Product Description

One week in the making of a TV commercial for car tyres -- told by the inimitable Matt Beaumont, author of e It's a simple enough proposition. Blackstock Tyres want to advertise their product on TV. They employ an agency, Scheidt Fuller, with a reputation for innovation and creativity -- and the trouble begins. The director's an auteur, the extras think they're in an art movie and the client keeps changing the script. Worse, the stars of the ad were prime-time sitcom lovers on and off screen, darlings of the media -- until yesterday, and now they can't stand each other. But they're all professionals, right? Who'd have thought an allergy to rubber would be so dramatic?

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #587769 in Books
• Published on: 2002-11-04
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 320 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
Fans of Matt Beaumont's hilarious first novel will pick up its successor The Book, The Film, The T-Shirt with some trepidation (can he pull it off again?), but rarely has a follow-up been so sharp and enjoyable. And not only has Beaumont triumphantly bucked the "disappointing second novel" trend: this sardonic and grimly funny book many not be as innovative as its predecessor, but it's every bit as cutting-edge, with just as diverting a cast of larger-than-life characters.

The central premise here is the following of one week in the filming of a tyre commercial. Greg Fuller has negotiated the dangerous waters of the ad business for some time, and he's convinced that the script he has come up with to sell his client's round chunks of black rubber will blow everyone away (not least as he has been setting up some prestigious Hollywood stars to appear in the ad). But (of course) things quickly go pear-shaped. The director is a volatile primadonna, the client is as much of an idiot as everyone who has hired Greg in the past, and the two stars, a much-loved TV couple, cordially detest each other. The recipe for disaster is in place, and, boy, does Matt Beaumont deliver. Ten years ago, readers turned to Tom Sharpe for the kind of bitter, sexually graphic humour that informs every paragraph here. But Beaumont is Tom Sharpe for the modern age: his cold-eyed, all-stops-out vision of the media world and its denizens is an absolute scream. And how many books can boast a talking foetus? --Barry Forshaw

Review
Praise for e 'A brilliantly plotted comic novel about life in an advertising agency, narrated entirely through office emails. It gives me more sense that literature is alive and kicking than anything else I've read in these millennial 12 months.' Humphrey Carpenter, Sunday Times Review of the Year 'Lively, viciously funny and about as switched on as a novel can be' Mirror 'Hilarious' Cosmopolitan 'A genuinely enjoyable page-turner' The Times 'e is the most enjoyable, addictive read I've had since Bridget Jones' Lisa Jewell 'Here's a book that recognises our true priorities: blame-shifting, arse-covering, personal enhancement, shagging -- and, oh yes, the odd advert. Matt compresses into a few weeks a dazzling cascade of events, most of which have either happened at one agency or another or are otherwise completely believable. A finer observer of agency politics you'll never meet.' Andrew Cracknell, Campaign

Closer
'Beaumont is the sort of writer you wish would knock books out quicker.'

Customer Reviews

Dangerously hilarious!
I've read all of Matt Beaumont's previous stuff - his original novel 'e', and the followup 'e before christmas'. They were superb - novels written in the form of collected emails. THIS book, however, is apparently Matt's first attempt at a traditional novel, but in fact he retains a very similar structure, as it's all in first person, and changes viewpoint from character to character every few paragraphs - not much different than email really!
The story is, well, not all that relevant, but it's a good framework for Matt's characters to run around in, get into trouble, and generally get up each others' noses (when they're not stabbing each other in the back!).
He's lost none of that vicious wit that made his two previous books so funny - as before, I laughed so hard it got a little embarassing! The characters vary from very human and a little imperfect to cartoonishly drawn sinners with little to redeem them - an explosive mix. (in joke: just one character turns up briefly who was in the original 'e' but I think it's just a nod to those who've read it). Otherwise the characters are a completely new bunch.

BUY THIS BOOK - if you liked his previous stuff, but if you haven't read it - BUY IT ANYWAY!! you don't need to have read the previous novels as this story is completely new. I can't recommend it highly enough - it will cheer up the most depressing day!

Funny....but
Another insight into the world of advertising by Matt Beaumont. This book is funny, and, like 'e' i read it within a few days. Unfortunately, it is not as funny as 'e' or 'The e before christmas.' It seems as though some of the characters introduced in this book are reincarnations of characters the author has used before. This book is enjoyable but if you expect the same hilarity as the other books, you will probably be a little disappointed!

Funny, Funny, Funny!!
I cannot explain how funny this book was, it was laugh out loud hilarious! One of those books that you just cannot put down! Be warned - if your reading it on the tube, be careful as people wonder why your laughing out loud!!
The book foolows the making of an advert through the view points of a range of different characters, the celeb hairstylist, the on - set chef, the runner, etc. Very witty and sharp. I just hope that Matt beaumont gets scribbling and gives us another book soon!