Smoke me a Kipper

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Smoke me a Kipper: Neil's Farrago

Last Free on: 7th May 16
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...Looking back now it also has one problem: it has dated very badly....

Aliens infiltrate UKIP trying to destroy them by saying/doing something so outrageous it will end the party forever.

Yeah. Good luck with that.

This could and should have been hilarious. Instead it is just bland. A parody needs to go up to eleven, not just quote the actual beliefs that certain groups have. Otherwise the Daily Mail would be hilarious. I didn’t laugh. I barely smiled. As a parody, mentioning Thanet by name and having Farage’s picture on the cover make it too obvious no matter how much you change the name and the author is lucky that Jeremy Clarkson has a sense of humour (or that Mr.Clarkson takes parody & milk floats better than a lack of steak). ‘Smoke me a kipper’ makes people of a certain age think Ace Rimmer, not UKIP, and if trying to parody UKIP a Flash Gorden expy isn’t the thing you want to call attention to.

This fails on a few levels: It isn’t subtle. It isn’t that funny. There are points where it is just offensive, and I’m not talking about to UKIPers here. It is also suffering from bad timing: at the time this book was written, the Orlando massacre had not happened. Writing this review two days after it, a few of the plot points make for very unpleasant reading. It was also written before Paul Daniels’ death, making a joke that would have been about a retired celebrity look like a very nasty slap at an icon. The Jeremy Clarkson bits were written before the huge Netflix deal and the BBC’s new Top Gear viewer graph resembling the Langollen Woods Downhill BMX Track.

Formatting, typos, and grammar are all fine which is a pity as it might have livened the book up. It is a two, and not recommended.

(and no, dear neighbour, I am still not interested in joining and keep that sign off my bloody lawn!)

Looking back now it also has one problem: it has dated very badly. Many of the jokes were dependent of events around the Referendum, and even a few months later, they just don’t have staying power.

Rating: 2
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Discussion

HattieMoon (16 April 2017)
I think it is very difficult to write a book about specific issues or people unless purely as a historical exercise, so this was doomed to failure from the outset. I haven't read more than what was free to look at because I wouldn't want to support the writer in any way, and what I did see was, well, pretty horrible. (That goes for content and style.) I can't believe there have even been three positive reviews. Total trash.

Meryl (28 April 2017)
I think this author made the mistake of choosing to write about something about which her knowledge was vague at best and that spelled doom for the book. I think focusing on topics that they know more about or at least spending more time doing the necessary research would be a good idea in future.

Miranda (2 May 2017)
These are the kind of mistakes that a new author might make. I don't know if this author has written a book before this one, but here's hoping that the next one (if there is a next one after this...) will be better than this one.

Kindler (4 May 2017)
I wonder what the write would have put down five years later, once brexit had occurred and if it was still the same story.

HattieMoon (6 May 2017)
*I think this author made the mistake of choosing to write about something about which her knowledge was vague at best and that spelled doom for the book. I think focusing on topics that they know more about or at least spending more time doing the necessary research would be a good idea in future.* That's very generous, and essentially I do agree completely. Still, when you have problems with both content AND style maybe it's time to get a different job/hobby.

jessica (7 May 2017)
*That's very generous, and essentially I do agree completely. Still, when you have problems with both content AND style maybe it's time to get a different job/hobby.* Yeah, I really wasn't impressed:(.

clair02 (12 May 2017)
That is so true. There is only so much that good research skills or a great editor will be able to accomplish. Sometimes you just have to accept that something isn't what you're meant to be doing.

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