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Inconceivable
 
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Inconceivable (Mass Market Paperback)

by Ben Elton (Author)
4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (106 customer reviews)
RRP: £7.99
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Inconceivable + This Other Eden + Popcorn
Price For All Three: £17.47

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Product details

  • Mass Market Paperback: 366 pages
  • Publisher: Black Swan; New edition edition (1 Jun 2000)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0552146986
  • ISBN-13: 978-0552146982
  • Product Dimensions: 19.4 x 12.8 x 2.6 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (106 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 15,256 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    Popular in this category:

    #5 in  Books > Fiction > Authors, A-Z > E > Elton, Ben

Product Description

Amazon.co.uk Review
Whenever Sam thinks about babies, he envisages rivers of vomit and sleepless nights. But wife Lucy can't walk past Mothercare without crying. What's more, she can't seem to conceive--not by traditional methods, anyway. Hippy confidante Drusilla suggests an array of New Age remedies, including the intimate use of nutmeg oil and al fresco lovemaking. As Lucy faces a possible verdict of infertility, her love for Sam enters tailspin, accelerated by the advent of arrogant actor Carl Phipps. Meanwhile Sam, desperate to escape his tedious BBC job, conceives the inconceivable--turning the intimacies of their battle for babies into an acclaimed movie script.

Inconceivable tells a poignant and heart-rending story with Elton's trademark wit, creating a novel that is entertaining and emotionally satisfying; as explosive as Popcorn and with the incendiary humour of Blast From the Past. It courageously tackles its central theme from both the male and the female points of view, and while delivering laughs on every page, it steers clear of laddish clichés. Lucy's tale, though pregnant with unfulfilled emotion, never stints on humour. "There seem", she fumes, "to be more urban myths attached to infertility than there are to ... film stars filling their bottoms with small animals."

Aside from the rich vein of gags about DIY conception (Sam has to leave a power lunch with the excuse: "Sorry, my wife is ovulating ..."), Elton also subjects the TV industry to relentless stand-up-style bombardment, giving birth to some brilliant asides, which enrich the main story but never overpower it. Funny, tragic, true and ultimately heart-warming, this book should be available on the National Health Service. --Matthew Baylis

Amazon.co.uk Review
Whenever Sam thinks about babies, he envisages rivers of vomit and sleepless nights. But wife Lucy can't walk past Mothercare without crying. What's more, she can't seem to conceive--not by traditional methods, anyway. Hippy confidante Drusilla suggests an array of New Age remedies, including the intimate use of nutmeg oil and al fresco lovemaking. As Lucy faces a possible verdict of infertility, her love for Sam enters tailspin, accelerated by the advent of arrogant actor Carl Phipps. Meanwhile Sam, desperate to escape his tedious BBC job, conceives the inconceivable--turning the intimacies of their battle for babies into an acclaimed movie script.

Inconceivable tells a poignant and heart-rending story with Elton's trademark wit, creating a novel that is entertaining and emotionally satisfying; as explosive as Popcorn and with the incendiary humour of Blast From the Past. It courageously tackles its central theme from both the male and the female points of view, and while delivering laughs on every page, it steers clear of laddish clichés. Lucy's tale, though pregnant with unfulfilled emotion, never stints on humour. "There seem," she fumes, "to be more urban myths attached to infertility than there are to ... film stars filling their bottoms with small animals."

Aside from the rich vein of gags about DIY conception (Sam has to leave a power lunch with the excuse: "Sorry, my wife is ovulating ..."), Elton also subjects the TV industry to relentless stand-up-style bombardment, giving birth to some brilliant asides which enrich the main story but never overpower it. Funny, tragic, true and ultimately heart warming, this book should be available on the National Health Service. --Matthew Baylis

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What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?

Inconceivable
74% buy the item featured on this page:
Inconceivable 4.3 out of 5 stars (106)
£5.99
This Other Eden
9% buy
This Other Eden 4.5 out of 5 stars (18)
£5.99
Dead Famous
7% buy
Dead Famous 4.0 out of 5 stars (107)
£5.99
Popcorn
5% buy
Popcorn 4.5 out of 5 stars (14)
£5.49

 

Customer Reviews

106 Reviews
5 star:
 (63)
4 star:
 (23)
3 star:
 (9)
2 star:
 (9)
1 star:
 (2)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
4.3 out of 5 stars (106 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Haven't laughed so much in a long time., 11 Jan 2001
By A Customer
This review is from: Inconceivable (Paperback)
I used to live in the UK and had heared Ben Elton on BBC, both TV and radio. I always wanted to read some of his books. So during my last visit to London I just grabbed it off the shelf in a bookshop without knowing anything about it, just that it was by Ben Elton. Over the Christmas season I had time to indulged. I read it in a very short time, it so gripped me. I laughed so much at times,I cried till my tummy hurt. The way he contrasts his and her feelings were just too real. I could identify, if not with the subject, but surely with the gender pictures he paints. Also his insight into 'the inner workings of the BBC, especially since 'outsourcing' has become common, is very well communicate. I learnd a lot about the subject of infertility and being entertained at the same time. The language of the story reminded me very much of my time in the UK and I can only recommend it if you need a good and hard laugh. As a result of reading this book I will buy some of his other books as well.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars An interesting idea, 1 April 2006
By Mr. G. Battle (Essex, UK) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)      
Ben Elton taps his personal career to produce a book centered around a couple working at the BBC. The entire book is formed from the couple's personal diaries, created to help then deal with the difficulty of getting pregnant. As per usual, the Elton brand of wit is sharp, rude and cutting edge, hitting on the taboo areas of our everyday lives most people don't feel comfortable talking about. It's interesting reading since Elton never hints at where he's leading you, or to about which subject he will open up like a can of worms next. The charactisation will make you ask questions of yourself as Elton is uncanny in his portrayal of human psychology and behaviour - it's very Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus. So far, it's all good news. However, I did find that the actual flow of the book was somewhat impeded by the Diary Entry form of the book. Overall it's a good read; which is on-the-ball with cultural events and humour, but the format, although original, prevents real immersion and gets rather stale towards the end.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Well written, and profoundly moving in places, 20 Jan 2006
Having covered subjects such as reality television, drug culture, gender politics, Friends Reunited, gangland crime and The First World War, Ben Elton now ventures into the foray of relationships, dreams and pregnancy. This is a novel about a man's desperation to write a blockbuster film, and a woman's fruitless desperate attempts to conceive a child. Elton structures the novel in a series of diary entries, each written from the view of the male/female protagonist; and I was especially surprised with the conviction and reality that Elton managed to get into his female spokesman.

'Inconceivable' contains a perfect blend of emotional drama and laugh out loud comedy. It is filled with the highs and lows of love and life, it captures the yearning and desire and determination of modern people, as well as delving deep into two fraught people's personalities; hence the reality and superb characterisation exhibited by Elton in this book. Its a nice, light easy, and entertaining read, and I would recommend it most highly.

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Different Than The Average
Ben Elton, as many of us fans out there know, tends to write murder thrillers with that touch of comedy that everything he has ever done, and ever will do, has. Read more
Published on 22 Sep 2005 by J. Simpson

5.0 out of 5 stars Maybe Baby - Definitely Excellent
"Inconceivable" is probably familiar to many readers through the film version , "Maybe Baby". Well, I haven't actually seen the film, so I came fresh to the novel, and I'm very... Read more
Published on 27 Aug 2005 by Mr. D. Clark

5.0 out of 5 stars HYSTEROSALPINGOGRAMS AND ALL THAT
Ben Elton's style has been got under a bit of control since the heady early days of Stark. He still takes the occasional potshot at incidental targets, but he no longer fires a... Read more
Published on 20 Jul 2005 by DAVID BRYSON

5.0 out of 5 stars Reality Fiction
Elton uses an unsual writing technique, where Sam and Lucy's lives are described via their own memoirs. Read more
Published on 19 Jun 2005 by dahool07

5.0 out of 5 stars A big pile of steaming genius
The story of Sam and Lucy is told through their respective diary pages, tapping into their thoughts of the day while they recall their recent events. Read more
Published on 2 Jan 2005 by Master Td Chambers

5.0 out of 5 stars Fertility after Ectopic
A few years ago i lost both my tubes due to 2 ectopic pregnancies. So nowi can only have a baby through IVF. Read more
Published on 24 April 2004 by Dianna

5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant
Didn't think much of Ben Elton as a comedian but as an author he has produced a fantastic read. This is the story of a childless couple trying for a baby and is sad, funny and... Read more
Published on 1 Nov 2003 by J. Deane

4.0 out of 5 stars Funny, informative, but is this really a book for everyone?
As with most of the reviewers here, my wife and i are currently undergoing fertility treatment and are just about to go for our very firs meetign with the IVF clinic, so, as you... Read more
Published on 2 Sep 2003

5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic!
It made me laugh, it made me cry, it made me not want to do anything all through my holiday except read it. Read more
Published on 4 Nov 2002 by miss mk davies

3.0 out of 5 stars The Patter of Tiny Minds
Inconceivable is a work of almost post-modern structural complexity - and I am only half-joking when I say that. Read more
Published on 7 Jul 2002 by John Self

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