Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A potted history of Brentford, 9 April 2005
Robert Rankins' 19th novel follows the fortunes of Doveston - snuff kingpin and all round bad egg, and the misfortunes that befall his biographer. Once again Rankin has crafted a tale where his sheer unbridled lunacy is harnessed to a rip-roaring fantasy plot, and enough jokes and tall tales (or load of old toot) to provide plenty of belly laughs along the way.The device of the biographer relating the life story of Doveston enables Rankin to add a great deal of variety to the book, so we start with a 1950's schooldays satire, head on to a 1960's hippy festival called Brentstock (yes - Rankin has used the rock festival idea before, but it's still hilarious here, with the hero attempting to power the entire concert through his kitchen mains plug after forgetting to hire any power generators), miss out the 1970's altogether (well, the biographer hero did spend the decade in jail), before we get 1980's yuppie corporate culture and the 1990's gives way to the faked (yet still ultimately deadly) Millennium Bug. Of course, this being a Rankin novel the climax involves a deadly man-eating menace that is at least part sprout. As well as providing Rankin with a wealth of material, it also provides him with an opportunity to revisit dozens of old characters - with Norman Hartnell getting a good solid chunk of the action, and cameos from the likes of Pooley & Omally, Professor Merlin (from The Greatest Show Off Earth), Lazlo Woodbine, Danbury Collins, Elvis and others even more obscure (remember the mythical girl who always rode on others shoulders at rock concerts from Sprout Mask Replica?), and even having fun with the history of Brentford itself, with the hilarious inclusion of many (now mysteriously vanished) ethnic quarters. As such, while the main storyline and characters are new, and this book can be enjoyed as a standalone novel, this is one occasion when you really would get more out of this novels many throwaway references and cameos if you had actually read a good dozen or more of Rankin's previous books first.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Rankin manages to be on good form, 2 May 2001
By A Customer
Robert Rankin, the Father of Far-Fetched Fiction and ripping great comic fantasy writer, offers us "Snuff Fiction" which follows the spiral to fame of the Doveston, one of those timeless recurring Rankin characters. But in "Snuff Fiction" there is a much required twist; it is not a mere hagiography bringing the Doveston's achievements and prestige into everyone's forebrain...but because it is told from the perspective of the Doveston's long time companion-cum-foe Edwin, it is more of an inward look at how the Doveston perpetrated so numerous events and utilized Edwin as the innocent scapegoat. "Snuff Fiction" is a truly great Rankin novel, and albeit is a meagre snack for teh cerebellum, and does not put on a pretense it has an intensely complex plot, it works rather well. Towards the climax of the novel we receive much of the same sardonic Rankin surprises that have become numbingly predictable, unfortunately, and some of the satire of the book can lead to being extremely tasteless and a little unfunny, but the humour is strong and irrepressible throughout, and most of Rankin's jokes induce outbursts of chuckles rather than otherwise. "Snuff Fiction" also follows the destruction of the computing technology required for a smoothly operated planet, which sends Earth into habitual darkness, but even as the chimeras are stalking innocent actors and the flayed corpse of Michael Jackson with his amorous chimp named Bubbles, we see Edwin and Norman Hartnell (no you pillocks, the *other* one) striding through the remains strong and proud...with a cross-dressing green-lipsticked hitman gnawing at their ankles... "Snuff Fiction" is a rip-roaring, highly inventive farce at the Oliveresque years of tense school boarding which then develops into anarchic Brentfordian fantasy and science fiction, with suitable old jokes popping up every now and then. We see cameos both held by Danbury Collins and Lazlo Woodbine, and the inaugural invention of the yo-yo. Great fun, mildly surreal, following the likes of "Nostradamus Ate My Hamster" and "Apocalypso" into the memories of mice and men......Er... ...Snuff said.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Big AH-CHOO, 28 Nov 2000
Fantastic stuff! "Snuff Fiction" is one of Rankin's best, a pseudo-memoir written in 2008 about the life of the Doveston, purveyor of the world's best tobacco (and explosives). While all Rankin's books are funny, this one's storytelling lifts it above the rest. All too often Rankin drops plot threads and writes (intentionally) dense prose. "Snuff Fiction" has his trademark hyper-kinetic writing style while, for once, admirably wrapping everything up at the end. It's a great balance of clever storytelling, some effectively disturbing passages, and overall a lot of laughs. "Snuff Fiction" is well worth purchasing, even with the extra costs for shipping to the States. Here's hoping Rankin finds a U.S. publisher some day!
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