So I was lying in bed a few nights ago, doing my best to ignore several members of the opposite gender and trying desperately to enjoy a book. The book, at this point is irrelavent. The point that I was having to try and enjoy it promotes an issue I would like to share:
Authors of the world: feel free to write a book, the more trees felled the better, but I am looking for something I read to escape the bordom of day to day life (ref. a few nights ago) I am not looking for what can only be defined as a literary vomit puddle poorly aimed at a sheet of paper, repeated for 600 pages and thrown onto the shelves to rot, or burn if you like... burning.
And so the smell of literary vomit got so strong that I was forced to read some of it. And burn it afterwards.
So here we have Blind Faith, a "new bestseller" by the experienced literary vomiter Ben Elton. This is his 239th attempt at literary stardom, and I think he's half way there. Thats not a complement by that way. The fact that hes only half way there after all his experience suggests that his day job may have been the better option.
The book is pretty much a summary of an old man's hatred of society, fueled simply by the fact that he's too old to enjoy anything he criticises in his book. Its the near future, London's flooded, the average temperature is the same as an overcooked pie. The countries overcrowded population is under the complete control of the church.
If you're a guy you're expected to have sex an average of 200,000 times a day, and have a new wife every 2 years. If you're a girl you're expected to wear as little as possible and have implants the size of small countries (usually paid for by the church)
We follow the story of Trafford, a married, middle-aged Whitecollar who's a bit wierd (he wears too much clothing) He likes to keep secrets, which is illegal. He gets his daughter vaccinated, which is illegal, he becomes a member of a pro-evolution cult secretly waging war by reading lots and lots of books, which is illegal. But he gets the girl in the end... kinda... but of course, that may as well be illegal for all the good it gets him.
I think what good old Benjamin is trying to do is warn us, perhaps of the quality of his future books. However, he's warning the wrong people. Judging by the content of the book, this is aimed at his own generation, which are 1: too old to care and 2: not the cause of this future Elton so vividly paints.
Its like a forest fire: he's standing there warning the kids of the dangers of fire while his kids are burning loudly in the bush. And by the time he realises, his beloved children are already being served in the next door BBQ.
