レビュー要約

• テンポのよい読みやすさと、番組文化を皮肉る設定が支持されている。軽快な娯楽性を楽しむ声がある一方で、人物造形や風刺の鋭さには好みが分かれる。

レビュー

• 難しいけど面白い！

  チョット前にＴＶでやってた「サヴァイヴァー」みたいな趣向で、”24時間Ｗｅｂ中継されるＴＶ局の用意した家に10人の若者たちが共同生活をして、視聴者投票により徐々に脱落、最後に残ったものが大金を手にする…というＴＶ番組で、ＴＶカメラの監視の中、参加者の一人が殺される。殆ど全ての参加者にその殺人動機はあって…”という話。実際にある番組に題材をとっている。 かなり細かいメタファーとか洒落とか使っている（と思う）ので、イギリス人が楽しむように楽しむには、相当英語が出来てイギリス文化に堪能な人でなくては無理だと思うけれど、それでもトリックは分かったし（チョット無理があるが）、犯人が割れるまでの人間模様も一通りは分かるし、その描写も面白い。ラスト近く、主人公の警部が、部下が来るまでの時間を稼ぐために演説じみたことをするのだが、その一連の場面は、ぐいぐい読まされてしまった。 この作者、私が入れあげたローワンアトキンソン主演の｢ブラックアダー」（これはリチャード・カーチスと共作）、「シンブルーライン」の脚本を書くなどコメディ作家。で、この話の主人公コールリッジ警部、｢シンブルーライン｣のファウラー警部にかなり似ている。どうしても頭の中でローワンのイメージが…。

• D'une méchanceté jubilatoire

  La téléréalité accomodée à la sauce anglaise. Rien ne manque dans cette évocation féroce d'un milieu trash et désespérément médiocre. Rire assuré, mais qui parfois vire à l'aigre: le miroir que nous tend l'auteur est impitoyable. Hilarant et salutaire.

• biting satire and a fascinating mystery

  _Dead Famous_ was recommended to me by a colleague who knows I love a good mystery. _Dead Famous_ is so much more than just a well-written whodunnit. On the surface it is a classic "closed door" murder: 10 contestants compete in a reality television show, their every action and word recorded by dozens of microphones and cameras throughout the house. In spite of the close scrutiny, however, one of the housemates is murdered - and the culprit is unidentified. Elton jumps back and forth between the police investigation and the events leading up to the murder, keeping readers guessing as to not only who the victim is (we don't find out until almost 3/4 through the book) but what the possible motive may be. It is a brilliant new take on an old mystery device. Added to this, however, is a satirization of the ubiquitous generational division (young, beautiful contestants, each wanting their 15 miutes of fame; young, hip police officers who have watched the show and believe they know the suspects from what they've seen on T.V., and a curmudgeonly older lead investigator who is out of touch with pop culture) as well as a biting social commentary on reality television in general. On the premise of the program, Elton writes, "Marvelous! ... An opportunity to spend an entire evening watching someone you don't know being asked to leave a house you've never been to by a group of people you've never even met and of whom you'll never hear of again. It's hard to imagine a more riveting scenario." On the people who are in the show and who produce the show, Elton writes, "It's Stockholm Syndrome, you know ...When captives fall in love with their tormentors ... and begin to rely on them, to trust them. I mean, how can that girl not have realized that as far as we're concerned she's a prop, and extra, to beused, abused and utterly misrepresented as we see fit?" The structure, the premise, the writing and the portrayal of both contestants in and producers of reality television all warrant five stars. This was my first Ben Elton book, but if this is at all indicitive of his work, I will be sure to by him. I highly recommend _Dead Famous_.

• Not what I was expecting at all.

  This booked felt like Ben Elton wrote a book about how much he hates reality TV shows. He seems to have created a bunch of selfish, greedy 2 dimensional characters that nobody cares about and thrown in a lame murder plot, that doesn't make sense. It would have been better if had made his feelings a little more subtle than ramming his own opinions down the readers throat on every page. I hope Ben Elton's other books are better, because this one was rubbish.

• Thrilling, funny and sexy - Elton gets better and better

  This book, and the more recent "Past Mortem" have both forced me to admit what a good novelist Ben Elton has become. Years ago I read "Gridlock", and I found it mildly amusing, but at times rather irritating, and I was not terribly taken with "Stark" either. However through lack of alternatives I bought "Dead Famous" to read on a train journey, and was utterly spellbound. This is a great whodunit, and a seriously funny and rather sexy book. It takes apart the current obsession with intrusive reality TV shows - the TV show at the heart of the novel, called Peeping Tom - seems a very thinly disguised version of Big Brother. Elton rips into the concept of the show, and similar shows, exposing the contestants as vapid nonentities , making themselves look ridiculous without realising quite how ridiculous they look, in order to gain their 15 minutes of fame, and exposing the producers of the show as, well, frankly heartless, money obsessed monsters. To give you a very brief idea of the plot, after the first two housemates have been evicted from the show, the producer, Geraldine, comes up with the stunt involving the contestants taking off their clothes and sitting in a completely dark room. One of them is murdered. Yet nobody actually sees who has committed the crime. The organisation of the plot, while never less than clear and easy to follow, is actually quite sophisticated. Sections of the narrative are organised under headings, referring to which day of the programme the events described occurred. This enables Elton to be able to present events out of their chronological sequence, and it works well. I didn't buy quite as much into the three police characters, as I did into those concerned with the programme, but this didn't really dampen my enjoyment at all. If you are considering reading this book, I would give you one warning, though. Cancel all your appointments and engagements when you start reading it, because you'll want to read it through in one sitting.

• Bien

  Bien

購入リンク