Blind Faith - Ben Elton

Typically Ben Elton writes thinly veiled satires of some of the issues in contemporary society that he choices to target hence shows like Big Brother and X Factor have come up on his literary radar. Now with these he has a very easy target and his wrath is generally very focused however in Blind Faith he has a wider and more difficult target as religion combined with the new supposed openness of the computer age are within his sights. Now I would never attempt to describe Elton writing as socially or morally deep, at least not the books that I have read from him, but for me this book had a lot more to say than some of his other work and certainly posted a few ...  Read the complete review

I'd added this book to my list of 'books to buy' after reading a review from a fellow Ciao-er and bought it with the 'Christmas books' and other presents that my mother is already buying for Christmas...however needless to say this book did not last till Christmas and has already been devoured by me...and so now we come to the reviewing part of the reading process! Boring stuff Title: Blind Faith Author: Ben Elton Price: From 82p on Amazon at time of writing Paperback: 368 pages Publisher: Black Swan (16 May 2008) Language: English ISBN: 978-0552773904 Author Ben Elton is a stand up comedian, ...  Read the complete review

In 2004 I had a mammoth reading session and read about 250 books - these included Ben Elton's, all of which I thoroughly enjoyed as they appeal to my sense of black humour. Since then I have been getting any new books of his, but found that while I enjoyed his last book "Chart Throb" (a take off of Pop Idol and the like) it wasn't really up to his usual standard - or perhaps my standards are changing. Therefore while I knew I wanted to read his latest, I wasn't in a particular hurry, and ended up mooching it from someone in Australia on Bookmooch, rather than buying it. ---Ben Elton--- More about Ben Elton can be found ...  Read the complete review

Trafford Sewell is trying to survive in a post-apocalyptic world where, with the exception of a few surviving islands of dry land, most of Britain is below the level of the floodwaters. Living with his wife and child in an infested tenement in what's left of a partially submerged London, Trafford despairs of a culture that celebrates sharing and streaming the most intimate details of people's lives. In a world ruled by the Temple with its Confessors and Inquisitors, supported by an inhuman police force, more is less when it comes to exposure of flesh or personal details, and a desire for privacy is heresy. Where children die from plagues of curable childhood ...  Read the complete review

Reading this book by Ben Elton you can see why some people draw parrallels between it and George Orwell 1984, in no way is this a comparison of literary writing style or quality rather both books set out a rather nightmarish vision of the future in the mind of the authors. In Elton case this is heavily covered in layers of humour, synicism and irony while Orwell is just a superb writer. The main character in this book which is about a little man fight aganst a scary modern society is Trafford who lives in London with his wife Chantorria, London has been submerged in a massive flood and people are crammed in, living in awful conditions due to global warming, ...  Read the complete review