High Society (edition 2003)

Wow this was beyond anything I expected. My first Ben Elton experience and I will never forget it. I laughed, I cried and I was surprised. ( )

As always, depressing and brilliant ( )

This is noticeably more slick than Elton's earlier work. Less prone to surreal ramblings, more mainstream. The story explores the modern drug problem from lots of different standpoints. Entertaining and thought provoking. ( )

A book about a politician who wants to legalise "hard drugs", a rock star who does "hard drugs" and a teenage prostitute on heroin.
Ocassionaly the monologues were off, especially when the 17-year old prostitute talks about smack and the brothel where she was kept and had 10 punters a night and then mentions ablutionary needs. That sounded stilted. Other than that Ben Elton as usual manages to make me go "Heh? Does he think that or does he want us to think that he thinks that?". I've never quite figured out on whose side he is. I'd be interested in his view on the situation, but I suppose the book works better if it leaves you wondering. I recommend it!

I'd just started me detox program with booze because booze makes you fat whereas coke helps you slim. But, bollocks, I wanted a drink. I needed a drink. The record company blokes were all cacking themselves about what a great bloke I was for kicking a coked-up, half-naked girl out of a car in the middle of south London, and not for the first time in my life I realized that if I didn't get drunk quite quickly I might notice that I was a sad, arrogant, bullying bastard.

I've always enjoyed Ben Elton's hard-hitting and satirical novels, and this one is no exception. The title is a pun on drug use, and the way that the whole of society is brought into contact with violent criminals due to the illegality of substances whose use is so widespread. A backbench Labour MP introduces a Private Member's Bill to legalise all recreational drug use, and the other strands of the story all involve people who are involved in drugs some way or other. ( )