High Society

High Society is one of Ben Elton's more popular and resonating books. From my perspective, which is by no means a definitive one, I'd say it was the point where Elton became (primarily) a novelist as opposed to a comedian/TV guy. Sure he'd written quite a few books before, and good ones too, but it was this book's widespread success that marked the height of his talents... he pretty much reached his pinnacle as an author on this one, and has enjoyed commercial success with each novel he has released since.

High Society is an ambitious work for something so unashamedly aimed at a mainstream audience. Elton focuses on several characters, each one with a wildly different viewpoint into the world of drugs. It's like a British version of the film Traffic, only sometimes very funny, and altogether more forthcoming in the way of offering solutions to the drug problem. The primary plot of High Society is driven by one Peter Paget, an obscure backbencher who is given an opportunity to introduce a new law into parliament for discussion. Paget seizes his long-awaited chance to propose the legalisation of all drugs. It's a proposition that has a lot of enemies. The other politicians and media are in an uproar, but he has unlikely allies, one of whom is a high-ranking member of the police department, and it soon begins to appear that Britain may become the first country in the world to legalise all drugs...

It's not an entirely new idea, but Elton manages to imbue each and every page and character with life, wit and forthright arguments about whether drugs should or should not be legal. Elton doesn't just talk about the many ways a country might benefit from the legalisation of drugs, he shows us how it might happen. He gives a view of all levels of the country's drug trade... from the scungiest and lowest level of prostitution and scumlife drug-dealers to the hypocritically cocaine-high journalists who seek to denounce and tear apart politicians like Paget for their own ends. Elton shows us all these aspects of society and the fallout from Paget's proposition through the eyes of several characters, most entertainingly of which (for my money) is the Robbie Williams-esque popstar Tommy Hanson, who endearing snorts and drinks his way through groupies, Alcoholic and Narcotics Anonymous meetings, the media, and various other hangers-on.

High Society is a highly entertaining and interesting book from Elton, and marks the meeting of his two previous styles, with Elton taking his penchant for contemporary on-the-pulse comedy and marrying it to his earlier, politically-futurist 'what if'-scenario freewheeling. It makes for an excellent book that could've been a spectacular failure in the hands of a lesser writer, but Elton mixes the right amount of tragic and funny into it all to ensure that it never gets too depressing or flippant. And at the end of the day he makes a good point, and the realistic ending is a familiar reminder of western society's flawed priorities. One of Elton's best books.