Chart Throb

Chart Throb by Ben Elton

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


*** Possible Spoilers ***

I loved this book. However, if you don't like black-humor and satire it's not for you. I don't think Ben Elton is quite up to the standards of Tom Sharpe, but he's in the running.

In this story we see reality TV, specifically things like America's Got Talent shredded. I've never actually watched a reality TV show so I don't know what they're like and, exaggeration is certainly a part of satire, but if I was producing such a show this book would make me cringe.

I read this one in e-format and it was 882 pages. True, there were a few pages for copyright etc. but it was still long. By page 600 I was worried the author would wimp out on the ending but he didn't.
Admittedly, I think he made a small mistake in the logistics but it really doesn't matter much.

Some reviews criticize this book for lack of character development. One doesn't write satire for the characters. One writes it to skewer something - in this case reality television and that was done brilliantly. If you're the sort of reader who wants characters who surmount difficulty after difficulty and rise to new levels of self-awareness, forget this book. Likewise, if you want to empathize with characters' struggles, take a pass here. This one is for those who like utter ruthlessness in their characters and watching them take apart an institution.

Within the above caveats I highly recommend this one. I think I'll try some of Mr. Elton's other books.



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