Customer Reviews

This Other Eden

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is without a doubt one of the best books that I have read in a long time- even I enjoyed the ending. The story takes place in the foreseeable future, sometime during our lifetime. The world is finally coming to an end through human stupidity, and people are bored with hearing of it, waiting impatiently for it to take its final breath so they can begin the Rat Run. Plastic Tolstoy is running eighty percent of the world media; Nathan has a dangerous script that preaches the truth; Max is a super celebrity who gets and erection at the thought of his own performances; Thor is the 'last sane man' on the planet; Rosalie is a greenie on a mission to save the world. Claustropheres (self contained geodesic domes) are popping up all over the world, perhaps the only answer to the survival of an eco-Armageddon- or perhaps it is traitorous to the earth, accepting the world is dying and not doing anything about it. On one hand they present a survival of the species, self-preservation; on the other their creation is destructive. Would you buy one? Or after much debating would you forego this luxury? And what could you afford?
I had to admit, sadly, right at the beginning that I would have been one of the first to purchase a Claustrophere had I the money, because I am a dooms-sayer, the end of the world is always nigh.
Ben Elton is entertaining, often eliciting random giggles from me at the most inappropriate moments- you wouldn't believe the looks that you get when you are sitting quietly at the bus stop reading then sudden burst into spontaneous laughter. He expresses things that I have often thought in such a poignant way that I don't feel so crazy.
His style is a little haphazard, and British. I found the chapters within chapters easy to read, enticing even.
We should all know that I can't read a book without guessing the ending a few pages into the book, sometimes even before I start reading, and this was no different- but I wasn't at all disappointed. I ENJOYED THE ENDING. It made sense; it was all so logical, right and amusing. He made his point.
Disappointingly I would probably still build a fall out shelter or buy my own Claustrophere, all the while attempting to better the environment, but that is just because I am crazy.

Out of Ben Elton crawls some of the most wonderful and fantastic prose I have ever read. What if Pynchon, instead of losing track of some of the balls he juggles and readers in the process, instead kept a strict schedule of events and knew how every word should sound before he ever wrote a book? Ben Elton is fantastic; I enjoyed his television venture(s), but I am in love with his prose. This story is wonderful, I am giving it to at least one person this holiday season. Elton has a profound grasp on the American and british psyches... let us hope that he never chooses to relax his hands.

This book is a good read, but don't expect the brilliance of Ben Elton's earlier work. The plot is not too sophisticated and the book lacks the humor I had come to expect from Ben Elton.
The book is a must however for anybody remotely interested in marketing.

Ben Elton is a comedian. He is also a green who cares about the planet. He does not care much about the pretence of actors, actresses and the like. This is why his books are witty sharp observations on life. His heroes and heroines are not rich, brain boxes, they are ordinary like you and me. This is the attractiveness of the books, your cheering yourself on. A meglamaniac has marketed a manafactured lifestyle inside individual biospheres. Everyone is buying them as the end of the world is coming. Isn't it ? The more he sells the more he needs the end of the world to keep on happening. But some people are screwing with his profits by trying to save the planet. Read it and cheer you and me as we try and save the world

This Other Eden is a very funny book. It takes things to the extreme about what could happen if rich businessmen wanted to make money out of the end of the world. Based some years in the future, Ben Elton creates the scene of a world in environmental chaos, where the human race has destroyed the earth, and the end is nigh. Plastic Tolstoy, a rich businessman has the answer: buy a Claustrophere. A dome-shaped, self-contained new home, which can provide air and water, and recycle human waste, and where you can grow your own food; and which even has a day and night-cycle. The advertising campaigns begin, and people are urged to buy these safe-houses, which could be used when the end finally comes. Everyone who is anyone, owns a Claustrophere. It is big business, but a business that had its ups and downs and needs continued advertising to stay afloat. Mother Earth, a terrorist group, and Natura, an environmental campaign group, are against Claustropheres, claiming that by buying these domes people have given up on trying to save the environment, and are just accepting that there is nothing that can be done to stop the rot. Plastic Tolstoy has a plan to ensure the success of his product... an evil plan
We meet many hilarious characters along the way, including: Max, a famous Hollywood actor who doesn't even recognise his own wife because she has had so much plastic surgery; Nathan, a struggling writer who is depressed because he is still in love with his wife who has left him, and mentions her whenever he has an opportunity; Rosalie, an unlikely Mother Earth terrorist; Jurgen Thor, the most famous environmental campaigner, who has a dark secret; and Judy Schwartz, an FBI agent who is a man with a woman's name.
A great book with well-developed characters and an interesting story line that makes you think, and laugh, at the same time.

Ben Elton's books are excellent. The political and social comment is intelligent, perceptive and hilarious. Unfortunately, although this book is perceptive it lacks the direction and characterisation of his other novels. The book is therefore tedious in places and lacks the laugh out loud hilarity of Inconceivable and Gridlock. Therefore read any Ben Elton book apart from this one.

Another environmental theme ,as in 'Stark', also dominates this book -giving it the base for its satire. Business is taking over playing ratings games over environmental terrorism v's self-preservation. Elton takes the mickey out of society for its loss independant thought and the way we rely on others to make decisions for us( even if it is against our better judgement ). Ultimately it is the people who make their own choices and not to be led astray by media who suceed in this novel. Its a tricky an interesting situation in which one hopes if in the same siutation would make the better judgement. It's very light hearted and fun , with comical side tracking.

Stark was excellent and Gridlock was good. This is poor. Nothing is compelling about this book. No surprises, not a very good story line, not inspiring, it's not even funny! If you don't buy one Ben Elton book, don't buy this one.

This Other Eden is the best satire I've read in years! In the 1990s "the film came first and the marketing developed out of that. It was Plastic [Tolstoy] who finally put things in their proper order." ... put things in their proper order... that's just the best exaggeration (?) on marketing you can get. This book is a must for people who tend to get too excited about marketing! But please, fellow readers: could you give me hint, why the guy is called Tolstoy?

This Other Eden is an intelligent, humorous look at society and its foibles. It sucks the reader into its twisted story of approaching appocalypse and fails to let go, even long after the last page has been turned. I still find myself, a few years after I first read it, thinking about this book. Read it; it's fantastic.