Product Description

The searing new novel from the bestselling author of POPCORN, INCONCEIVABLE and DEAD FAMOUS

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #10037 in Books
• Published on: 2003-07-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 352 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
Ben Elton's new novel High Society initially appears to be a cautionary tale about Britain today, but its vision of a society totally in thrall to criminality has elements of the visionary novel about it. Happily, the state of the nation is not (yet) quite as awful as it's rendered in this terrifying kaleidoscope. We're taken into a world in which drug use holds total sway, and the whole world essentially functions as a single criminal network. From royalty and the upper crust to drug abusers and prostitutes--right across the social spectrum--we are (in Elton's unsparing universe) plunging into a criminal world.

Elton's cast of characters is massive, but all (notably a government minister who is trying to push through a bill to legalise drugs) are etched in with maximum vividness. Interestingly, although Elton casts a cold eye across the whole of society (including an unforgiving look at the media) the final effect of the book is anything but bleak. All the trademark wit is here, along with a sense of focus that is considerably more sophisticated than anything Elton has tackled before. As a serious satirical novel (yes, there is such a thing), High Society makes an indelible mark. --Barry Forshaw

Daily Mail
'A fix of high comedy from a writer who provokes almost as much as he entertains’

Waterstone's Books Quarterly
'Packed with Elton's trademark sharp wit and biting social commentary... colourful and thought-provoking'

Customer Reviews

Not his best
As an academic exercise this is fine: Elton makes his point persuasively -the war on drugs has been lost and the answer is legalisation and control - and his interweaving of characters and storylines is clever. But as a novel it's not his best by a long way: the 'uplifting' stories are completely unbelievable and the realistic ones just depressing; and the characters are so unsympathetic it's hard to care anyway.

Just read it...
The author covers some of the most taboo issues in today's society by splitting the book into a range of different stories and portraying a massive amount of characters. Elton takes us into the criminal world of drugs abuse. He shows how drugs affect every class and every branch of society - from prostitutes and the homeless up to the upper classes and royalty- and he does it well. Elton shows both sides of the argument between drug legalization and drug addiction.
Even though this book is fiction it makes you wonder about the truth behind it and it helps you get into the minds of hundreds of drug abusers and addicts around the world. This book is aimed at older readers due to its explicit nature and it is not written for the easily offended. This book is gruesome but impossible to put down.

Worth a read...
I was a bit uncomfortable when I started reading this book and thought that I was going to hate it after 20 pages, however the book and subject matter does grow on you.

Having read a number of BE's other novels, the skill with which he weaves a number of characters towards an inevitable conclusion is to be admired, if the result is a little predictable.

In the end I couldn't put the book down as I wanted to know what happened to one of the characters in particular.

The book is BE's take on how the British media has the power to make and then break people. These are subjects which have been close to BE throughout his comedy career, and his distaste for the media and modern politics in general, shines through.