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Meltdown

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Meltdown

By: Ben Elton
Narrated by: Hugh Bonneville
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Summary

 For amiable City trader Jimmy Corby, money was the new rock 'n' roll. His whole life was a party, adrenalin charged and cocaine fuelled. If he hadn't met Monica he would probably have ended up either dead or in rehab.

But Jimmy was as lucky in love as he was at betting on dodgy derivatives, so instead of burning out, his star just burned brighter than ever. Rich, pampered, and successful, Jimmy, Monica and their friends lived the dream, bringing up their children with an army of domestic helps.

But then it all came crashing down. And when the global financial crisis hit, Jimmy discovered that anyone can handle success. It's how you handle failure that really matters.

©2009 Ben Elton (P)2009 Random House Audiobooks Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Fiction Capitalism Global Financial Crisis
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Loved it classic Elton keeps you thinking all the way to the end love all his books

Awesome

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Great story particularly when read by Hugh Bonneville who brought all the characters to life

Meltdown

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Brilliantly narrated and a well written story from Ben Elton. Well done, and highly recommended if you lived through the 90s and 0s.

A time remembered

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I listened to this over 2 sessions. Ben Elton creates such real characters , characters that I cared about and wanted to know more. This story shows how greedy and vile us humans can be but also how we can show real love and compassion. The excellent narration really brought the characters to life. Highly recommended

Great story

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By absolute coincidence I started listening to this after finishing American Psycho without realising there was a parallel (I hadn’t remembered the synopsis of this book because it’s been on my list for a year). That coincidence may have clouded my judgement but I really enjoyed the severe contrast between the two stories, despite the common themes. Yes, this is another story about yuppy culture, effectively but Jimmy is not Patrick Bateman; where Patrick is an evil misogynist, Jimmy is a loving husband, father and loyal friend.

This is my first Ben Elton book and although it’s quite short it did pack a lot of humour, twists and humanity into Jimmy and Monica’s story. All characters were fully fleshed out (as opposed to out-fleshed, as in American Psycho 😂) and even the ones with villain arcs are nuanced and forgivable at the most unlikeable.

I’m not new to Elton’s politics, being an 80s kid, so I enjoyed the expected commentary on various historical moments and political catastrophes from ground zero perspectives I hadn’t considered before (and I have never once felt sorry for MPs or city bankers, so that in itself was a feat of good writing). The tone is balanced and not overtly left wing; there is heavy critique for partisan politics on “both” sides. Again, the humanising of the players in this world is excellently done.

As for the narration… I chose this book because I knew I’d love anything read by Bonneville and I wasn’t disappointed at all. Every voice and each intonation was so on point I can only assume that either he has eyes that can read individually, with one skooting two lines ahead, or he’s read the book already, because he knew to stammer before the direction to stammer or wail before the “she wailed” was dialogue tagged. It gave the story massively enjoyable pace and flow.

Really enjoyed this and will listen to some other books by Elton now, especially if they’re just as short and punchy as this.

A yarn

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