- Unknown Binding
- Publisher: Gollancz Paperbacks (7 Oct 2004)
- ISBN-10: 0752869973
- ISBN-13: 978-0752869971
- Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (35 customer reviews)
Incompetence (Gollancz S.F.)
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Review
'Crime Fantasy Fawlty Towers-style' (DAILY MIRROR )
'A revolutionary black comedy... he is spookily similar to that other science ficiton writer... Douglas Adams' (Paul Pickering THE DAILY EXPRESS )
'It's a tequila-sniffing, lemon-in-the-eye kind of affair - all wrong, but so right' (MAXIM )
'Who needs Red Dwarf? Rob Grant doesn't any more...' (SFX )
'A surreal, Monty Python-esque detective novel peppered with laugh-out-loud gags and elaborately conceived, vastly silly set-pieces' (DREAMWATCH )
'The jokes comes thick and fast' (Scotland on Sunday )
'Satire abounds in this consistently amusing comedy of errors' (Starburst ) --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
'A revolutionary black comedy... he is spookily similar to that other science ficiton writer... Douglas Adams' (Paul Pickering THE DAILY EXPRESS )
'It's a tequila-sniffing, lemon-in-the-eye kind of affair - all wrong, but so right' (MAXIM )
'Who needs Red Dwarf? Rob Grant doesn't any more...' (SFX )
'A surreal, Monty Python-esque detective novel peppered with laugh-out-loud gags and elaborately conceived, vastly silly set-pieces' (DREAMWATCH )
'The jokes comes thick and fast' (Scotland on Sunday )
'Satire abounds in this consistently amusing comedy of errors' (Starburst ) --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Paul Pickering, THE DAILY EXPRESS
'A revolutionary black comedy... he is spookily similar to that other science ficiton writer... Douglas Adams'
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
14 of 15 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Rob Grant is one of the best comedy writers I have seen, better than Ben Elton in my opinion. His style and humour are brilliant and he would have had me rolling about on the floor in hysterical laughter if it wasn't for all the dog hair.
The book is based on Europe in the not distant enough future, Europe is now known as the United States of Europe and incompetence is a way of life. Political correctness has gone mad and discrimination is not allowed no matter what a persons sex, age, race or incompetence. In fact the worse you do the quicker you will climb the ever so slippery ladder of sucess. This is a bit of a problem for Harry Salt, you see he is actually good at his job - too good! Harry Salt (just one of his many identities but the one he goes by mostly in the book) is an agent working for an establishment mearly known as The Agency. He's abit like a private detective but with a bigger expense account, more authority and the ability to dispose of anyone in his way - okay so not very much like a private detective but he does solve crimes, and a hell of a lot better than the police.
The plot is predictable and the solution even more so, but it is not that that makes the book a worthwile read. It is the journey there and the characters Harry meets along the way that will have you in stitches within minutes.
10 of 11 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I don't normally write reviews, but I was moved to do so in this case after reading some of the earlier comments. In short, there's nothing at all wrong with this book except that it isn't Red Dwarf. But, you know, we have to accept the fact that nothing else will ever be RD, and move on. A suitable period of mourning has elapsed, I think.
Although Incompetence has a plot, of sorts, it isn't really that important. And maybe the characters are a bit like cardboard cutouts, but that isn't important either. Incompetence is really a vehicle for the author to make jokes about situations that piss him off. Now, if you can identify with these situations, you'll find the book funny. If you can't, you won't. No particular life experience was necessary to be able to appreciate RD. You may, or may not, have enjoyed its particular brand of lavatory humour and insults; but if you didn't, it probably wasn't because you don't have sufficient life skills. But Incomptence only makes sense, I think, if you have a particular mind-set, and have seen a bit of the world. For example, if you don't understand why the idea of a caterer being compelled to employ a waiter with Tourette's syndrome is funny, it won't help if someone explains it to you. Either you get it or you don't.
For my part, I started laughing from the first paragraph, and carried on laughing until the last page. In places I laughed so hard I thought I'd swallow my own eyeballs. At the same time, I can imagine a bunch of RD fans scratching their heads, and complaining that there's only one fart joke in the whole book.
In summary, the humour in this book is more like that in Dilbert than in Red Dwarf. Like Dilbert, the plot and the characters are sketchy. Also, like Dilbert, if you don't understand it, it's because it's about you. :)
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Incompetence is full of great humour, witty one liners and amusing thoughts. Rob Grant has a unique and old school sense of humour, which is undeniably English to the core. Incompetence is a great showcase for Grant, unleashing his style in a futuristic Europe, where stupidity is norm. Incompetence fails in the long term though. Despite the persistent humour, the actual story is rather mundane, through to a rather routine finale. With a better structure this book could have been great, however as it stands it remains good, if a little laborious at times.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
frustrates and entertains in pretty much equal measure
This is a somewhat of a curious book. A kind of futuristic, comic noir. Its strengths are some very well written, clever and genuinely funny scenes. Read more
Published 24 days ago by Rob Kitchin
simple good fun
Before writing books Rob Grant created the TV show "Red Dwarf" . If you know the show you might got an idea what he comes up with in a book. The story is simple enough. Read more
Published 4 months ago by Frank Wetzig
A great read
One of the best reads I've ever had.
It reads as a series of sketches joined very canily, with enough cynical (but accurate) observations to keep the reader enthralled. Read more
It reads as a series of sketches joined very canily, with enough cynical (but accurate) observations to keep the reader enthralled. Read more
Published 12 months ago by hawkeyes
Hilarious
I'm a big fan of the Red Dwarf series and books, and decided to pick this up just as a throwaway 'why not' purchase.
I'm extremely glad I did - it's truly hilarious. Read more
I'm extremely glad I did - it's truly hilarious. Read more
Published 13 months ago by Dave the Pirate
A very funny book ideal as a quick read and a good laugh
Just imagine Europe if everyone despite their disability was employable, not only that, was not discrimated against in any sense of the word in getting any job even if they are... Read more
Published 20 months ago by laurey
Extremely funny
In the all-to-near future, the European Union is well on its way to becoming a single federalised state. Read more
Published on 19 Oct 2009 by A. Whitehead
sdrawkcaB
After reading Grant's other non-Red Dwarf novel - Fat - I had pretty low expectations of this. Fortunately I was pleasantly surprised; the story is much more cohesive than 'Fat',... Read more
Published on 21 May 2009 by Captain Pugwash
Never mind the plot, here's the action
The plot of this book could probably be equally well told in about 3 pages. What makes this a very entertaining read is the other 300+ pages of, in the main, slapstick humour as... Read more
Published on 7 Mar 2008 by P. J. Bragg
Rib-bustingly funny
Not many books make me laugh out loud but Incompetence made me laugh out loud on pretty much every page. Read more
Published on 16 Jan 2008 by Craig Cripps
Side splittingly Funny
One of the funniest things I've ever read, as funny as the best parts of Red Dwarf and far more intelligent. Some really biting wit in there. Brilliant.
Published on 10 Nov 2007 by J. Greenhow
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