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This Other Eden
SMALL, WELL APPOINTED FUTURE. SEMI DETACHED.
If the end of the world is nigh, then surely it's only sensible to make alternative arrangements. Certainly the Earth has its points, but what most people need is something smaller and more manageable. Of course there are those who say that's planetary treason, but who cares what the weirdos and terrorists think? Not Nathan. All he cares is that his movie gets made and that there's somebody left to see it.
In marketing terms the end of the world will be very big. Anyone trying to save it should remember that.
If the end of the world is nigh, then surely it's only sensible to make alternative arrangements. Certainly the Earth has its points, but what most people need is something smaller and more manageable. Of course there are those who say that's planetary treason, but who cares what the weirdos and terrorists think? Not Nathan. All he cares is that his movie gets made and that there's somebody left to see it.
In marketing terms the end of the world will be very big. Anyone trying to save it should remember that.
400 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1993
93 people are currently reading
1072 people want to read
About the author
Ben Elton
58 books1,468 followersBen Elton was born on 3 May 1959, in Catford, South London. The youngest of four, he went to Godalming Grammar School, joined amateur dramatic societies and wrote his first play at 15. He wanted to be a stagehand at the local theatre, but instead did A-Level Theatre Studies and studied drama at Manchester University in 1977.
His career as both performer and writer encompasses some of the most memorable and incisive comedy of the past twenty years. His groundbreaking work as a TV stand-up comedian set the (high) standard of what was to follow. He has received accolades for his hit TV sitcoms, The Young Ones, Blackadder and The Thin Blue Line.
More recently he has had successes with three hit West End musicals, including the global phenomenon We Will Rock You. He has written three plays for the London stage, including the multi-award-winning Popcorn. Ben's international bestselling novels include Stark, Inconceivable, Dead Famous and High Society. He won the Crime Writers' Association Gold Dagger Award for the novel Popcorn.
Elton lives in Perth with his Aussie wife Sophie and three children.
His career as both performer and writer encompasses some of the most memorable and incisive comedy of the past twenty years. His groundbreaking work as a TV stand-up comedian set the (high) standard of what was to follow. He has received accolades for his hit TV sitcoms, The Young Ones, Blackadder and The Thin Blue Line.
More recently he has had successes with three hit West End musicals, including the global phenomenon We Will Rock You. He has written three plays for the London stage, including the multi-award-winning Popcorn. Ben's international bestselling novels include Stark, Inconceivable, Dead Famous and High Society. He won the Crime Writers' Association Gold Dagger Award for the novel Popcorn.
Elton lives in Perth with his Aussie wife Sophie and three children.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 135 reviews
September 2, 2022
My first Ben Elton and this won't be my last. This book is as relevant today as it was when it was published. This will stay with me.
Easy five stars.
Easy five stars.
January 15, 2022
And the award for most cynical book I’ve ever read goes to… This Other Eden is a stand-alone science fiction satire first published in 1993. The paperback has been sitting on my “unread” bookcase since 2013, until, keen to read something funny, and remembering how much I had enjoyed Mr Elton’s previous efforts, I picked it up and dove in. It soon apparent that this is just as much of a dark twisted thriller as the books I’ve been trying to take a break from, but I was fascinated to see how well it had held up over nearly three decades. The depressing fact is it’s actually quite believable.
In the middle of the 21st Century, the planet is dying, and the most sought after solution is a Claustrosphere - a totally self-contained personal eco-system that a family can retreat to in order to wait out the apocalypse. The most powerful man on the planet, Plastic Tolstoy, controls the media narrative and will do anything to sell more models. Nathan Hoddle doesn’t care about any of this, he just wants to make a movie, and with famous movie star Max Maximus on board, his project is looking good - if only the pesky eco-terrorists would stop blowing things up. And FBI agent Judy Schwartz wants to stop the bad guys - if only he can work out who they are…
This was a wicked look at the End of the World which grows ever closer as we consume our way to oblivion. It’s depressing in terms of how little has changed and how accurate some of Elton’s predictions are, with a few exceptions - video tapes and answer-phones are still in use?! 😹. On other aspects though, he’s scarily accurate. I liked his non-conventional characters - the heroes are a spoiled young actor and a terrorist - and the way he skewers every stereotype going, from Hollywood agents to European politicians. There’s an entertaining plot in amongst the ranty social commentary (we went to see Elton live last year - reassuringly he hasn’t changed a bit!) and I loved the ending.
In the middle of the 21st Century, the planet is dying, and the most sought after solution is a Claustrosphere - a totally self-contained personal eco-system that a family can retreat to in order to wait out the apocalypse. The most powerful man on the planet, Plastic Tolstoy, controls the media narrative and will do anything to sell more models. Nathan Hoddle doesn’t care about any of this, he just wants to make a movie, and with famous movie star Max Maximus on board, his project is looking good - if only the pesky eco-terrorists would stop blowing things up. And FBI agent Judy Schwartz wants to stop the bad guys - if only he can work out who they are…
This was a wicked look at the End of the World which grows ever closer as we consume our way to oblivion. It’s depressing in terms of how little has changed and how accurate some of Elton’s predictions are, with a few exceptions - video tapes and answer-phones are still in use?! 😹. On other aspects though, he’s scarily accurate. I liked his non-conventional characters - the heroes are a spoiled young actor and a terrorist - and the way he skewers every stereotype going, from Hollywood agents to European politicians. There’s an entertaining plot in amongst the ranty social commentary (we went to see Elton live last year - reassuringly he hasn’t changed a bit!) and I loved the ending.
October 1, 2009
This Other Eden is a very funny book. It takes things to the extreme about what could happen if rich businessmen wanted to make money out of the end of the world. Based some years in the future, Ben Elton creates the scene of a world in environmental chaos, where the human race has destroyed the earth, and the end is nigh. Plastic Tolstoy, a rich businessman has the answer: buy a Claustrophere. A dome-shaped, self-contained new home, which can provide air and water, and recycle human waste, and where you can grow your own food; and which even has a day and night-cycle. The advertising campaigns begin, and people are urged to buy these safe-houses, which could be used when the end finally comes. Everyone who is anyone, owns a Claustrophere. It is big business, but a business that had its ups and downs and needs continued advertising to stay afloat. Mother Earth, a terrorist group, and Natura, an environmental campaign group, are against Claustropheres, claiming that by buying these domes people have given up on trying to save the environment, and are just accepting that there is nothing that can be done to stop the rot. Plastic Tolstoy has a plan to ensure the success of his product... an evil plan
We meet many hilarious characters along the way, including: Max, a famous Hollywood actor who doesn’t even recognise his own wife because she has had so much plastic surgery; Nathan, a struggling writer who is depressed because he is still in love with his wife who has left him, and mentions her whenever he has an opportunity; Rosalie, an unlikely Mother Earth terrorist; Jurgen Thor, the most famous environmental campaigner, who has a dark secret; and Judy Schwartz, an FBI agent who is a man with a woman’s name.
A great book with well-developed characters and an interesting story line that makes you think, and laugh, at the same time.
We meet many hilarious characters along the way, including: Max, a famous Hollywood actor who doesn’t even recognise his own wife because she has had so much plastic surgery; Nathan, a struggling writer who is depressed because he is still in love with his wife who has left him, and mentions her whenever he has an opportunity; Rosalie, an unlikely Mother Earth terrorist; Jurgen Thor, the most famous environmental campaigner, who has a dark secret; and Judy Schwartz, an FBI agent who is a man with a woman’s name.
A great book with well-developed characters and an interesting story line that makes you think, and laugh, at the same time.
March 5, 2020
The dying Earth is on the brink of environmental disaster; the richest man and his company are making lots of money and gaining lots of power from it; the world's greenest man leads the political fightback but who can save the world? Enter an Irish female green terrorist in her 20s and weedy FBI man called Judy!
As ever Ben creates a thought provoking alternate reality, satirises the modern world (greed, capitalism, marketing, the green activists etc.), has mostly banal characters that are virtually the same in every book and some lane stereotyping of nationalities, views, professions throughout, yet as ever produces a book that I enjoyed and cared how it ended. 6 out of 12.
As ever Ben creates a thought provoking alternate reality, satirises the modern world (greed, capitalism, marketing, the green activists etc.), has mostly banal characters that are virtually the same in every book and some lane stereotyping of nationalities, views, professions throughout, yet as ever produces a book that I enjoyed and cared how it ended. 6 out of 12.
August 6, 2011
A relatively inoffensive offering from Mr Elton. His environmental themes from the early 90s make me sad today that nothing much has changed and this book is just as relevant today as it was back then (minus the whole VR obsession HA), and surprisingly his view on the modern world of the future was eerily accurate.
November 14, 2021
Musta Kyy -televisiosarjaakin käsikirjoittaneen Ben Eltonin romaani Eedenistä vikaan, 2005 (This Other Eden, 1993) on sekä hulvattoman hauska satiiri että pelottavan todentuntuinen profetia lähitulevaisuuden yhä pahenevasta ympäristökriisistä. Eltonin dystopia muistuttaa hieman Orwellin kuvaamaa yhteiskuntaa klassikossa Vuonna 1984 (Nineteen-Eighty-Four , 1949) sillä erotuksella, että Orwellin dystopian kauhukuva oli aikakaudelle ilmeinen totalitarismi, kun Eltonilla se puolestaan liittyy ympäristön tuhotumiseen ja maapallon muuttumiseen elinkelvottomaksi. Siinä missä Orwellin kerronnan tehokeinoina oli painostava, tummanpuhuva realismi, Eltonin aseena on ylilyövä satiiri ja sarkasmi. Ja siltikään tuo Eltonin dystopia ei ole niin kaukana todellisuudesta ja maapallon nykytilasta kuin voisi toivoa.
Eltonin kerronta ja kirjallinen tyyli muistuttaa paikoitellen Douglas Adamsia, mutta kuitenkin sillä erotuksella, että huumorin ja satiirin taustalla ja kimmokkeena ovat ihan aidot havainnot maailmasta ja ympäristön tilasta. Pilkkakirves osuu myös amerikkalaisen ja brittiläisen kulttuurin eroihin, markkinointimaailman naurettavuuksiin, amerikkalaiseen oikeusjärjestelmään, metodinäyttelemiseen ja Eltonin lempiaiheeseen julkkismyyttiin.
Kirjan juonikin on ihan passeli, mutta alkaa loppua kohden mennä liikaa epäuskottavien juonenkäänteiden siivittämäksi toimintarymistelyksi. Liioitellut yksityiskohdat eivät puolestaan haittaa lainkaan; ne nimenomaan istuvat tähän kirjalliseen tyyliin kuin valettu. Tämä on neljäs lukemani Eltonin romaani, ja varsin harmillista, että niitä ei ole enempää ainakaan toistaiseksi suomennettu. Näiden parissa viihtyy mainiosti.
Arvioni 3,8 tähteä viidestä.
Eltonin kerronta ja kirjallinen tyyli muistuttaa paikoitellen Douglas Adamsia, mutta kuitenkin sillä erotuksella, että huumorin ja satiirin taustalla ja kimmokkeena ovat ihan aidot havainnot maailmasta ja ympäristön tilasta. Pilkkakirves osuu myös amerikkalaisen ja brittiläisen kulttuurin eroihin, markkinointimaailman naurettavuuksiin, amerikkalaiseen oikeusjärjestelmään, metodinäyttelemiseen ja Eltonin lempiaiheeseen julkkismyyttiin.
Kirjan juonikin on ihan passeli, mutta alkaa loppua kohden mennä liikaa epäuskottavien juonenkäänteiden siivittämäksi toimintarymistelyksi. Liioitellut yksityiskohdat eivät puolestaan haittaa lainkaan; ne nimenomaan istuvat tähän kirjalliseen tyyliin kuin valettu. Tämä on neljäs lukemani Eltonin romaani, ja varsin harmillista, että niitä ei ole enempää ainakaan toistaiseksi suomennettu. Näiden parissa viihtyy mainiosti.
Arvioni 3,8 tähteä viidestä.
November 3, 2020
It is sometime in the future and the world is in bad shape with regard to the environment. Plastic Tolstoy is all about marketing. He has created and sells the Claustrosphere. Only the rich can afford them, but that’s where people (those who could afford them) intend to go once the air is no longer breathable and water is no longer drinkable. Well, that’s already happening, but the effects are being staved off as much as possible. There is still an environmental movement, though, that believes that the Earth can be repaired.
There’s a lot more going on than what I’ve described and there are a lot of characters. The book is meant to be humourous, but mostly I found it odd. There were some funny parts. I did like how it ended. But, Ben Elton has better books.
There’s a lot more going on than what I’ve described and there are a lot of characters. The book is meant to be humourous, but mostly I found it odd. There were some funny parts. I did like how it ended. But, Ben Elton has better books.
February 2, 2022
I really wanted to enjoy this book as I've previously loved Ben Elton's work. I got this as a daily deal on kindle and thought I'd give it a go but I found in a really long slog and didn't enjoy it at all. There are no likeable characters that you want to get behind, the story is told from too many perspectives and jumps about with no real direction until about half way through. The book uses a lot of out of date thinking and is perhaps a relic of its time. Maybe I'd feel the same now about other Ben Elton books as it's been a while since I've read any. A shame because I have fond memories of his old work and the storyline had potential.
May 5, 2011
Absolutely my favorite Ben Elton. If you are a fan of his give this a try, it is everything that Elton does best, humor, politics, and people and their craziest and most human. Like many of his books, This Other Eden has the insiders peek at the ridiculous thing we call show biz, and an observant and funny take on people and relationships.
If you are not a fan of Elton, you might not enjoy this book. If you are however I would say to pick it up immediately. In the U.S. it's very hard to find his book so you will probably have to buy it online, however it's worth the trouble.
If you are not a fan of Elton, you might not enjoy this book. If you are however I would say to pick it up immediately. In the U.S. it's very hard to find his book so you will probably have to buy it online, however it's worth the trouble.
August 14, 2007
Wow! I'm not sure whether to recommend this book or not. At times it was hilarious. At times is was terribly scary and sad. Ben Elton is dead-on in so many ways. His understanding of human nature and people's choices is amazing. Throughout the whole book I wasn't sure whether to laugh or cry.
December 23, 2011
One of the funniest books I have ever read. Can also recommend Stark
December 11, 2021
Surprising
April 26, 2013
What would happen if a rich media mogul and business man decided to try and market the end of the world? Well this is Ben Elton's take on it.
The book opens with a supertanker running aground spilling its contents on the sea and coastline killing everything in its path but it soon becomes clear that this is no accident or a simple environmental tale. Elton, in his own inimitable style, is having a pop at mass marketing and the popular media. There are inflatable boobs, spray on condoms, free liposuction for anybody who eats 20 doughnuts and of course Claustrospheres, self contained survival domes where families can safely live when the end of the world comes. There is big business,ineffectual Politicians and Green groups, nothing and nobody is spared. Hitler has even been cloned and brought back to life so he can stand trial for crimes against humanity, he gets community service. In many ways it is anti-US but then Britain and the EU also come out of it pretty poorly as well.
The book is full of great characters, a media mogul called Plastic, a wannabe English scriptwriter called Nathan who is trying to make it big in Hollywood but is always depressed about the loss of his wife to another man continually reminding himself of the fact, an FBI agent called Judy who happens to be a male, Max Maximus a Hollywood A-lister who as well as being very vain and is pretty stupid failing to even recognise his own wife because she has had so much cosmetic surgery, and an unlikely environmental terrorist called Rosalie. It is when Max falls in love with Rosalie that things really begin to happen and spiral out of control.
This is not the first of Elton's books that I have read but definately my favourite. His writing style is easy to pick but hard to put down and had me in tears of laughter on more than one occasion. This is one of the funniest books that I have read for a good while.
The book opens with a supertanker running aground spilling its contents on the sea and coastline killing everything in its path but it soon becomes clear that this is no accident or a simple environmental tale. Elton, in his own inimitable style, is having a pop at mass marketing and the popular media. There are inflatable boobs, spray on condoms, free liposuction for anybody who eats 20 doughnuts and of course Claustrospheres, self contained survival domes where families can safely live when the end of the world comes. There is big business,ineffectual Politicians and Green groups, nothing and nobody is spared. Hitler has even been cloned and brought back to life so he can stand trial for crimes against humanity, he gets community service. In many ways it is anti-US but then Britain and the EU also come out of it pretty poorly as well.
The book is full of great characters, a media mogul called Plastic, a wannabe English scriptwriter called Nathan who is trying to make it big in Hollywood but is always depressed about the loss of his wife to another man continually reminding himself of the fact, an FBI agent called Judy who happens to be a male, Max Maximus a Hollywood A-lister who as well as being very vain and is pretty stupid failing to even recognise his own wife because she has had so much cosmetic surgery, and an unlikely environmental terrorist called Rosalie. It is when Max falls in love with Rosalie that things really begin to happen and spiral out of control.
This is not the first of Elton's books that I have read but definately my favourite. His writing style is easy to pick but hard to put down and had me in tears of laughter on more than one occasion. This is one of the funniest books that I have read for a good while.
June 19, 2023
This is my first dnf in years. I've never been so bored.
September 26, 2022
A succesful ménage à trois of sarcasm, irony and slapstick in a form of "funny" dystopia. This might sound a bit odd, thus you must read the novel yourself to get it.
This is also criticism towards the unholy matrimony of marketing, advertising and consumption which have broke loose from everyone's control.
The Consumption is the god and the ultimate goal of the consumption is to consume the planet Earth to a state where everything finally collapses and the (rich enough) people can live in limited artificial Edens locking out the rest of the world and population.
The grim irony in this story is obviously the fact that we are speeding towards that kind of a world and try not to do very much to stop the sinister, disastrous development.
We just sit and watch TV. And consume more; buy things we don't need with the money we don't have.
You can read this book as a funny and violent adventure but I do hope you'll see also the inconvenient truth behind that hilarity. Like many humorists Ben Elton is also a very serious writer.
Taking into account that he wrote this already in early 1990s we can say that he had a clear vision on things to come. We're close.
Read & think.
Eedenistä vikaan
WSOY 2005
This is also criticism towards the unholy matrimony of marketing, advertising and consumption which have broke loose from everyone's control.
The Consumption is the god and the ultimate goal of the consumption is to consume the planet Earth to a state where everything finally collapses and the (rich enough) people can live in limited artificial Edens locking out the rest of the world and population.
The grim irony in this story is obviously the fact that we are speeding towards that kind of a world and try not to do very much to stop the sinister, disastrous development.
We just sit and watch TV. And consume more; buy things we don't need with the money we don't have.
You can read this book as a funny and violent adventure but I do hope you'll see also the inconvenient truth behind that hilarity. Like many humorists Ben Elton is also a very serious writer.
Taking into account that he wrote this already in early 1990s we can say that he had a clear vision on things to come. We're close.
Read & think.
Eedenistä vikaan
WSOY 2005
September 25, 2011
Has the same style as Douglas Adams in the Hitchhiker series, same brand of humour if you like it that way. The theme of environmental destruction is a tad too serious to be used for comedic purposes and to be treated lightly, I feel. Elton does bring up very thought provoking ideas in this grand conspiracry theory that both pro and anti environment forces are completely in cahoots, one could say its the ultimate cynic's view of reality. Whether we will eventually invent practical self-contained biospheres for everyone to escape to like in the novel, is another matter altogether, it somehow feels physically and ecologically impossible. And if its just a pipedream, then the alternative - nowhere to escape our dying planet, will be no joke indeed.
October 4, 2017
Great combination of a good twisty plot and interesting thought-provoking writing.
A lot of political comment (as fitting for a Ben Elton book) and very winding plot of world-wide intrigue, eco-terrorism, huge egos and Hollywood. The whole thing takes place in the nearer-than-you-think future where the environment essentially collapses. There is an enourmouse power struggle between the "greenies" who try to save what's left and the salesmen who try to sell as many post-armageddon kits.
Had it been a bit sharper in writing, a bit better-paced and with slightly deeper characters - it would've been a 5-star. This really is a slightly unpolished diamond.
A lot of political comment (as fitting for a Ben Elton book) and very winding plot of world-wide intrigue, eco-terrorism, huge egos and Hollywood. The whole thing takes place in the nearer-than-you-think future where the environment essentially collapses. There is an enourmouse power struggle between the "greenies" who try to save what's left and the salesmen who try to sell as many post-armageddon kits.
Had it been a bit sharper in writing, a bit better-paced and with slightly deeper characters - it would've been a 5-star. This really is a slightly unpolished diamond.
Read
July 25, 2022Premise One: everything is interconnected. Premise Two: everyone is guilty. Premise Three: it remains possible to pull a happy ending out of a universal cesspool. Ben Elton’s third novel is a vaguely futuristic saga (in harmony with his first two) about an Earth that, in the words of Tom Waits, “died screaming.” The dividing lines between capitalist polluters and Eco-friendly activists are, however, even more under erasure than they were in STARK and GRIDLOCK. Hence #2, above. It is a novel of mutually assured destruction that has nothing to do with nuclear weapons, and it makes a plausible case for the notion that the most dangerous species on Earth is homo sapiens.
August 6, 2011
The novel is set in the reasonably near future. Earth is being devastated by Mankind's continued exploitation, and it seems obvious that the environment will collapse sometime in the near future. Rather than adopt a more eco-friendly approach to life, most people have instead invested in a "Claustrosphere", a dome-shaped habitat in which all water, food and air is endlessly recycled in a completely closed environment. A person can therefore survive indefinitely within a claustrosphere no matter what ecological horrors may happen outside.
Cheesy, but still fun.
Cheesy, but still fun.
August 19, 2011
I was hoping to enjoy this book (often very much enjoying Ben Elton novels, and being passionate about Environmental issues), but it was disappointment to me. I often find that some Ben Elton's I REALLY enjoy, and others I do not like at all. Unfortunately, this was the latter. I didn't find the plot particularly entertaining and I found the characters hard to follow and a bit boring. It was also pretty predictable through-out.
July 18, 2016
If you're a fan of tell don't show - and tell at interminable digressive length - then you may enjoy this book. I found it tedious in the extreme. Larger-than-stereotypical characters, and attempts at Douglas Adams-style humour that consistently fell flat. On the positive side, the story was interesting enough to keep me slogging on. Not enough though that I'd ever pick up another book from this author.
February 7, 2017
Really cardboard characters but this book is all about the plot and the plot is entertaining enough. I'd rate it a good airplane read.
October 20, 2021
Absolute shite.
December 16, 2019
Ended up liking this even better than I thought I might. Elton is reliably comic. What elevates this above mere fun is just how prescient so much of it is. Claustrospheres seems so . . . 2020, in a way. So back in the mid-90s Ben Elton penned this sharp satire about ecological collapse twinned with a global entertainment / marketing scandal. In the future, the coming global disaster will prompt the wealthy and even the middle class to invest in survival pods called Claustrospheres. These self-sustaining bubbles are meant to be the greenhouse gas equivalent of nuclear bunkers: you jump in, you set the time lock and you alone or with loved ones wait out the environmental apocalypse. We are let into the story by Brit screenwriter Nathan Hoddy, who is pitching a script to advertising / Hollywood mogul Plastic Tolstoy. It's something of a side interest, but one senses that Elton's pent-up fury at the media machine that is Hollywood leads to quite a bit of agita being exorcised. There is nothing particularly original or biting in much of this satire: it's fish in a barrel stuff for someone of his gifts and doesn't directly relate to the main plot. This level of the satire is okay but not where the best of Elton's gifts lie in this outing. It seems likely that Elton has (or perhaps he's written it and I haven't heard of it) a full-on Hollywood, America-bashing satire in him (doesn't every Brit disgusted with Lala land?). This isn't it. Hoddy ends up meeting Max, the impossibly beautiful, vain Hollywood star who will be a part of his big pic, if Tolstoy greenlights it. Hoddy's eventual pitch to Tolstoy accidentally lights on the Big Idea (not that big an idea—the notion of the elites creating the crises that enables their oppressive strategies has been around for a while) for his plot which is actually Tolstoy's biggest secret. Violence ensues. The other portion of the plot has to do with a beautiful Irish green activist named Rosalie who meets cute with Max when she invades Tolstoy's Claustrosphere in a political action. Max learns Hoddy's big secret which is really Tolstoy's big secret and the plot is off and running. Rosalie works for a movement led by a Norse god of an environmental icon named Jurgen Thor, who is necessarily caught up in all of this nonsense as well. Elton's plotting isn't exactly a surprise; he does bring together the moving parts in a reasonable fashion with some yuks along the way. It's just really interesting how so many of the things he talks about twenty years ago are still the things we are talking about now. All that's missing currently is a reliable company like Tolstoy's to market our enviro-bubbles. I suppose one could argue current American and European immigration policy is something like an effort to create safe zones free from the coming waves of ecological refugees. We can't be that far away from our own little Edens, a la Elton's vision here however.
July 3, 2020
I haven't read much humor books so this one was something else for me. I liked the environmentalist theme of the book but the writing and characters not so much. The book had the same style of satire, as Douglas Adams' Hitchhiker's Guide to Galaxy, that I don't find too funny. Special mention for the least sexy sex scenes ever, even they were not very funny.
A traveler staying in my house left this book to me. It's been at least in a hostel in Salta, Argentina by the stamp on the first page. I think I'll add my stamp and pass it on to next victim.
A traveler staying in my house left this book to me. It's been at least in a hostel in Salta, Argentina by the stamp on the first page. I think I'll add my stamp and pass it on to next victim.
May 28, 2018
Ben Elton harking back to his "greenie" roots. It was published in 1993, at the height of his popularity, and it has the distinct feeling of a protest novel. I certainly don't begrudge Elton his platform, and I've been a fan since before he turned his hand to writing. I just feel the plot has been wrap around the message which makes this novel a little weaker compared to his previous (and subsequent) efforts.
September 26, 2025
10/10: Immediately secured it’s place in my top 5 favourite books. Elton’s writing style is sarcastically dark and hilarious and his satirical exploration of capitalism within the climate crisis is scarily accurate of today’s world- especially considering this was written over 30 years ago. If you love dystopian novels with plot twists and fully developed character arcs then I can’t recommend this enough.
September 28, 2020
I've read other Elton books and liked them but this one was not good. Part of the problem is it's supposed to be satirical and some of the stuff he satirizes, we are so far past at this point. Also, if you're going to write American characters, you need to realize they don't use British slang. Or sentence construction. And the ending is ridiculously pat.
April 8, 2019
An excellent book. A full five stars. Some things about the book may be a little dated- such as the use of faxes and no suggestion of an internet. These things aside- this was brilliant. Interesting characters and an interesting plot. Wonderful.
January 5, 2020
I really like Ben Elton’s books. I find them thought provoking and interesting. This is another of his books set in the future.
I found it hard to get into the story at first and had to be in right frame of mind to read it. The story was quirky with good characters. Worth a read.
I found it hard to get into the story at first and had to be in right frame of mind to read it. The story was quirky with good characters. Worth a read.
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