Never read any of his books before, but this was a very clever parody of todays society. We laugh, but he 'aint far short. ( )

This book was so entertaining to read. Ben Elton was able to make relevant social comments in a humourous way, while at the same time holding a spotlight on how self-absorbed society is today. I agree with most of the points that I believe Ben Elton was making about our Westernised society. ( )

This novel posits a strange futuristic world in which science and reason and medical advancements have been banished from society; somehow now held responsible by the new religious cult for the destruction wrought by global warming. Mis-information is the currency of the day and total control of the population through highly intrusive internet based surveillance which requires of the total population, total self revelation with everyone.

Elton creates a humourous and grotesque society which is encouraged to 'share the love' by revealing all of their lives online - lives in which sexual promiscuity are encouraged and multiple partners and flamboyant over the top behaviour that can win you celebrity status on line. Travers & his curent wife Chantoriah have just had a child and in this world children are a rare commidity due to the rejection of medicine and science and so resurgence of fatal childhood diseases.

Travers is a private person and this is the chink in his personality that has him rallying against this society - added to this he is approached by a secret sect that aims to immunize children - considered a act against God. So he is introduced to a new way of thinking and revels in the opportunity to exercise independent thought free of the mass hysteria of the over bearing cult of personality.

As part of the cult he is introduced to hidden libraries - this is an interesting part of the novel - as Travers mind is expanded by the fictional stories he reads and he begins to imagine and dream of a new world. It is an indictment of possible numbing of mas media, online communication and gaming on our imaginations - questioning its impact on our ability to think independently.

Travers is inspired to use the massive computer database, used to record all aspects of peoples lives, to instead identify people, like him, ready for revolution. His plan is unfortunately found out by an under-cover police women - who he falls in love with for her seeming independent thinking evident by the secrets in her life. Before he is publicly humilated and killed however (because his baby succumbs to the virus, which is made to seem lik a punishment from God) he manages to get her to begin the computer virus that will bring identify and promote revolution. ( )

This novel is set in London, just over 100 years into the future. And what a future it is! After a great flood came in 2014, London is practically under water. Disease is rife (which child mortality rates at 50%), promiscuity is not only accepted, but actively encouraged, and privacy is illegal. Furthermore, the vaccination of children is a heinous crime, as it is thought to be against 'The Love's' will.

Living in this depressing city is Trafford, an ordinary man, with an extraordinary yearning - he wants privacy. He hates the fact that literally every aspect of a person's life has to be loaded onto the internet for anybody to read (it is expected that people put up videos of childbirth, sex and any other intimate acts), and that people are expected to keep a blog revealing all of their innermost thoughts.

Trafford and his wife Chantorria (some of the least unusual character names in the book) have recently had a daughter, and with the infant mortality rates being so high, Trafford decides to have her vaccinated, risking great danger and the threat of death if this is discovered. In doing so, he becomes involved in seeking out others who may feel the same way as he does - who want to think for themselves, rather than be told what to think.

I have yet to discover a Ben Elton novel that I haven't enjoyed. This one is too funny and irreverent to be scary or disturbing in the way that novels like Nineteen Eighty Four are, but nonetheless, Elton does make some interesting points and observations about where the current obsession for celebrity gossip and reality television could lead. It's not a believable story, but I don't believe that it was ever intended to be.

Trafford is the most believable character in the story - as it is told from his point of view, this is probably to be expected. Many of the other characters are stereotypes and caricatures, but this is not a criticism - and it is possible to recognise some of their behaviour as typical of the type of person they are based on.

So all in all, if you are looking for a serious study about humanity and a dystopian society, this is not the book for you. But if you are looking for an entertaining and light hearted read with some very pointed observations, this comes highly recommended. ( )

Ben Elton has to be the most notorious triggerer of "Tall Poppy Syndrome" in Britain today. Judging by some of the sneering I've read, it would appear that any famous person who publicly espouses left-wing principles is bound by law to assume a state of poverty. Apparently they should automatically give all profits from their works to the needy, and preferably dwell naked in a cave off the coast of Dumfries.

Should such a famous left-leaner amass a personal fortune as a result of their own efforts, and hold onto that fortune, they will immediately be greeted with accusations of "hypocrisy" and "selling out". It's all somewhat unfair, especially when one considers how socially relevant Elton's writing still is.

His early works dealt with the abuse of the environment by big business (STARK, GRIDLOCK, GASPING, THIS OTHER EDEN): More recently he's been bold enough to consider a world where drugs are legalized (HIGH SOCIETY), he's skewered the cynical exploitation inherent in reality television shows (DEAD FAMOUS, CHART THROB), and this book presents his most inflammatory thesis yet - that religion is the root of all evil.

In BLIND FAITH, the central character, Trafford, is part of a generation that grew up a few decades After The Flood, an environmental disaster which destroyed much of London and required humanity to start again. In the wake of the disaster, religious leaders seized control (claiming that the rising water had been "God's punishment") and used their public support to establish a state where everyone must account for themselves publicly at all times. Privacy is dangerous; books, atheism and vaccinations are banned; surveillance and conformity are the order of the day. Our hero Trafford had been a willing supporter of the status quo until the death of his first daughter, and the subsequent break-up of his marriage. Now with a new partner and child, Trafford is offered a chance to have his daughter vaccinated - and to join the Humanists, an undercover organization which promotes free thought.

Elton's vision of a post-apocalyptic London isn't intended as solid, realistic sci-fi worldbuilding and shouldn't be taken as such. Although the initial scenario is a rewrite of 1984 with overtones of FAHRENHEIT 451 (and a touch of Ken Russell's THE DEVILS thrown in), Elton's aim is to satirize the worst excesses of contemporary society. This isn't the future, this is the present notched up just a little higher.

In a gripping and well-structured storyline Elton takes pot-shots at the dangers of distrusting proven science (the trendy refusal of infant vaccinations, evolution seen as an "optional" theory), at the "capture-everything" YouTube and blogging culture colliding with government surveillance, and demonstrates his usual dead-on ear for the vacuous, cliche-ridden monologues which are standard issue on TRISHA or JEREMY KYLE: "And if my sister can't keep her husband interested, then I've got every right to get in there and sort him out. He's fantastic and I love him and we have amazing sex and he really understands the needs of a woman and he's dead sensitive and caring and that and we do everything together and he says I'm the best he's ever had and he's never had nothing like it..."

Now, Elton-haters might argue that, in such parodies, Elton is turning his gunfire on the very working-classes he once fought for. Frankly, I'd disagree: his target is the recognizable trend of unapologetic ignorance and aggressive self-assertion, and at least he can make us laugh whilst we're being appalled.

Of course, this novel didn't please me entirely. With one exception, Elton's portrayal of women is of weak-minded, illogical, bitchy creatures who use floaty concepts of the Divine as a refuge from the strain of having to think for themselves. His visceral hatred of fat people also comes shining through - fat is equated throughout with offensiveness, deliberate rudeness and stupidity.

Now, I'm a woman, and I'm - ahem - rather "well-upholstered". I should loathe this novel, right? However, it's written with so much passion and creativity that Elton's lack of political correctness in these areas really doesn't matter too much to me. (For the record I don't agree with Elton's parodistic reduction of faith either, but his central thesis - that religion often brings out the worst in humanity - is pretty much unanswerable.)

So yes, certainly give this book a try - especially if you enjoyed Orwell's dystopia and would like to see a modern update. ( )