There are an awful lot of things to say about this wonderfully funny book.
First of all though, having had it a week, and after some of the dust has settled I think it's worth referring to the reviews already here on amazon. I'm willing to bet money that all the one-star entries are written by the disgruntled local councillors that the book does such a good job at hammering. They seem to be as ill-informed about the book as they are about how to run a town. They clearly haven't read it. Few, if any of the contributors seem to be students. The authors clearly received thousands of emails. They have visited the towns in question (like, er, how else did they manage to take all those photos?)
On to more positive things, however. It's hilarious. Wonderfully sharp prose, briliant observation, genius photography. I come from Morecambe and the entry for my poor town was just spot on.
And it really set me thinking. This book really does make a serious point about the way we live our lives. It's satire at it's finest and most cutting - which is why I'm sure so many people find it difficult to cope with. If ever a book summed up the State Of The Nation, this is it.
It's a call to action to get rid of hopeless local authorities and try to do something about the ugliness and snobbery that surrounds us. I'm at Univesity at the moment, but when I'm done I'm going to go back to Morecambe and try to do something for the poor place. I feel that strongly now.
And, of course, back to my original point, it's funny too. I loved it.