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| Author: Ben Elton
Publisher: Black Swan
Category: Book
List Price: £6.99
Buy New: £4.29
You Save: £2.70 (39%)
New (23) Used (27) from £0.01
Avg. Customer Rating:  63 reviews
Sales Rank: 1518
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 368
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.5
Dimensions (in): 7.6 x 5 x 1.2
ISBN: 0552773905
Dewey Decimal Number: 823.914
EAN: 9780552773904
ASIN: 0552773905
Publication Date: May 16, 2008
Shipping: Eligible for Super Saver Shipping
Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours
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| Customer Reviews:
 Masterful analysis of chav culture November 7, 2008
There is no doubt about it, Ben Elton has a gift of being able to describe what we all already know, but have failed to notice.
This book is a masterpiece and a wake up call, alerting us to what society is rapidly sinking into.
 Very readable but a bit too in your face October 20, 2008
I would advise all the reviewers who thought this was a rewrite of 1984 to read Farenheiit 451 - it's a much closer parallel.
This book followed Ben Elton's usual model of taking an idea, and seeing it through to a slightly more extreme conclusion than usual. This time however he took it all the way, and then some more.
It highlights a lot of the current obsessions with celebrity, reality TV, short concentration spans, validity of fellings over fact, desire for fame/success over hard work and generally takes the mickey out of anyone who likes that kind of thing.
It's all done a bit too much, although that could in itself be a parody - he is writing in a way he implicitly criticises in the book.
It is an easy read though, and entertaining and even a bit thought provoking (but less so than his other writing).
Worth a read.
 Not good. October 3, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
Ben Elton is not the writer George Orwell is. Unfortunately, he is not even a good writer. He's just a popular one. Ironically, his populist works will be read by all the people he hates in this novel.
This book is simplistic - there are no literary merits, and no hidden meanings. It won't get read for a second time by anyone hoping to find a new theme. They aren't there. As others have said, there is nothing subtle or discreet here.
For instance, Elton could make all kinds of comments on the nature of people who go around half naked all day long, but (apparently) the author is only disgusted by the fat ones. NOT the character, but the author. In fact, if he wants to make any individual utterly without redeeming features, he makes them fat. A bit like the way a schoolboy might point and giggle.
This kind of mealy-mouthed nastiness is exactly what Elton is having a (loud) pop at. Such a shame he doesn't recognise his own failings.
We all have our little sacred cows and our whipping boys. It's a shame that Mr Elton's are so obvious.
 An absolutely terrible book September 23, 2008
0 out of 2 found this review helpful
This is the worst book I've ever read. Stupid, ridiculous, anything but thoughtful. Save your money!
Very different September 19, 2008
5 out of 6 found this review helpful
Having just read a very turgid novel, it was a relief to read Blind Faith as a flowing original view on a futuristic society. It is a great comment on modern paranoia transgressing into a fake plastic society based on the Internet generation hooked on reality TV and dismissive of inoculation as evil. Some great Ben Elton humour throughout and another original offering - Ben's only ever written 1 book that I have not enjoyed to date (Dead Famous)
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