Could do better...
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The world that this book occupies is such a stereotype that its hard not to find it ridiculous. I get the point he's making, that we're not so far from that reality, but the truth is we are a million miles from bishops wearing hotpants!
I felt it was a disappointing re-write of 1984.
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World Without End?
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This book tells of a nightmare world after the flood, when global warming has taken its toll. a place where absolute religion has replaced politics.
It is reminiscent of "Nineteen Eighty-Four", "Fahrenheit 451" and "Brave New World" written with the experience of 21st century society.
The idea of all the negatives that "new" technology could bring is vividly realised: being constantly watched, living your whole life through the internet, and always in fear of the violence that dissing someone might bring.
Trafford is a typical central character for this kind of fiction. He is sensitive and thoughtful. His journey to help liberate an enslaved culture makes fascinating reading.
The style is popular fiction, but beneath it all lurk some very disturbing ideas.
There is a great deal to think about here: the web, junk food, dull, unquestioning minds. Ben Elton paints a bleak , but edifying picture.
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Not up to the Usual Standard
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Generally I like Ben Elton's books but this seemed to lack his usual energy and invention.
The plot is pretty much a knock-off of '1984' with the threat of communism being replaced by the threat of a theocracy (faith based personal development gone mad). There's a twist but even I wasn't surprised by it.
And the constant faith bad, humanism good, started to grate after a while. It's simply not the case that all people of faith are un-reflective morons or that humanism can't become a faith of its own.
Anyway, there's still enough narrative pull to get you through this book, I much preferred his book about the First World War. Not Ben at his finest.
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Nonsense
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It's telling that not a single positive review adorns the cover of Blind Faith. Normally, Ben Elton's books are covered in them so I think it's fair to assume they would be there if there were any. But their absence is not surprising because this is terrible.
Elton has identified two trends he doesn't like: the information age in which nothing is sacred, nothing is private and the powers that be know everything about everybody; and the rise of reactionary religious intolerance which rejects reason and science (everything from global warming denial to creationism to refusing vaccinations). Both subjects ripe for satire.
But trying to crowbar those two trends together it makes no sense whatsoever, and Elton has abandoned his own reason if he seriously thinks it does. A society dominated by religious intolerance would undoubtedly be unpleasant, but it is not going to be one where everyone is expected to expose as much flesh as possible and post their sex tapes on the web. These are things that religions rail against. Yes, I know the book is satire but for it to have any validity it has to make sense, to be recognisably the logical conclusion of where we are going. Blind Faith is just nonsense.
But even if you overlook the logical failings, there are many other faults. Elton (not for the first time) is far too busy inviting us to bask in his insight and incisiveness to bother about much of a story. Consequently, very little really happens until the final eighth. He treats the reader like a complete idiot, bludgeoning every point home rather than leaving us to draw our own conclusions. The obsession with sex and swearing is present and correct (he really should give it a rest for just one book). And the fact that everyone talks like the most irritating characters from Dead Famous and Chart Throb is enough to make the novel poisonously annoying in itself.
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Gripping and thought provoking
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I had started to go off Ben Elton's books. One of his recent novels centres around a Big Brother style show and another does the same for Pop Idol/X Factor - both subjects I know nothing about and care less. I found Blind Faith to be a gripping story and one that raises a lot of issues. The novel is set in a dystopian future in which floods have ravaged the Earth. Poverty and disease are rife. Britain is ruled by religious fanatics who have banned fiction and scientific theory. People are are kept faithful to a warped version of Christianity by a mixture of dumbed down culture, permissive sex and fear of a modern-day Inquisition.
Comparisons with 1984 are perhaps inevitable but ultimately unfair. Ben Elton, a modest man, would be the first to agree that he has no pretensions to rival George Orwell as a literary writer. That said, his writing has come along a long way; unlike earlier novels, this one doesn't contain political rants or read like the script for one of his stand-up shows. The main character, Trafford, is fleshed out enough that you care for him in his fight against this oppressive system.
There are some parallels with Orwell's work but this is not a rip-off of 1984 as some have suggested. Orwell wrote 1984 over five decades ago and in many ways his vision has been proved right. We have Big Brother in the form of CCTV cameras everywhere and Newspeak (some would say the thought police too) in the more absurd manifestations of political correctness. Elton's book is for a different age and some of the things he predicts are already starting to happen.
In the Britain of Blind Faith anyone who seeks privacy is regarded as a weirdo. People are bombarded wherever they go with non-stop commercials and vacuous celebrity pap. TV screens are everywhere. People eschew meaningful conversation and friendships in favour of the net - not far from the truth in an age when some people seem more interested in instant messaging and collecting "friends" on Facebook than having meaningful human contact. Your every movement is logged on a national database. The only available reading matter is celebrity rubbish and useless self-help books. Group hugs have replaced any sort of motivational leadership at work.
The one thing that doesn't quite ring true is the idea of the Christian religion - even the sick, warped version he portrays here - taking over as a dominant and tyrannical force in Britain. The PC powers that be constantly downplay Christianity - the banning in some schools of nativity plays and a BA stewardess having to fight to defend the right to wear a cross, for example - usually to the acute embarrassment of leaders of other religions. This is not a veiled attack on Taliban-style tyranny either, since most of the behaviour encouraged by the religious leaders in this book would never be tolerated by any of the leading world faiths, moderate or extreme.
Even though religion is an essential part of the book, the above doesn't detract from it being a very good read. It's not split-your-sides stuff though there are some very amusing moments, but it kept me up until silly o'clock and is evidence that Ben Elton has matured considerably as a writer. Recommended.
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Could do better...
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The world that this book occupies is such a stereotype that its hard not to find it ridiculous. I get the point he's making, that we're not so far from that reality, but the truth is we are a million miles from bishops wearing hotpants!
I felt it was a disappointing re-write of 1984.
|
|
|
World Without End?
|
This book tells of a nightmare world after the flood, when global warming has taken its toll. a place where absolute religion has replaced politics.
It is reminiscent of "Nineteen Eighty-Four", "Fahrenheit 451" and "Brave New World" written with the experience of 21st century society.
The idea of all the negatives that "new" technology could bring is vividly realised: being constantly watched, living your whole life through the internet, and always in fear of the violence that dissing someone might bring.
Trafford is a typical central character for this kind of fiction. He is sensitive and thoughtful. His journey to help liberate an enslaved culture makes fascinating reading.
The style is popular fiction, but beneath it all lurk some very disturbing ideas.
There is a great deal to think about here: the web, junk food, dull, unquestioning minds. Ben Elton paints a bleak , but edifying picture.
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United Kingdom | 
Canada