Identity Crisis

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I've always liked Ben Elton without ever being his biggest fan but in this book, he genuinely spoke to me. This is relentlessly bubbly, irreverent (of course) and often very funny. No target is safe in this very-near-future world of Elton's and he fires shots seemingly indiscriminately. While most politicians have made up names it's obvious who is being sent up, for example, Bunter Jollye and Plantagenet Greased-Hogg - can't imagine who they are modelled on . . . Mean that you actually want to kill them. It’s more like “Oh, I disagree with you. Maybe you should think things through more”, that sort of thing.” That's why the plot all falls apart at the end; there's not a strong enough ideological framework behind it to carry it through to a powerful finish. The book's less terrible than it would be if Elton was a full-on reactionary, but it's probably more boring. This book is hilarious, sad in parts, and terrifying as it is so easy to see the truth in the humour. I listened to this as an audiobook read by the author, and laughed aloud more than once walking along. Ben Elton is a talented narrator (as well as author), bringing his characters to life with ease. It was not at all a trial to keep up with each story and voice. A perfect audio read, really.

Identity Crisis - Penguin Books UK

MyHome.ie (Opens in new window) • Top 1000 • The Gloss (Opens in new window) • Recruit Ireland (Opens in new window) • Irish Times Training (Opens in new window) The endless conversations on political correctness (in particular pronouns) become repetitive and tedious fast and it reads exactly like how it is: a 60 year old writing for other 60 year olds about da yoof of today. I’d hoped this book was going to be a wry, amusing look at the current state of Western society - specifically: vapid celebrity worship, outrage culture and social media witch-hunts, empty and divisive identity politics, and out-of-control political correctness - but unfortunately it’s not. Elton touches on all of those subjects but not in any way I’d say was fun, unique or insightful. This is razor-sharp, relevant and completely on point. From police officers who can't say the right thing when a victim (or is it survivor who died?) is murdered in a park to the hammy old 'lech' of an actor maneuvering to stay relevant (and solvent) as his one man show is vilified... it all hits the mark.I would like to preface this review by saying that generally speaking I like Ben Elton and I understand that this book is satire. The problem is, I just can't work out quite what it's trying to satirise, and therefore if I think the satirisation of that issue is something I can or cannot get behind. Enjoyable commentary on contemporary society and its over the top political correctness, and the ‘me’ generation with their social media obsession. I’ve never given such a low rating to a Ben Elton book but I would’ve given up on it if it wasn’t written by him. I was hoping it was going somewhere, but unfortunately not really. I like to think that Ben Elton usually adds an extra layer of something that might just be true to really elevate a social phenomenon. This one was a little too literal for me, and maybe it's just the age gap showing, but his attempts at levity through his dialogue (usually a huge strength) fell a little flat. I felt like he was trying to explain mindsets and get his audience up to speed on the language and approaches rather than doing anything innovative with them.

Identity Crisis by Ben Elton | Goodreads Identity Crisis by Ben Elton | Goodreads

There were flashes of genius in this book and some great ideas underpinning it all, but the execution let it down badly. It pretty much turned into an essay with ciphers for characters and I just wanted it to end. Ironically, just as he finally had something gripping happening to the characters, the whole thing ended, so what's the moral to this story? Ben Elton: ‘I don’t do trivial observations any more. I’ve run out of them. And I assume everybody’s covered everything by now.’ Photograph: Don Arnold/WireImage If you say something controversial on social media, YOU DIE! At least that’s what literally happens to the beleaguered characters in Ben Elton’s latest novel, Identity Crisis. Whoooo boy. Okay. I have some feelings about this book. So many mixed feelings. I've been thinking about it since I finished it last night and I still can't quite decide how I feel about it so bear with me if this review is a mess. I'm going to say upfront that while I really enjoyed this book, I'm not sure the humour would be for everyone. Previous satire novels from this author are right up there in my top favourite books ever (Blind Faith and Chart Throb if you are looking for recommendations haha) and this new one has a similar feel to them. However, it is definitely controversial and no doubt would be offensive to some readers in relation to both its themes (identity, pronouns and online rage) as well as profanity (the 'c word' is used a few times, consider yourself warned). Again, like his previous satire novels, the storyline is both ridiculous and yet also scarily believable. The characters are not necessarily likeable, but are highly entertaining.A mathematician spinning the numbers to influence public opinion, a world-weary police officer struggling to keep up with inclusivity as well as other small cogs in this magnified melting pot of rage look so like our own world that it's hard to believe this is simply fiction. Satire, wit and keen observations combine to give us an eerie view of the current climate, with keyboard warriors frightening politicians, public services & corporations with their own form of written vitriol. Hashtags going viral, as people increasingly display their outrage online. He never meant to stay away so long. But his three kids were growing up, he was living mainly in Fremantle, Australia, his wife Sophie's home town. He had his writing to occupy him: 16 novels now, not to mention three series of Shakespeare sitcom Upstart Crow (plus a stage version, opening in the West End early next year). Which partly explains why he is "as scared as I get" to return to standup. "Which is not proper scared," he clarifies. "When I started as a comedian, 38 years ago, standup was very, very rough. That was proper scary. If I hadn't had my cornflakes by 8am on the day I was compering at the Comedy Store, there was no way I was going to eat." More than that – and greatly to my surprise – he denies any iconoclastic dimension to alternative comedy. "There was no revolutionary intent," he says, of the movement that radicalised a generation, called out racist and sexist humour, and commissioned a nose-pierced punk (Ade Edmondson's Vyvyan) to tear the title sequence of twee sitcom The Good Life to shreds. "No one ever tried to break any boundaries or bust the rules. No one ever said, 'Let's change comedy.' And, if anyone had, they would have been very arrogant and doomed to failure. Everybody was just trying to do their best work."

Identity Crisis by Ben Elton | Waterstones Identity Crisis by Ben Elton | Waterstones

Big shout out to Collin, who I buddy read this with. I had a blast! Make sure you read Collin's review too at https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... *** This satire of identity politics and media manipulation must be effective because readers on both the left and right think it’s unfair to them. It’s definitely over the top, but not as much as we would all hope these days. Other satires I've read, by frothing-at-the-mouth reactionaries who are living in a terrifying fantasy world they have built in their heads, have been compelling nightmares where we tear through the wall and peer into the writhing psyche of the racist and/or transphobe. This guy isn't like that. He has some feelings. He has some comedy writing credits. Unfortunately his perspective is just very ordinary and undeveloped and he doesn't really have any jokes. I never know when people don't like me, and I never expect them not to. So I've always been surprised when I irritate people Britain’s most talked-about and much-loved TV show was now linked irrevocably with the enablement of sexual abuse. Whether people agreed with that view or not was irrelevant.”You get the picture. This sets the tone for the book. It only gets crazier and more ridiculous from here. But the scary thing is, what Ben Elton describes is so eerily true of the "modern world". Society seems to be divided into very specific boxes based on beliefs/politics/gender/sexuality, and Ben has a great time flogging each of these sacred cows. And then he wasn't. Nowadays you can't talk about Elton without references to selling out, and to Stewart Lee's notorious routine comparing him with Osama bin Laden, who "at least lived his life according to a consistent set of ethical principles". More on that later: Elton has plenty to say on the subject. But then, he's got plenty to say on every subject. At 60 and a self-described "dad man", the artist formerly known as Motormouth (the title of his 1987 album) is as voluble as ever in the run-up to his first standup tour in 15 years. It's a pretty extraordinary outburst, this – replete with references to the impact on his family of the vitriol heaped on him for 2013 sitcom The Wright Way – that Elton tries to rein in, but can't. ("I've done what I never do, which is prove to be over-sensitive …") I offer him a get-out, by emphasising the positive – which is that, to engender such a sharp sense of betrayal, his work was clearly hugely important to people in the first place. And isn't it fascinating that we can invest so much in, and expect so much of, a comedian? Instead it comes off less satirical and more simply reflective of everyday life (which I suppose is a commentary in itself of just how absurd things have gotten at this point!). Elton hasn’t got anything to say about it all except “Bit bonkers, innit?”, which, duh. It’s just not funny. The wider world in which the microcosm is occurring is just as crazy - not only have we had the Brexit referendum, but now a similar vote is forthcoming to decide on Britain's future as the United Kingdom, or if it will break up. Both campaigns eagerly fall on every social media trend and news item, spinning it to their cause, to outrageous effect.