- Paperback: 474 pages
- Publisher: Pocket Books; Repr. edition (1 Oct 1993)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0671851802
- ISBN-13: 978-0671851804
- Product Dimensions: 17.5 x 11.2 x 3.6 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,071,720 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Did you know you can trade in your old books for an Amazon.co.uk Gift Card to spend on the things you want? Plus, get an extra £5 Gift Certificate when you trade in books worth £10 or more before June 30, 2012. Visit the Books Trade-In Store for more details. |
Product details |
More About the Author
Product Description
Book Description
Comic apocalyptic satire by the No. 1 bestselling author.
--This text refers to an alternate
Paperback
edition.
Product Description
In this novel, Elton returns to his favourite theme of the threatened environment.
Inside This Book
(Learn More)
Browse and search another edition of this book.
Browse and search another edition of this book.
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
20 of 21 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
If you want to laugh at a marketing culture gone mad then Ben Eltons 'This Other Eden' is the book for you. It is set on the eve of global meltdown. The rat race has begun. The world is governed by crude advertising and 'feel good' products such as spray-on condoms, inflatable breasts, virtual reality for the masses and free liposuction with the purchase of twenty donuts or more.
The story follows a group of unlikely heros on their quests to save the planet. A planet that is now frantically buying claustropheres (self-contained, self-supporting environments), for every back yard.
The narrator changes with the characters, beginning with Nathan, an anal, struggling, British scriptwriter. He has come to Los Angeles to pitch an advert for claustropheres to marketing genius, media baron and claustrosphere empire owner, Plastic Tolstoy. "At the age of twelve Plastic Tolstoy made his first million...He wrote to the manufacturers (of cereals), suggesting that they reverse the ratio and market boxes full of snap-together plastic toys with a free corn-flake hidden amongst them. Kids went crazy for it."
Plastic is the story's villain, his main adversary is Jurgen Thor, leader of Natura, a fundamentalist version of Greenpeace.
For the romantics Rosalie Connolly, an Irish Natura terrorist, and Max, a pretentious movie star, provide the love interest.
The frequency of the environmental disasters and the twists and turns along the way make this book hard to put down-how will it all end?
Ben Elton gained notoriety writing for Blackadder and The Young Ones. He always touches on issues that most other comedians shy away from. This book is no exception. As with his other novels he has managed to put forth his opinions in a highly enjoyable and light-hearted style. This book has great entertainment value. It can be easily read and provides plenty of laughs.
"Claustropheres: who are you to deny your kids a future?"
The story follows a group of unlikely heros on their quests to save the planet. A planet that is now frantically buying claustropheres (self-contained, self-supporting environments), for every back yard.
The narrator changes with the characters, beginning with Nathan, an anal, struggling, British scriptwriter. He has come to Los Angeles to pitch an advert for claustropheres to marketing genius, media baron and claustrosphere empire owner, Plastic Tolstoy. "At the age of twelve Plastic Tolstoy made his first million...He wrote to the manufacturers (of cereals), suggesting that they reverse the ratio and market boxes full of snap-together plastic toys with a free corn-flake hidden amongst them. Kids went crazy for it."
Plastic is the story's villain, his main adversary is Jurgen Thor, leader of Natura, a fundamentalist version of Greenpeace.
For the romantics Rosalie Connolly, an Irish Natura terrorist, and Max, a pretentious movie star, provide the love interest.
The frequency of the environmental disasters and the twists and turns along the way make this book hard to put down-how will it all end?
Ben Elton gained notoriety writing for Blackadder and The Young Ones. He always touches on issues that most other comedians shy away from. This book is no exception. As with his other novels he has managed to put forth his opinions in a highly enjoyable and light-hearted style. This book has great entertainment value. It can be easily read and provides plenty of laughs.
"Claustropheres: who are you to deny your kids a future?"
12 of 13 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I've just got into Ben Elton novels - I've never been a huge fan of his stand-up, but he's a cracking storyteller.
This Other Eden seems to be his least famous work; ominously, there were no quotes celebrating the book's quality in either this one, or in the Also Available... blurbs in his other novels. Had a picked a duffer? I don't think I did at all.
The plot returns to that familiar stomping ground of Elton's: politics and the environment. They say write about what you know, and Elton certainly does know what he's talking about here. The crux of the story - the end of the world is coming sooner or later, so let's market it... and accelerate it as a by-product. Elton gives us his usual bunch of contrasting characters, and without wanting to spoil anything for you, the least promising of the protaganists had me cheering for him by the end. A masterful emotional journey this one...
It's a little slow to get going, but once the odd murder happened and the conspiracy mushroomed, I found it gripping. The climax - a cinematic showpiece, written so well I could see the camera angles - was magnificent, and even amongst the set pieces, there are so many little knowing observations and concepts I loved, some of them Douglas Adamsesque.
Of the books of his I've read so far, this is the most blatantly SF, but it hasn't really been advertised as such, and maybe that's why no one talks about it much in comparison to Stark or Inconceivable. Ben Elton? He's a comedian, he writes clever political environmental satire, not SF.
So, Science Fiction or clever political environmental satire? The answer's simple. It's both. Fiction IS allowed to be multi-tasking you know. And it's actually really good.
10 of 13 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is the 7th book by Elton that I have read and as always, I foud it very entertaining and funny. BUT-compared to all the other books, this was the one that gave me the strongest impression of "déjà-vu". Too similar to Stark. The brave, attractive girl, the vain and halfwitted guy, the war veteran who's completely nuts, the ruthless megatycoon and so on. Somebody dies unexpectedly just as is Stark, and the plot is exactly the same. If you're an inconditional fan as I am, you'll have a lot of fun and will have the impression that Elton has a special gift to describe archetypical characters and still sound sharp and cynical. But if you're not into "more of the same stuff" and haev read Stark, you can be a little brought down with This other Eden. I had a good time, but it didn't thrilled me as much as the other novels by Ben Elton.
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Most Recent Customer Reviews
Witty and clever
Was never too keen on Ben elton as a comedian, but as a writer/novelist he is first class. This was one of the funniest books I have read in a long time, great humor and set in a... Read more
Published 1 month ago by Johnbhoy
Good book
I found 'This Other Eden' pretty good, the story does seem similar to Stark which i do feel is a better read, but even so,i still found it an entertaining and often funny story,... Read more
Published 16 months ago by Deuce
Ben Elton at his Best!
Another great Ben Elton book! Elton's unique and enthralling writing style creates a funny and vivid story, easy to pick up and hard to put down. Read more
Published 17 months ago by The Biscuit
As entertaining and easy to read as a movie.
I love Ben Elton's take on life so I bought this knowing that he would have something to say that is relevant to modern society and he would say it in a way that was enjoyable. Read more
Published 19 months ago by The Magster
A fun read
This Other Eden is a very funny book. It takes things to the extreme about what could happen if rich businessmen wanted to make money out of the end of the world. Read more
Published on 2 Oct 2009 by Maria Savva
Entirely believable and entirely hillarious.
I have read several of Ben Elton's novels and along with Stark I would have to say that "This Other Eden" is by far Elton at his very best. Read more
Published on 20 Jan 2008 by M. McMurray
Prophetic??
Just read this and amazed that despite the fact that I had read all of his other novels, this was actually the third written after Stark and Gridlock. Read more
Published on 18 Jan 2007 by Iestyn Glyndwr
we've all soiled our proverbial nappies...
I have to disagree with the dude who said this book was too similar to Stark. The basic idea of environmental destruction is the same but there's a lot more creativity involved... Read more
Published on 1 Sep 2006 by Holly Golightly
Ben Elton at his best
I have read quite a few of Ben Eltons books, this by far has been my favourite. I read it on holiday, and could not put it down, so naturally it went everywhere with me, spending... Read more
Published on 4 Sep 2004 by Mayumiwinn
Scary eco warrior stuff with a twist of Elton
Ben Elton has a way of pulling you into the ultimate environmental disaster with a sense of reality akin to that of knowing there's a twister coming. Read more
Published on 29 Aug 2004 by The Blue Aardvark
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
|
|
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
