Stark

Rating:
Summary: Absolutely hilarious and un-put-downable!
Review: As a long-time fan of Ben Elton, I'd never realised he'd written any books until my mother presented me with a ragged old copy of "Stark" which she'd bought at a jumble sale in Hong Kong of all places. Anyway, I set about reading it and I truly could not put it down! A fabulously well thought out plot combined with Ben Elton's dry humour, it incorporates every kind of character imaginable, from arrogant billionares to castrated war heroes, to stoned hippies! A brilliant attempt at making the end of the world seem less imminent.

Rating:
Summary: Stark was made into a movie!
Review: Directed by the wonderful Nadia Tass & filmed by her talented husband David Parker this fabulous book was made into a major television series in Australia!

Having seen Popcorn on the stage and listened to the hilarious Gridlock and masochistic Inconceivable on tape I couldn't wait to read STARK - from the start it was exciting and easy to read. The plot almost believable (I had to check some facts via Google whilst reading it to convince myself it was only fiction). The description of Western Australia's outback is very realistic. I can't wait to check out his other work. Ben Elton has a knack for making one investigate the ordinary and discover the other sometimes darker humourous side. Contrary to other reviews the number of characters is appropriate to the story. Its very clever and perfectly contained.

Rating:
Summary: GREAT STORY BUT THE WORST ENDING EVER!!
Review: I Remember reading this in the summer of 1990 and loved it and the character in it... Until the end. Without a doubt one of the most horrible, worst written endings in the history of literature. Elton possitively RUINS this book with the most pandering self-righteous preachy ending in modern time. Talk about giving your reader/audience ZERO credit for understanding underlying sub-text. Elton takes his fans for morons with this one at the expense of an otherwise well written novel.
Take my advice and stick to His Black Adder & Red Dwarf work, because this book will make you want to go out and beat some small british man with glasses to a pulp for insulting your intelligence.