing the people the upto date news takes a very surprising turn.. Proving that words can really hurt.
This was fascinating for me to read because it was so unlike anything else I have read before. I don't know what it's like to be a journalist and work on a paper but from this story I gathered the really gritty details of what it was perceived to be.
The Author is an amazing writer and even though you didn't want to really know, it made you think, feel and act on behalf of the characters. I learned the excitement of the thrill and the shocking ways in which people think it's okay to act in the name of the news.
We join struggling journalist Jeremy Underwood as he comes back to his job working at The Beast newspaper after being away on holiday for a week. But the usually mundane task of bringing the people the upto date news takes a very surprising turn.. Proving that words can really hurt.
This was fascinating for me to read because it was so unlike anything else I have read before. I don't know what it's like to be a journalist and work on a paper but from this story I gathered the really gritty details of what it was perceived to be.
The Author is an amazing writer and even though you didn't want to really know, it made you think, feel and act on behalf of the characters. I learned the excitement of the thrill and the shocking ways in which people think it's okay to act in the name of the news.
January 23, 2019
This is a satire set in the offices of a caricature of a self-important British tabloid newspaper, The Daily Mail in all but name. I struggled with it, I'm afraid. It is full of stock characters and cliché, and doesn't really have anything new to say. The plot is largely predictable and plays out very slowly, the prose is pretty clunky throughout, and - worst of all - it just isn't very funny.
I thought this book was more insightful than many in understanding the degree to which fear underlies and drives a lot of irrational hate, but that insight wasn't enough to sustain the book, and I very nearly gave up on it several times over. It was only my completionist tendency which kept me coming back despite having "given up", and it really wasn't worth it in the end.
I thought this book was more insightful than many in understanding the degree to which fear underlies and drives a lot of irrational hate, but that insight wasn't enough to sustain the book, and I very nearly gave up on it several times over. It was only my completionist tendency which kept me coming back despite having "given up", and it really wasn't worth it in the end.
December 24, 2020
An absolutely fascinating and riveting read. A lot of different things going on, nicely weaved together, in this story about a faux (or is it?) Islamist terrorist attack against a fictional version of the UK Daily Mail. The characters are richly-written - at times funny, occasionally sympathetic, but always captivating. It's true that some (the Editor in particular), border on caricature, but caricature for a purpose.
But the real story here is the way a newspaper goes about putting together the stories that you and I read. The plot is interesting and various contemporary issues are raised, but it's the newsroom that's the star here. The vivid descriptions of sub-editors on deadline, the camaraderie and the fraughtness, all working together as one like a machine to deliver the news.
But the real story here is the way a newspaper goes about putting together the stories that you and I read. The plot is interesting and various contemporary issues are raised, but it's the newsroom that's the star here. The vivid descriptions of sub-editors on deadline, the camaraderie and the fraughtness, all working together as one like a machine to deliver the news.
July 12, 2023
Supposedly a funny, satirical novel about the workings of a tabloid newspaper, probably the Daily Mail. I was horrified by the blatant racism, sexism and completely bad taste 'humour' employed by the journalists, mostly the men, and hoped it was being exaggerated to make a point. But apparently it's quite an accurate portrayal of how journalists work. The action takes place over 3 days as the journalists wind a non-situation up into a huge series of national events with catastrophic consequences. A lot of the book is dialogue and banter between journalists which became, frankly, tiresome very quickly and I felt could have done with some drastic editing. But what do I know? I'm just a reader.
November 17, 2017
This was a quite funny satirical look at newspaper journalism at its worst. It starts when Jeremy, a journalist at the Beast newspapers comments that he saw 2 people wearing burqas standing outside the office entrance looking up at the building. He tells his work comrades that it's quite possible these 2 people could be terrorists and suddenly the whole office goes into overdrive with journalists egging each other on that the Beast HQ could be the next target of a terrorist attack. Like a chinese whisper, the story changes and soon spirals out of control spreading Islamophobia and leaving a trail of death and destruction behind it - all done just to sell a newspaper.
March 21, 2019
I didn't get on with this at all and struggled to finish it. The first third was OK but Waugh's "Scoop" it isn't and the satire soon begins to fall flat. The problem is in order to write satire about today's popular press the writer has to turn the dial up to 11 in order to achieve any effect. Everyone in the story is so deeply and unrepentantly awful or dull, cliched and forgettable that the reader begins to lose sight of the targets and can't wait for the agony to be over. I very nearly threw in the towel on several occasions.
June 24, 2024
Described as a satire, this book definitely lives up to thagt description with its tale of life in a daily newspaper and the antics of some of the key players. Funny at times, but at others it really stretches credibility.
February 18, 2019
Enjoyable satire on journalism at a UK tabloid called the Brute (undoubtedly the Daily Mail). Good fun, especially for newsroom journos.
January 2, 2018
Disturbingly plausible!
August 3, 2018
Very witty and to-the-point on the news, with a warm undertone for the traditional newspaper.
March 22, 2019
A hilarious take on tabloid journalism and subediting in particular, a worthy successor to Waugh’s mic-drop sarcasm and wit. Highly recommended to felloe journerds 😆😀
April 8, 2019
A book that makes you wonder how much of the news we read is real or if not exactly made up exaggerated.
April 5, 2024
Readable and pacy, realistic details. Won't be rereading.
June 21, 2018
This book is utterly brilliant, a magnificent satire on the newspaper industry that stands alongside Evelyn Waugh's "Scoop". Arguably it's even better, since it encapsulates beautifully the changes in the industry, the old hacks who remember when you were hired in the pub alongside "the rows of exhausted twenty-five-year-olds" kept in a battery of ten desks to produce the online version of the Daily Beast (surely not the Daily Mail). I won't spoil it by outlining the plot, but while the black humour gets darker and darker, the humour never stops.
There are excellent headlines ("Shocking pictures: Law students forced to fund degrees by stripping online"; "Yew were always on my mind: the tree that looks like ELVIS!"; "Rejected migrants given luxury mosque, and YOU'RE paying for it."), a glimpse into the folder of Banned Words ("Choke back tears - A bizarre mix-up of eyes with throat"; "No mention, however jocular, must ever be made of 'Wogs begin at Calais'. Jocks (the Scots) is probably all right in light-hearted copy.");a foul-mouthed editor (surely not Paul Dacre); and a splendid list of newspaper titles - the Beast's failing rival is, of course, the Daily Brute, but there's also the Respectable; the Stentorian; the Trumpet; the Impartial; the Conscientious; and the Fun.
What Starritt does superbly well is to avoid any clunky exposition - it's told from insiders' point of view, but so skilfully that you can follow everything that's going on.
If you know anything about the newspaper industry, you'll love this. If you know nothing about the newspaper industry, you'll love this.
There are excellent headlines ("Shocking pictures: Law students forced to fund degrees by stripping online"; "Yew were always on my mind: the tree that looks like ELVIS!"; "Rejected migrants given luxury mosque, and YOU'RE paying for it."), a glimpse into the folder of Banned Words ("Choke back tears - A bizarre mix-up of eyes with throat"; "No mention, however jocular, must ever be made of 'Wogs begin at Calais'. Jocks (the Scots) is probably all right in light-hearted copy.");a foul-mouthed editor (surely not Paul Dacre); and a splendid list of newspaper titles - the Beast's failing rival is, of course, the Daily Brute, but there's also the Respectable; the Stentorian; the Trumpet; the Impartial; the Conscientious; and the Fun.
What Starritt does superbly well is to avoid any clunky exposition - it's told from insiders' point of view, but so skilfully that you can follow everything that's going on.
If you know anything about the newspaper industry, you'll love this. If you know nothing about the newspaper industry, you'll love this.
May 2, 2018
Very silly. Tragically silly. But worth the quick read. A bit like the Wilt series.
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