| Product: |
Inconceivable - Ben Elton |
| Date: |
10/10/01 (108 review reads) |
| Rating: |
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Advantages: very funny, great dialogue, easy to read
Disadvantages: maybe a bit light for some
I really wanted to hate this book. Nik (my fiancé) had borrowed it from the library and had read me out so many apt and hilarious quotes, that I thought I knew most of the book already!
Not only does that annoy me, but I also usually find our favourite authors are worlds apart – he loves Bill Bryson, I can’t get into him; he thinks Stephen Fry is an excellent author, I hate his style of writing!
It also annoys me when I’m wrong and he’s right! He said Inconceivable by Ben Elton was a really good book and that I would like it. He was right. Damn.
The only Ben Elton book I have read was Stark, the first one. It was okay, not great. It didn't make me rush to get his next one though.
Recently, I have got into Chick Lit and rarely find myself reading male authors – Terry Pratchett being the exception.
But to appease my beloved one, I had a look at Inconceivable. The format initially put me off a bit, as it is written in diary format, the italicised parts being written by Lucy, the other parts by Sam. You get used to this quickly though and it means you can easily find a suitable place to stop reading when you want.
This was the novel made into the film Maybe Baby, which I haven’t seen yet. This meant I had no pre-conceptions about the book. I did know the story was about infertility though.
It is about a couple – Sam Bell works for the BBC and is desperately trying to gain some inspiration for his writing, Lucy works for an actor’s agency.
Knowing that Ben Elton’s own marriage has been a struggle with infertility, this novel must surely have some autobiographical bits in it. I certainly kept seeing Ben in the Sam role, even though Hugh Laurie played him in the film.
The best thing about this book is the sharp observation and wit of the writing. There are so many occasions when I read something that could easily have been lifted from
my own mouth. The quotes that Nik read out to me were, indeed, very true – uncannily so. But then again, it’s nice to know I’m not the only one out there!
Inconceivable works on many levels – yes, it’s the story of a couple’s fight to conceive a child, but it’s also satirical, a modern social comedy. The BBC is picked apart from the inside, with a kind of critical affection that could only have come from someone in the know.
It is definitely an adult book, with themes including sex, masturbation and various invasive medical procedures. My eight year old daughter asked why there was a green tadpole amongst the blue tadpoles on the cover! I didn’t bother to enlighten her!
Despite the serious subject matter, it is essentially a comedy and you will laugh out loud regularly. This is easy reading, only 272 pages and can be finished in a few days.
I would have liked to have written a review along the lines of ‘Nik was wrong, I hated it’ – but I can’t, because I didn’t.
It’s not a wonderful classic, but it is a really enjoyable read – and in this new frightening world situation we are in, a bit of light relief is a must to keep us all sane.
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