Ben Elton's Time and Time Again was a new adventure for some of our Members who had not read alternative histories or science fiction before.
Members liked the idea behind the book - that Hugh Stanton, an ex-military man and celebrated 'survival expert', agrees to become a time traveller, having nothing in his own life in 2025 left to live for. His mission is to go back to the years before the start of World War I in an attempt to prevent millions from dying on the battlefields by ensuring that Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria is not murdered during his visit to Serbia.
Members thought the character of Hugh was rather two dimensional (expert sharp shooter, prepared to do unsavoury things in the pursuit of his goal - but quite ready for guilty lurve). We were not satisfied, either, by the love interest, Bernadette, and the somewhat lame attempts to weave some feminist history into 1914. We liked better one of the villains, Hugh's former history professor, Sally McClusky, who, we all agreed should be played by Miriam Margolyes, if a movie is made of the book. Which, since the book is written rather like an action movie screenplay, could be the plan.
We were rather dismissive of the plot, saying it was pretty pedestrian writing, repetitious and we could see what was coming - until we got to the end and some of us didn't see it coming! A few of us thought the book represented a number of hours they would never get back - not being time travellers themselves - but on the flip side some of us couldn't put the book down until they got to the end and quite liked thinking about dystopian alternative histories and 'what ifs'.
Discussion arose about the wonderful detail provided in the book about Archduke Ferdinand and of pre-World War I life. And yet, we did pick up a few anomalies (14 elevators in the department store - could that be right? Why didn't Hugh Stanton talk about World War II?) and began to wonder if Mr Elton's research was not as thorough as it might have been. Or if, in fact, Mr Elton had written about a history known to Hugh which was not based on OUR world's history at all. Hmmm... Cunning Mr Elton.
Ben Elton, we concluded, is a clever writer who knows how to capture an audience, create a page turner and push our buttons. We thought the book would make a good film.
Who is Ben Elton?
Ben Elton turns 60 this year in May.
The comedian, author, playwright, actor and director was born in London but claims some Australian ancestry (his third cousin is Olivia Newton-John).
Mr Elton is probably best known as a writer on comedy series such as The Young Ones and Blackadder but he has also published 15 novels and has written three musicals.
Are you already in a bookclub?
You may feel that you cannot commit to another bookclub because you are already a member of one (or two!)
We’d still love you to join us just as a Newsletter subscriber. We’d love to hear what other bookclubs are reading and what you think are the pick of the titles that we must read!
In the same way, we hope you will take away from our reviews some pearlers to share with your regular club.
