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Website Story (Hardcover)

by Robert Rankin (Author)
4.1 out of 5 stars See all reviews (10 customer reviews)

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Product details

  • Hardcover: 279 pages
  • Publisher: Doubleday; 1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2 edition (2 April 2001)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0385600585
  • ISBN-13: 978-0385600583
  • Product Dimensions: 24.1 x 15.9 x 2.5 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 374,902 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    Popular in this category:

    #42 in  Books > Fiction > Authors, A-Z > R > Rankin, Robert

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Product Description

Amazon.co.uk Review
Robert Rankin claims he's invented a whole new literary genre, "Far-Fetched Fiction", and his latest novel Web Site Story certainly fits the description. Again science fiction, fantasy and low comedy collide in that most mythic region of the Rankin cosmology, Brentford.

The eternal city has many aspects, each dafter than the last. This time it's joy, joy, happy joy in utopian 2022 Brentford, transformed by the teachings of Hugo Rune (The Most Amazing Man Who Ever Lived) and advanced but nevertheless deeply silly holistic footgear. Every Eden has a serpent, though, and the sinister Mute Corp computers which have replaced PCs can give you the real Millennium Bug:

The Black Death was spread by rats.
But this plague will be spread by a mouse.
The computer mouse.

Symptoms include amnesia--bringing a Brentford Magical History bus tour to a most peculiar end--and then disappearance. Can this be the Rapture, with virtuous Brentfordians translated bodily to heaven in the world's last days? Or can it be (for Rankin is having fun with slippery realities like Philip K Dick's) that the world has already ended?

Incredibly sexy girl investigator Kelly, master of the deadly art of Dimac, brushes off various males panting after her body as she penetrates the suburb's unlikely cyber secrets. Suitably off-the-wall set pieces follow, the most farcical being a pub poetry night that turns into a colossal punch-up. Zippy one-liners abound, and terrible old jokes stagger zombie-like from their graves--not to mention the running gags. (All together now: "I told you not to mention the running gags!") Very indescribable, very Rankin. --David Langford

Review
In a place not very far away in a not too distant future (about 2022 in fact), people pretty much like ourselves (except perhaps for their choice in footwear) are vanishing. Usually from locked rooms and often just after they've been introduced to the reader. What is going on? Where are these people going? Is it aliens? Is it the Rapture? Or perhaps the millennium bug, albeit 20 years late? Whatever, it is up to the impossibly beautiful, impossibly intelligent and generally impossible reporter Kelly Ann Sirjan to find out. Accompanied by various colourful characters and repelling the advances of the men she meets on her way, she intends to discover the secret of the disappearances, and possibly play some space invaders on the way. Robert Rankin has done it again, complete with baroque plotlines, farcical set pieces, bizarre characters and relentless running gags. If you haven't read any of his books before, read this one - you'll thank yourself for it - and if you have, then you'll need no more encouragement. (Kirkus UK)

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Customer Reviews

10 Reviews
5 star:
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4 star:
 (6)
3 star:    (0)
2 star:
 (1)
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Average Customer Review
4.1 out of 5 stars (10 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars The Matrix.... Rankin style!!!, 16 Nov 2001
By A Customer
This review is from: Web Site Story (Paperback)
This book is not one of RR's better works but when you consider the competition it's up against it still deserves 4 stars. If you're new to his work start with something else and work your way up to this one.

The new millenium has come and gone without a problem, or has it? Who is in control? What exactly is going on? And why hasn't it affected the good folk of Brentford?

Another Rankin story of good vs evil, man vs machine, Brentonians vs the forces of darkness. As usual, Rankin takes a little while to get going (this one probably moreso than others) but don't let that put you off. There are running gags aplenty, obscure references to 70's console games, a classic Brentonian character or two and all the local pubs, a holographic creature from Griffin Island, not to mention the Rapture!!!

and everything.

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6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Very enjoyable, if a bit shallow in places., 1 Feb 2002
By A Customer
This review is from: Web Site Story (Paperback)
I'd read two of Rankin's books before getting around to this one - I found 'The Antipope' very difficult to get into, although it got a lot better towards the end and 'Waiting for Godalming' was rather better (and funnier, IMO).

Of the three books I've read so far, Website Story is by far the best, and manages to be both anachronistic (in the case of Brentford and its denizens) and futuristic (as in Mute Corp - I'm sure that any resemblance to another large computer company whose name begins with M is purely coincidental :-) ), and both serious and laugh-out loud funny, something which can't really be said of the other Rankin books I've read.

People seem fond of comparing Rankin to Terry Pratchett, which isn't really fair to either author. Rankin loses out in terms of writing style, which is often annoyingly disjointed, and character development which is often non-existent. The latter opinion may be revised after I read more of his books (as I most certainly will) but 'Website Story' suffers in that apart from the hero and heroine of the book, there seem to be a lot of bit-part roles.

Criticisms aside, this is very good and often very funny book and a good introduction to Rankin's often off-kilter style, but if you're expecting Pratchett-type material then you may well be disappointed.

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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars New territory, but a bit muddled., 6 April 2001
By A Customer
After an undeservedly lukewarm response for his last effort "Waiting for Godalming", Rankin returns with a Brentford tale, set 21 years into the future, and incorporating a vague tongue-in-cheek Matrix homage somewhere in the mix.

Set around the mysterious Mute Corp and three Brentfordians investigation into the mysterious Mute chips and their link to a strange vanishing plague that is haunting Brentford, this story has the usual humour and whimsy of Rankin's books, but seems a little confused in its storytelling and needs more concentration than many of his previous works.

Still, it's fresh and more than entertaining, and certainly earns its place among his greater works.

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Play the game
Robert Rankin's 22nd novel is set once more in Brentford, only this time in the near future of the 2020's, so while there are some familiar locations and aging supporting... Read more
Published on 1 Aug 2006 by dogbarkssome

5.0 out of 5 stars This may be the best rankin yet
This book is simply robert rankins finest to date. The wonderfully insane story is presented, as in other rankin books, in many splintered sections, all seamingly unconnected... Read more
Published on 24 Oct 2001

4.0 out of 5 stars Almost back on form
The dictionary definition for flawed genius should be "Robert Rankin." His books are nearly always packed with inventive, left of field ideas, and Website Story is no... Read more
Published on 27 Jul 2001

2.0 out of 5 stars Not up to Rankin standard
This one's far from my favorite Rankin book. The story takes way too much focus from the characters, who are usually the most fun about Rankin's books. Read more
Published on 28 May 2001 by Simon Joensen

5.0 out of 5 stars Once Again
Once Again Mr Rankin has shown us that no matter how many books he has written he can still come up with another great one. Read more
Published on 17 May 2001

5.0 out of 5 stars Best book for some time
Rankin's Brentford based books are clearly a cut above the rest. The running gags are a tradition, an old charter or something. Read more
Published on 9 May 2001

4.0 out of 5 stars Better than the last few!
Definitely a return to form after the last few, pretty poor books. Not up to the standard of his early stuff though, but at least there is almost no poetry in this one thank... Read more
Published on 30 April 2001 by lindsay.marshall@ncl.ac.uk

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