Customer Reviews

High Society Waterstones

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This was the third Ben Elton book I've read, albeit this particular book was the one I was originally recommended (by a munter at V Festival, I might add) I actually rate this in my 5 favourite books. `High Society' is written in short sections - not chapters. This fact, along with the obvious subject matter, makes it an ideal book for the non reader. It follows the story of a few central characters, all with a connection to drugs.

Peter Paget is the main character. He is a recently revitalised back bench Labour MP, questing to pass a members bill that legalises all drugs in the UK. Tommy Hanson, the winner of (insert generic music talent show here) and a subsequent British superstar, wants to stop living like a rock'n'roll trash bag. Jessie is a 17 year old Weedgie girl who hastily moves to London, gets hooked on heroin - and ends up on the game. Sonia, an 18 year old Brummy bird gets banged up in a Thai prison for trying to smuggle heroin back to the UK. Samantha Spencer is Paget's beautiful, but emotionally unhinged parliamentary secretary. Paula Wooldridge is a recreational drug user. She is also a hack journalist determined to end Paget's career. Barry Leman is an honest, old school police officer on Paget's side. He is threatened by a couple of corrupt police officers, to keep out of drug policy.

`High Society' is an addictive (pardon the pun) page turner, full of scallywags, reprobates, junkies, drinkers, and party people. Aside from all of this frivolity, there are shrewd thoughts, honest observations, and important questions asked throughout the pages of this book. The topic is poignant, and one of the most controversial issues of our times. Although I'm not fully convinced - Ben Elton argues a good case for the legalisation of drugs.

This was my first read or for that matter first exposure to Ben Elton. I was hooked in the very first paragraph, very funny and yes over the top characters. But that is what is fun about the book, a comical stereotypical handling of a very serious subject: Drugs and the possible effects of legalization of drugs. I have often re-read the exerps of the lead character Tommy Hanson the Rock Star. I am currently reading DEAD FAMOUS and will probably read STARK next. Buy HIGH SOCIETY, read it, enjoy it, good read for your next trip by airplane.

If you're already a Ben Elton fan, you won't be disappointed. Plenty of laughs and keeps you turning pages.

Challenges you to consider today's drug culture and the organised crime that surrounds it, presenting both sides of the story in a light tone.

Unknown to most Americans, Ben Elton is one of Britain's most successful comic writers (novels, plays, screenplays) today. I thought a couple of his novels, 'Dead Famous' and 'Popcorn', were rather good; sharp, satiric and often funny. So I greatly anticipated Elton's latest work, 'High Society', which raises the issue of legalizing all illicit drugs. Yet unfortunately I was generally disappointed.

'High Society' is a collage of parallel and interwoven mini-stories involving a rock star (think Robbie Williams), an MP (think Jonathan Aitkin), and an assortment of substance abusers and misfits. The MP is pushing for drug legalization legislation while the rock star, a heavy party guy, is tangentially recruited for the cause. Everything gets a bit crazy when the media undermine both characters, with the rock star also falling in love and the MP falling in lust. Towards the end everything turns a bit farcical.

While the author does do some clever associations of his characters to notorious folks (known mostly in Britain) I was disappointed that the discussion of drug legalization was not fully developed ... opportunity lost. However the book has enough laughs to overcome any disappointment.

Bottom line: it could have been a contender. Passable.

Ben Elton makes me sick. Comedy writer, comedian, playrite, producer and now novelist. As much as I wanted to criticise his writing skills or the plot or the characters, I can't. The book takes a candid look into the murky world of drugs and asks some searching questions of government policies and peoples attitude to one of society's major problem. Well written, well researched, simply fantastic.

I've enjoyed all of Ben Elton's books, but none so much as High Society. This tremendously well thought out book is difficult to put down. The running stories move rapidly together with amazing clarity and wit. The book follows the lives of several charactors and their relations with drugs. From the drug enslaved prostitute to the member of parliament pushing to have all drugs legalised. You'll finish this book with a mournful sense that you know the charactors stories in an intimate way. As well as hearing a commentary on the modern day war on drugs with such clarity that you feel astonished.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and thus far, this is the only good Ben Elton book that I have read.

The two other books I tried to read by Elton I never finished because they were bizarre to the point of stupidity. I just couldn't read it anymore. Anyway, these two books, Dead Famous and Past Mortem, are so ridiculous it's hard to become interested and actually relate to the characters. Therefore, these characters cannot move me in the way that good writing can move me.

This is not the case with this novel. Please write a sequel to this book, Mr. Elton, otherwise, your work will likely be remembered as airport/beach junk writing rather than real literature.

High Society falls into the same trap that Elton often creates for himself: everything becomes too complicated. There's a lot of plot strands, monologues and twists, but the theme gets lost in the madness.

It's a strong theme too - drug legalisation. Events transpire in the novel that stop that avenue from being fully explored. It is fleshed out by the characters in discussion, and the reader is given an opportunity to consider the repercussions of legalisation, but ultimately Elton focuses less on this compelling issue and more on the grot, the filth and the seedy underbelly of the drug world. Given that, yes, this underworld is CREATED by virtue of drugs being illegal, it is still unfairly weighted.

The characters are not very well drawn and, in typical Ben Elton style, are way over the top. His dialogue is more universal to all the characters rather than coming from an individual voice, and some of the things that they say are so out of place (like, for example, a one liner), that it jars the reader out of the reality of the book.

I really like Ben Elton's books, but this one wasn't up to his usual standard. Try Popcorn or Dead Famous instead.

This book-length diatribe can be condensed in a single sentence: "The War on Drugs serves only to maintain price supports for narcotics and profits for gangsters and bent coppers."

Was not the sole purpose of Bush's invasion of Afghanistan to put heroin back on the streets of New York?

A brief essay by Elton on the topic would be a must read, but the 334 pages of the present volume are a waste of space.

I have bought Ben Elton books all over the world, from Oxford Street in London to remote villages in Greek Islands, yet cannot buy his books in my local Borders in New York City. Something must be done. Justice must be served. Ben Elton to America... ASAP