Not sure what I expected. The comic streak not quite there. Whatever the arguments and plot themes designed to explore legalization, the overall theme that came across to me was that people who can afford a habit are more likely to get away with it than people who can't. This is not all that radical, and it paints a very ugly picture of the UK at the time - perhaps it was that way, but I wonder if this is more about what the tabloids said it was than about what it actually was. As for the writing itself, easy to read, despite the overworked regional accents; characters with very little depth, more like policy positions than characters; and occasionally heroic and unlikely plot twists in order to make a point. Not my favorite Ben Elton novel.

Hilarious! One of the few books which claim to be funny and actually is.

Five stars.

Ben Elton has produced a complex narrative with an interesting style. There are no clear chapters and we are carried through the book via the multiple narratives of the main characters. MP Peter Paget has won the lottery to present this parliamentary sessions Private members bill and has chosen to focus on the legalisation of all drugs. We meet his attractive ministerial secretary, journalists and a variety of drug users as Elton draws together the multiple narrative lines. The characters were all flawed and we see all those flaws as the book progresses. Elton does a good job of making the reader like or loathe his characters and sometimes my opinions changed. My main problem would be that there was some repetition and the whole thing just seemed a little lengthy to me

I have worked in trade for a long time, not in the most elite sector, and I have the skill to distinguish abusers. And I have always been surprised by the diametrically opposite style of behavior in two groups of addicts. Alcoholics are a little ashamed and behave as if they are apologizing to the world, like a Drunkard in "The Little Prince": "- I drink to forget. - Forget about what? "That I'm ashamed of what I drink." Drug addicts are arrogant and arrogant: "we are flying, and you are crawling, you fools, fools" they break through even when they try to drive you obviously stolen. Not that I thought much about this topic, but with the book by British comedian Ben Elton, I vividly remembered.

Therefore, the title "Secular nonsense" perfectly fits this book. It doesn't matter that in the absolute majority of cases, people who use drugs have nothing to do with the establishment. Substances do something like that with the psyche, tightly snap some kind of toggle switch in the brain, which is responsible for adequate self-esteem, make you see yourself as lords hovering on a helicopter carpet. Although in the gallery of images of the novel, the only and far from the main character is somehow connected with the upper world - the wayward daughter of a lord and the mistress of a rock musician, who plays one of the main roles in this story.

In the exposition of the novel, the monologue of pop idol Tommy Hansen at a meeting of Alcoholics Anonymous runs from the beginning to the end of the story, depicting the transformation of a spoiled, crazy and sometimes completely unbearable, but damn charming guy into a serious responsible and reliable man, determined to end the sins of youth. Yes, and could he do without the cult musician Elton, who wrote the musical "Wi Will Rock You" (which critics did not understand, but the audience voted with a conditional ruble and continues to do it - a dystopia with Queen compositions based on the longest-running Broadway productions).

This structure of the musical: monologues interspersed with a third-person story, it follows in "Secular nonsense", the plot is based on a bill on the legalization of drugs, which MP Peter Paget submits to Parliament. Motivating by the fact that all spheres of society are permeated with the use of various substances, from conditionally harmless weed to heavy heroin and crack, he proposes to allow everything and issue prescription drugs to addicts, thereby excluding drug-related crimes. One of Paget's arguments: "The battle with drugs is lost by society, and drug cartels and corrupt police officers benefit from the ban on them."

Married 43-year-old Peter, who sincerely believes in his own rhetoric, on the wave of sudden and somewhat scandalous fame, enters into an affair with an assistant, a young and beautiful Samantha, this affair in the style of "devil-in-the-rib" will also be a significant line of the novel. There is also an honest police officer Lehman, who supports Peter, he sees well how many of his colleagues become the service of the drug mafia. There is a girl from Scotland, Jessie, who ran away from home, where her stepfather was chasing her and fell into the clutches of a pimp in London who got hooked on heroin. And another girl who contracted as a courier in Tai, who ended up in prison there.

The author masterfully weaves their stories, it's interesting to read /listen to - in the audio variant performed by Sergey Chonishvili just fine - and is in no hurry to voice his own position on the possibility of legalization. Although something tells me that he doesn't think an open Overton window is a particularly good idea.

Зло зла злее
Герой на героине
Героиня на героине
Я долго работала в торговле, не в самом элитном секторе, и навык различения злоупотребляющих имею. И я всегда удивлялась диаметрально противоположному стилю поведения у двух групп зависимых. Алкоголики немного стыдятся и ведут себя так, словно извиняются перед миром, как Пьяница в "Маленьком Принце": "- Я пью, чтобы забыть. - Забыть о чем? - О том, что мне стыдно за то, что я пью". Наркоманы заносчивы и высокомерны: "мы летим, а вы ползете, дураки вы, дураки" у них прорывается даже когда пытаются загнать тебе явно краденое. Не то, чтобы я много думала на эту тему, но с книгой британского комика Бена Элтона живо вспомнила.

Потому заглавие "Светская дурь" замечательно подходит этой книге. Неважно, что в абсолютном большинстве случаев употребляющие люди не имеют к истеблишменту отношения. Вещества что-то такое делают с психикой, намертво защелкивают какой-то тумблер в мозгу, который отвечает за адекватную самооценку, заставляют видеть себя лордами, парящими на ковре-вертолете. Хотя в галерее образов романа как-то связана с высшим светом единственная и далеко не главная героиня - непутевая дочь лорда и любовница рок-музыканта, который на одной из основных ролей в этой истории.

В экспозиции романа монолог поп-идола Томми Хансена на собрании Анонимных Алкоголиков проходит от начала к концу истории, рисуя трансформацию избалованного успехом безбашенного и порой совершенно невыносимого, но чертовски обаятельного парня в серьезного ответственного и надежного мужчину, твердо намеренного покончить с грехами молодости. Да, и мог ли обойтись без культового музыканта Элтон, написавший мюзикл "Wi Will Rock You" (которого критики не поняли, но зритель проголосовал условным рублем и продолжает это делать - антиутопия с композициями Queen в основе из самых долгоиграющих бродвейских постановок).

Этой структуре мюзикла: монологи, перемежающиеся рассказом от третьего лица, он следует и в "Светской дури", в основе сюжета законопроект о легализации наркотиков, который депутат Питер Педжет вносит на рассмотрение Парламента. Мотивируя тем, что все сферы общества пронизаны употреблением различных веществ, от условно безобидной травки до тяжелого героина и крека, он предлагает разрешить все и выдавать зависимым рецептурно, тем исключив преступления на почве наркомании. Один из аргументов Педжета: "Битва с наркотиками обществом проиграна, а от запрета на них выигрывают наркокартели и коррумпированные полицейские."

Женатый 43-летний Питер, искренне верящий в собственную риторику, на волне внезапной и несколько скандальной известности, вступает в связь с помощницей, молодой и прекрасной Самантой, эта интрижка в стиле "бес-в-ребро" тоже будет значимой линией романа. Есть еще честный полицейский Леман, поддерживающий Питера, он хорошо видит, как многие его коллеги становятся на службу наркомафии. Есть девушка из Шотландии Джесси, которая сбежала из дома, где ее преследовал отчим и попала в Лондоне в лапы сутенера, подсадившего на героин. И еще одна девушка, подрядившаяся курьером в Тай, которая попала в тамошнюю тюрьму.

Автор мастерски сплетает их истории, это интересно читать/слушать - в аудиоварианте в исполнении Сергея Чонишвили просто отлично - и не торопится озвучивать собственную позицию в отношении возможности легализации. Хотя что-то подсказывает мне, что он не считает распахнутое окно Овертона особенно хорошей идеей

I read it long time ago, about 2004, as a student of English for adults. The book was tough and they use a lot of slang words, and really new to me. I liked but for me was tough at the moment and I suffer a little bit with some of the characters...

Excellent

I think it was funny? Ben Elton usually is, so I'll shelve it under 'humour' unless I remember more about the book. I read it while backpacking and that was a good 14 years ago.

I read an article that suggested Ben Elton had sold 3 million books in the last decade. That’s not necessarily a gauge of quality, as Katie Price was hot on his heels, but it was a good enough reason to read one of his novels, especially as humour is my preferred genre. Obviously, I chose ‘High Society’ to dip my toe into and I wasn’t disappointed.

The story is a series of drug-related, interconnecting tales. In the main thread, Labour MP, Peter Paget, is chosen by ballot to introduce a Private Member’s Bill. He proposes that Parliament legalise all recreational drug use. Elton uses the Paget family, Paget’s parliamentary assistant, Samantha, with whom he’s having an affair, together with the characters and scenarios in the other threads to make a valid argument for the proposal.

The exaggerated characters and witty one-liners offer up plenty of humour, but a nefarious darkness hangs over the proceedings. Shocking and deeply moving scenes are woven carefully into the plot.

Elton is often criticised for being too didactic and his literary skills derided. However, he knows his target audience and serves it well. He sets out to entertain and he pulls it off.

“Oi want you to blow some charlie op moi crapper, Tom.” Whilst using an empty biro to blow an illegal stimulant up your West Country date’s bottom is comedic, the regional accent isn’t. The various dialects rendered in the book are a task to read. Nobody’s perfect!

This book starts with an interesting premise: what if all drugs were legalised in Britain? However, the amount of characters and different points of view made this difficult for me to follow (my brain has been overloaded lately). So I’m giving up at 10%.

I've read a lot of stories recently that weren't stories at all; they were the author's views arranged around weak characters. Kurt Vonnegut's 'Cat's Cradle' comes to mind here. Ben Elton's 'High Society' is not like this at all. It carries a political agenda but the story is still paramount and the characters are real, lovable in their "fooked" up ways.

It gets you thinking about drugs and how to tackle them, an issue which is as important today as when High Society was published nearly fifteen years ago. The story and the message resonate in the same way. What I was not expecting when I began the book was Elton's ideas on the corruption in politics which I think, even more than drugs, are the novel's main theme.

This is a fantastic book that brought a lot of nostalgia, fun and, buried deeply (as it should be) a message of true importance.

High Society is about a politician's bid to legalise all drugs in the UK and a range of characters who exemplify different angles of the argument. This wasn't what I expected of Ben Elton given his role as a writer on so many great TV shows. I expected something witty and nuanced but instead it was just crass and like something a hormonal 17-year-old might write. What really grated on me was the use of accent/dialect for the Brummie and Scottish characters especially.

Not for me... I hate when dialect is written out