Customer Reviews

Inconceivable

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Ben took a chance on this one, writing from 'his' and 'hers' side, as he has always been keen on presenting an equal view of the hell that males and females must go through in life itself.

This is a daring book, written by a man to capture both 'sides' of the subject of the difficulty of having a kid when it doesn't happen 'naturally'. Ben pulls it off like a champ - he is one funny guy, yet very sensitive and intelligent on his approach to any subject he writes about. You end up getting a great laugh out of today's trials and tribulations of life. As other reviewers had said, it is worthwhile getting to know some of the British 'slang' to get more out of the book, however this book does not require a full translation, so American readers should not have too much trouble as the context will tip most off.

This is not his best work (check out Gridlock or Stark), however it has the signature Elton humor throughout, and not the kind that takes someone from Great Britian to understand. (He has left the enjoyment 'at home')

The bottom line is that any one in need of reading a book with a bit of humor that raises an issue or 2, this is your cuppa!

happy reading,
mike

This is the first book I've read by Ben Elton, and I don't think it will be the last. It was a truly wonderful book particularly focusing on both sides of the infertility issue. I found it to be a very accurate portrayal, and it touched a nerve, as I am currently trying to start my own family. So I can definitely relate. Even so, I know that I would have enjoyed the book even if I didn't know any better.

Although the issue of infertility can be stressful for couples, he puts it into a funny, and yet very realistic spin. And I far more enjoyed reading Sam's narrative of events as opposed to Lucy's. I realize that it's a burdensome situation for both of them, yet I think that Lucy's character could have been written with maybe a little more sympathy. I found it hard to like her (my only complaint).

At first, I had to become accustomed to the writing style of the book. It's written as two diaries put together, almost like a 'he said', she said scenario. Truthfully, I wasn't pleased when I learned of that, but as time went on, I slowly lost focus of that and instead found myself eager to see the very polar opposite reactions to the same situations exemplified from both Sam and Lucy.

Great book. I liked Popcorn, but I loved Inconceivable. The book works as we gain insight into the minds of a married copuple through their hysterical thoughts on a subject as potentially powerful as having a baby together. What a comedy setup. And Elton's writing is terrific. Funny almost always, but here and there some sad and serious parts (but not too many!).

I agree with the other posters who thought this book was hilarious--up to a point. Where it all went south for me was when the husband started acting like a total jerk by writing a screenplay about their experiences, selling it, and starting filming on the project. I won't spoil the rest, but by the end I was so disgusted with the husband, the wife, and their situation, that I wanted my money back. I'm so glad I bought this used instead of new.

Also, maybe this shows the male point of view on infertility well, but not the female one. There's so little detail on what the woman actually goes through in a trying to conceive cycle--it's laughable.

If you get it, enjoy the beginning, and don't feel bad about skimming the second half. The shift in tone and characterization is jarring; too bad the author spoiled such a good beginning.

Ben Elton's style has been got under a bit of control since the heady early days of Stark. He still takes the occasional potshot at incidental targets, but he no longer fires a scattergun in every direction as he did then. As often, he picks a topic that might seem to call for the utmost delicacy and tact and treats it with the utmost frankness and even ribaldry. The topic in question is human infertility, although there is a very entertainingly-handled sub-plot of life within the BBC in addition. His style of comedy has always been to highlight the grotesque side of things, and so it remains here. This doesn't show any lack of human sympathy on his part - indeed very much the reverse I should say - but he is not for the shy or the oversensitive much less for the solemn or the pompous.

The processes of human sexuality verge on the absurd at the best of times whatever else can be said about them. When we factor in the exceptional manoeuvres increasingly demanded by a desperate mid-30's childless wife from her less committed husband, culminating in the lurid rituals of IVF, I think it's fair to say that it takes a certain type of writer to deal with such a theme successfully. Ben Elton handles it brilliantly. We are not spared the most graphic or intimate physical and anatomical details, but the comic style Elton adopts really masks a true delicacy of perception. Indeed I'm inclined to say that nobody with less of a sense of humour than the two protagonists show in this book would have been able to see the whole gruesome process through. The humour is very English humour, and I think I know what it's modelled on to a great extent. During the years of the Thatcher Terror, there used to be a hilarious column in the magazine Private Eye purporting to consist of letters from her husband to a friend named Bill. These were written in a very public-school idiom, probably derived basically from P G Wodehouse but influenced by minor literature such as the Molesworth books, familiar also from Oxford common-rooms and similar places of association, and updated more recently into the dialogue of the chattering classes in Islington and similar parts of London, the form in which we find it here. This idiom can take the heaviness out of the most serious situations without trivialising them, and whether or not I'm right about its precise origin in this book that is the way its author tries to use it, and tries very successfully in my own opinion.

The author never speaks to us directly throughout the whole book, using instead the device of diaries written by the husband and wife, much as is done in Julian Barnes's Talking it Over. The device works very well here. Ben Elton is an observer and critic with a particularly acute eye for human behaviour and attitudes, and it helps if he steps back a little from the narrative for that very reason. The incidents in the story are often Rabelaisian and hilarious, but the dilemmas and worse that the characters face are touched in with no little sympathy as well as perceptiveness. The style of writing has even gained a little (dare I say this?) refinement, to its and our general benefit I'd say. The ending is genuinely touching, so on balance 5 stars.

I have broken my word. I intended to write a review of every book I ordered through Amazon.com in the year 2002. Through no fault of Amazon, I found myself in the waning days of February with nothing to read. Of course, I desperately turned to Amazon and have ordered "The Dancing Wu Li Masters" which I am anxiously awaiting. In the meantime, my beloved wife said, "you must read THIS book." The book was "Inconceivable" by Ben Elton. She was right. I sucked up the 350+ pager in three days.

Lucy, the female lead, desperately wants to have a baby and has been actively trying for five years (six if you count that year of living dangerously.) Sam, her husband, is a bit non-committal about, well just about everying. There is so much that is really great about this book, and the way the story is told is what makes so much of it great. Each page if filled with journal entries written by both characters. Journal entries which Lucy has "suggested" they do to explore their feelings about having a child and the posibility of infertility. Along the way we hear stories about procedures, sperm tests, and frantic mystical attempts to conceive. I have never had a book make me laugh so loud and so often. Not only are Elton's words beautifully crafted, he does an amazing job of making the reader fully believe in Sam and Lucy through absolutely brilliant characterization. Beyond the laughter, the growth that Sam, and Sam and Lucy's relationship develop has brought a tear to more than one person's eye. And guys, don't be afraid to read this one; you married bloaks especially will see many truth's. I'm sure the ladies feel the same way, but being a male, I'm certain they are wrong. :D

To my Britsh friends - You know Elton, he's funny as hell. If you haven't read it, get it and begin immediately. If you fear the recommendation of an awful American, know that my wife and I borrowed this book from an English couple who insisted it was a must read.

To my American brothers and sisters - You will love this book more than the English do. We all know how much fun it is to watch them struggle in less than dignified situations. Two suggestions, don't take the criticisms Elton launches at Americans too seriously, they really do love us. Second - find a good web site to help out a little with the Britspeak. It's a good chance you don't know what snogging, the Tube, or bullocks are. It is worth the effort to "get" this book.

That's right folks, it gets a five. And well deserved, after all, it does have have lots of gags about knobs.

When I first saw the book come out it was being adapted as the movie 'Maby Baby' and I thought "looks good". So since I live to far away from the cinema to get to see the movie I bought the book instead. And seen as I had to choose a book for my RPR I thought this would be a great book. I, not the book loving type, wasn't able to drag myself away from the book. I was engrossed, completly. I read it very chance I got, on my school bus, in class, at work, in bed, everywhere. And not just once, 3 times! Ben Elton is a fabulas writer and a wonderful comedian, and this book reflects that 100%. It is one of the best books I have ever read. He mixs a somber, sad storyline with wit and funny gags. Infertility isn't something I would have thought you'd be able to adapt into a comedy, but Ben Elton has done it wonderfully and very orginally. Parts of it make you laugh and parts make you swell up with tears, and the ending especially. You feel as though Sam and Lucy were your friends because you know so much about them, and you really feel for both of them. I recommend this book very highly to every person who loves comedy, and wants a good book to read to, it is so quick and easy to read due to its diary format so you'll never be able to put it down or say "I'll just finish this chapter" because there aren't any chapters! Buy the book, it's very worth your while.

I'm glad I've read this book before watching the movie ("Maybe Baby"), otherwise I would have left it unread. Ben Elton is obviously a better writer than a director and I wished he had played Sam's role himself. I've seen him describing his sperm test in his comedy show on the BBC. Very, very funny ... and so is the book. And of course, if you did like the movie, you'll enjoy the book even more.

I have read all his other work over the years and come to expect twisting plot turns every bit as funny as his writing, however in this book nothing could be further from the case. It is due the format being basically a 'novel a clef' (a book made up of letters like Dangerous Liaisons) and it's is so predictable its annoying. Honestly -- you could start reading at page 208 (in my UK version) and still not miss anything in the conclusion. Except that is for as many similes as could humanly be fit onto each page. If I had a penny for each one I could recoup the cost of this book and pay for the cab ride there. The scenes are repetitious, just slightly modified- as is much of the commentary and it seems Ben is writing just to listen to himself talk at times. It probably took as long to write as it does to read and if it wasn't from the ''important and mouldbreaking'' (Elton, 26) Ben Elton it would be very hard to find in bookstores. My advice: read Stark; read Gridlock; read Popcorn; read This Other Eden -- but don't waste your time on this. Or start at page 208.

read everything you can get your hands on, he is hard to find in the states too. his writing is witty and deep at the same time. brilliant.