Dead Famous ~ Ben Elton (2001)

De ultieme Reality Thriller. Een Big Brother huis. Een moord. Oftewel: One house, 10 contestants, 30 cameras, 40 microphones, one murder... and no evidence. Heerlijk commentaar op de absurditeiten van deze fenomeen. En een strak in elkaar gezette thriller. En grappig. Erg knap gedaan. Een prima hapslikwegboek om te lezen terwijl Godenslaap nachtzwart-en-dreigend op mijn buro nog steeds ligt te wachten tot ik de moed heb verzameld om het weer te proberen. Ik vond de taal in Dead Famous in-tri-ge-rend. Dat verloederde, niets zeggende brabbeltaaltje van de hipste media volk - vele uitdrukkingen waarvan ik nooit gehoord heb. 'Respect' heeft natuurlijk ook hier zijn intrede gedaan, maar er waren veel meer die mij totaal onbekend waren. 'Living it large' bijvoorbeeld. Of 'a big up to'. Alles is 'top'. (Of als overtreffende trap, 'top, top'.) Ik heb veel moderne onzin geleerd. Zoals een van de grappiger recensies in de blurb het zegt: 'Big up to Ben Elton and respect, big time. Top, top book.'

elma
--
'Stress! STRESS!' Colereidge said, in what for him was almost a
shout. 'Not much more than 2 generations ago the entire population of
this country stood in the shadow of imminent brutal occupation by a
crowd of murdering Nazis! A generation before that we lost a
_million_ boys in the trenches. _ A million innocent lads._ Now we
have 'therapists' studying the 'trauma' of getting thrown off a
television game show.'
--
'Surely, Woggle, you're not saying that any type of group organization
is fascism?'
'Yes, I am.'
There was a pause while the 9 people who were trapped in a small house
with this creature from the black latrine took in the significance of
his answer. They were going to have to live with a man who considered
organizing the washing-up tantatmount ot invading Poland.
--
They had all known the codes, the things that they were _supposed_ to
say. The new language of pious self-justification.
--
Fame, [...] the holy grail of a secular age. The cruel and demanding
deity that had replaced God. The one thing. The only thing, it seemed
to Coleridge, that mattered any more. The great obsession, the
all-encompassing national focus, which occupied 90 per cent of every
newspaper and 100 per cent of every magazine. Not faith, but fame.
--
'For instance, I reckon the Dalai Lama is a fookin' ace bloke, because
with him it's all about peace and serenity, ain't it? And at the end
of the day, fair play to him because I really really respect that.'
--
New Sussex is a modern, thrusting, dynamic community, inspector. I do
not like having our customer service profile marred by young women
falling off lavatories with knives in their heads.'
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