[.ca] Stark (ISBN 0751501999)

Stark was made into a movie!:
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.

Not Elton's best, by far:
It is apparent from Elton's first novel, Stark, that he has tremendous ability as a word crafter and imagineer (I made that word up - it means "one who can conjure an interesting story.") Unfortunately, as his first novel was released, he had not firmly established his skills as a novelist. The plot - An eclectic group of environmentalist is looking into just exactly what the Stark Consortium, a collection of the richest and most powerful men in the world, is up to. What the consortium is up to is the most devastating conspiracy in all of human history. Since the entire novel rests on the slow revelation of that conspiracy, any further plot discussion would be a spoil, so that's that. The characters - I love Elton's characters in this book. They are not particularly "full of life" as I usually prefer. Instead they are caricatures, and in this zany story it really works. Every one of them has unique viewpoints, personality quirks (to put it mildly) and speech patterns. Zimmerman, the bollockless Aussie Vietnam vet, is a scream. The problems - In the first half of the book, Elton has real problems establishing the point of view (POV) for the reader. An example of a POV problem would be characters A and B walking through a garden, while the author tells us about a conversation between characters C and D. If not handled properly, this can lead the poor reader into thinking C and D are in the garden, and generally just confuse the heck out of him or her. This is a very common mistake for new novelist, and something that a good editor will point out and get fixed. The other problem is purely subjective and not likely to bother many other folks. It's just too preachy. Throughout the book the reader is assaulted with tales of gloom and doom from the extreme camp of the environmentalist collective. Obviously for storyline development a good deal of this was necessary, but there are times when instead of visualizing the characters or the scene you just see Elton standing there wagging his finger at you. Not pleasant in those parts. Yes, there are things being done to the environment that need to be changed. No, the world is not about to end. 'nuff said. The good stuff - As stated before, Elton is a master word crafter. He does an outstanding job of bouncing the story between two or three settings, and brings all his plot elements together before the end. There are two or three paragraphs near the end describing the emotion of jealously that are absolutely amazing. The rating - Three stars. It was almost a really good read, but the technical flaws and the preachiness forced it down to "better than a poke in the eye with a stick." Anyone who is a member of Greenpeace would probably give it a four.

Laugh out Loud funny:
Ben Elton is probably England's most talented comedian. Not only does he do stand up comedy he has written scripts for Black Adder and the Young ones. This was his first novel. The finding out the plot is part of the enjoyment and point of the novel so that it would be unfair to reveal it. However there are two tiers of characters. At one end is a financially succussesful businessman who seems to be slightly based on Rupert Murdock. He is gradually drawn into a conspiracy which is the basis of the book. At the other end are a number of classic comedy figures who discover the conspiracy and try to prevent it. The book is a passionate defence of the enviroment movement and raises a number of issues which have since been more widely accepted. However it is more than a political tract. It is simply laugh out loud funny. Elton writes the book as a series of gags which are totally effective. It was a comedy classic in its time.

GREAT STORY BUT THE WORST ENDING EVER!!:
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.

Eco Ation meets humour with devastating results:
the book Stark is a great book and one of my Ben Elton faviortes it has all the elements of a great script and it focases on a certain element it has two charctors who couldn't be more a like and two nutters who make it a almost impossible to put the book down however it takles an imporant aspet and the guiltless people who take advanted ofg are need for cosmic goods it is a great book and it should be a film my favorote charctor in the movie is CD who has no desire about what happens expect to get in with Rachel and maybe not get blown to pieces by a rocket on the way.