... Like the previous books Popcorn takes a topical subject which is also an easy target for Ben Elton biting satire and slightly dark humour and weaves a fairly predictable story around it.
In Popcorn it is the Hollywood film industry which is the easy target he picks on after all this is ... Read review
Advantages: Funny and fast paced satire Disadvantages: Predictable characters
...quality. Like the previous books Popcorn takes a topical subject which is also an easy target for Ben Elton biting satire and slightly dark humour and weaves a fairly predictable story around it.
In Popcorn it is the Hollywood film industry which is the easy target he picks on after all this is an industry where reality rarely makes an appearance and it exists within a culture of excess. In particular Elton focuses on the part of the ... ...in the whole story. In Popcorn all of the characters are flawed and at times down right nasty, Dalamitri is self obsessed with a vicious tongue who enjoys bullying people and has an air of self importance. In developing his characters Elton rarely strays from the stereotype which does give the reader a sense of predictability about the story line however it also serves to provide a comfort zone for the reader and makes it easy to relate to the story. more
It should have been the greatest night in Bruce Dalamitri life, Oscar night and he was a dead cert to win the Oscar for best Director following the success of his ultra violent ultra cool movies. Add to this the fact that upon collection of his Oscar he would then have the platform to speak out against the liberal wish washy Hollywood critics who blame his films for a rise in violence and later that night he would perform on a different platform in the form of the hottest Playmate on the scene and the subject of many a school boy (and Bruce) wet dreams.
What Bruce does not know is that also by the end of the night he will get to meet his number one fan however it is not an autograph that he is after and soon Bruce will have more to worry about than merely avoiding the embarrassment of delivering a speech in the Halle Berry / Gwyneth Paltrow stylie.
I would probably describe myself as a luke warm Ben Elton fan, in his pomp he was a good stand up comedian who I went to see in my student days and as a writer of comedy on TV he is up there with the best of them. As a writer of fiction I have read three of his books now and they have been of varying quality. Like the previous books Popcorn takes a topical subject which is also an easy target for Ben Elton biting satire and slightly dark humour and weaves a fairly predictable story around it.
In Popcorn it is the Hollywood film industry which is the easy target he picks on after all this is an industry where reality rarely makes an appearance and it exists within a culture of excess. In particular Elton focuses on the part of the film industry which produces those super cool very violent films ala Tarantino and indeed it is pretty obvious that the inspiration for Dalamitri comes from Tarantino right down to the Latin inflection in the surname.
Elton does not limit his attack on the film industry though, he also draws upon the wider media industry and also the culture within American and indeed spreading across to these shores of always blaming someone else for your troubles and never accepting responsibility for your own actions. In a book that it is light on intellectual content it is still quite thought provoking the points he seeks to put across whilst at the same time providing an entertaining read for those who do not want to think further than the next page.
On the plus side with this book there are some very funny moments that will make the reader smile and certainly the pace of the storyline easily held my attention and it moves along at a brisk pace. This is helped by the fact that Elton writing style is to keep the chapters to about half a dozen pages each and the story is primarily told from two main characters perspective with the story switching between them however at various times the story gets told by other minor characters in the book. This style helps keep the reader on their toes and the story moving along at a rapid rate. Elton also uses flash backs in the book to fill in the gaps and indeed in the opening couple of chapters you get to know some of the outcomes of the book and it is more a case of finding out how the characters got to that point rather than reading a chronologically structured book.
I did find that, unusually within a book, there was not one likeable character in the whole story. In Popcorn all of the characters are flawed and at times down right nasty, Dalamitri is self obsessed with a vicious tongue who enjoys bullying people and has an air of self importance. In developing his characters Elton rarely strays from the stereotype which does give the reader a sense of predictability about the story line however it also serves to provide a comfort zone for the reader and makes it easy to relate to the story.
I would recommend this book but only within a certain context. For me it is ideal reading if you are not looking to challenge the old grey matter too far and therefore it was ideal reading while stretched out on the beach turning my white bits pink. The subject matter of Hollywood is an easy target and one that it is fun to laugh at and the story is fast paced and entertaining with a few hilarious moments. There are a lack of twists to the storyline and the ending is quite predictable not least because you are given a few hints at the start of the book and it is very similar to other books my Elton.
Overall if you have not read any of his work before then it is not a bad starting point however in my opinion his book Dead Famous which is a satire of the Big Brother style reality TV show is a better read and far more entertaining. Overall I would give this one three stars.
I got my copy from the website readitswapit which is the source of most of my reading material these days. The rrp of my copy is £5.99 however it is available on Amazon for £5.59 new or from £1.40 in the new and used section or you could offer me a swap via readitswapit as I will shortly add it to my book list. I use my Dooyoo name on the site.
Published by Pocket Books the isbn is 0-671-85567-0.
Advantages: Great plot, explosive narrative, brilliant conclusion Disadvantages: Violence may shock some.
...unearthed my most traveled book, Popcorn by Ben Elton. This book has been with me and also via loans to friends to both US coasts, Spain, France, Italy, Canada and Thailand and I’m thinking it might have to make the trip to Africa!
This book is, in my opinion, Ben Elton’s finest hour and the most readable and yet insightful piece of modern fiction I have read. The messages that he tackles in his typical, fast-paced, tongue in cheek way are just ... ...perhaps more so. It is a measure of the intelligence of the book that this is the case. However this is by no means inaccessible to even the least world aware person. Without knowing or caring about diminishing personal responsibility, race issues or the media’s role in society it can still be an entertaining story and if by reading it some level of understanding on these issue can be imparted then all the better! THE PLOT IN SHORT
The story is ...
tallpaul1983 22.08.2003 (28.09.2003)
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Popcorn - Ben Elton
Advantages: Entertaining and addictive Disadvantages: Not for feint of heart
WARNING This book will seriously damage your outlook on life.
If you are looking for a love story with perhaps a wee bit of humour and good bedtime read i'm afraid this is not the book for you. This is a thrill a minute story of what could happen if what we see on TV and in films actually happened.
Ben Elton has mixed violence with humour and produced a quality read.
The three main characters are Bruce Delamirti, a big hollywood director who makes ... ...Wayne and Scout who are a couple that are reinacting what they see in Bruce's films. The entire book takes place over 2 days, the day of the oscars and the day after. They are perhaps both the best and worst days in Bruce's life. There are so many issues within the story that are true in life today that you actually start to think that this could happen. The ending is one of the best I have ever read and perhaps one of the most thought provoking.
...
Davie123 20.01.2001
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Popcorn - Ben Elton
Advantages: Very funny and Apt Disadvantages: None to speak of.
So goes Bruce Delamitris' Oscar speech hours before the worst night of his life. Wayne and Scout are Bonnie and Clyde wannabes...Okay they are Delamitri wannabes, copying every move in Delamitris' ultra violent, hip, trendy controversal films. Its Tarantino with bells on and they are ringing the bells. They are also waiting for Bruce to return to his Bel Air house. Armed with rifles and covered in Blood. Wayne knows he's in trouble but he has a plan....
... ...observation is spot on if blown out of proportion making this a rollicking read. His characters at first seem cardboard cut-outs, the arrogant Director, the sexy starlet, the spoiled teen, the Beverly hills actress, the white trash trailer scum...until that is they all meet on one fateful night. Ben Elton gives even the smallest speaking part a distinct voice and character, bringing with his unique cynisism life to the overblown storyline.
Its gripping, ...
scorching 01.04.2001
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Popcorn - Ben Elton
Advantages: Extremely funny black humour Disadvantages: Weak plot
So many people love this book and who am I to disagree. “…a viciously funny satire that also works as a tongue-in-cheek thriller” - The Sunday Times
“An absolute coup of black comedy” – Daily Telegraph
Ben Elton started off as a stand-up comic back in the 80’s (remember them?) and then decided to write novels too. His stand-up is very political and he chooses to give his novels a moral and political tone. The moralising may not be to everyone’s ... ...own as plain old funny books. The plot is extremely simple and entirely guessable from a very early stage. Bruce is a moviemaker who makes very violent films and Wayne and Scout are killers of the indiscriminate variety. The three are bound to meet! The book is nothing to do with the plot and everything to do with our perceptions about who does what and why, who is right, who is wrong. Are we all to blame? Personally I think Americans are much more ...
steve_frazer 04.07.2000
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Popcorn - Ben Elton
Advantages: manages to combine gripping with sarcastic humour Disadvantages: not for the faint hearted
...left to read later. Popcorn is a story based on a film director (Bruce) and 2 murderers on the run (Wayne and Scout), Bruce is an oscar winning director of films involving violence and murder which makes him somewhat of an idol to Wayne. Wayne and Scout are named the mall killers after travelling around America killing people everywhere they go. This is not what I would usually read but it has a story line that simply can not be put down and I found ...
dannypboro 30.11.2004
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Popcorn - Ben Elton
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Advantages: Very relevent at the moment with all the reality TV Disadvantages: I borrowed it from my brother and now he has it back.
This is one of the best books I have read in a long time. I had never read any of BenElton's books before. I've seen a play of his called Popcorn and love his TV work but I think his true talent lies with writing novels. The story is set in a Big Brother style house where there is a murder. Every second of every day is filmed but still no-one knows who the murderer is. It is cleverly written so the reader doesn't even know who has been killed until near the end even though the book starts with the police investigating. The story gradually unfolds as the detectives sit and watch days of footage from the show and discuss the suspects. He keeps you guessing right to the end about both the murderer and the murdered. The characters are hilarious and it exagerates the stupidity of these shows and the lengths the production companies go to to ...
Advantages: Easy to read on bus/train, makes you think Disadvantages: None
For my first BenElton novel, this didn't disapoint, so much so I went out and bought 'Popcorn', but I enjoyed this alot more.
The story centres around one night of Polly, a council worker, who awakes to find her ex of fifteen years previous on the doorstep. Unbeknown to either of them they are being watched by a pyschotic stalker, who would rather see Polly dead than with someone else.
While Peter (the stalker) is plotting the demise of Polly, she and Jack are re-living old ground.
The plot switches back and forth the past fifteen years, but keeps the reader on the edge to find out why Jack left and what became of them both over the years.
For Jack the army is everything more than life itself, for Polly there are more important things.
Jack and Polly argue their corners well and it's difficult to find a fault in either ...
Advantages: Great characters, amusing Disadvantages: not hard to put down
The Blurb
Chart Throb. The ultimate pop quest.
Ninety five thousand hopefuls. Three Judges. Just one winner.
And that's Calvin Simms, the genius behind the show.
Calvin always wins because Calvin writes the rules. But this year, as he sits in judgement upon Mingers, Clingers and Blingers whom he has pre-selected in his carefully scripted 'search' for a star, he has no idea that the rules are changing. The real is about to be put back into 'reality' televison and Calvin and his fellow judges are about to become ex-factors themselves.
benElton, author of Popcorn and Dead Famous, returns to blistering comic satire with a savagely hilarious deconstruction of the world of modern television talent shows.
Chart Throb. One winner. a whole bunch of losers.
The Story
Here we meet Calvin Simms, the richest and most powerful ...
Bruce shoots movies. Wayne and Scout shoot to kill. In a single night they find out the hard way what's real and what's not, who's the hero and who's the villain. The USA watches slack-jawed as Bruce and Wayne together resolve some serious questions. Does Bruce use erection cream ? Does art imitate life, or does life simply imitate bad art?
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