Incompetence

I bought this book after reading that it was as funny as Hitchhiker's Guide, which I really enjoyed a few years ago. And I totally agree. I rarely laugh out loud when reading comedy, but I did several times while reading this book. I highly recommend it.

Read most of this on a long flight that didn't go so well (delay/missed connection and snowballing hell from there on). I think it was the only thing that kept me from murdering various airline employees. Seriously though, this is probably the funniest book I've ever read and is only slightly science fiction, so those who are not into the genre...don't be afraid of this book. Instead be afraid of the very real potential that the world depicted in this book is coming soon to a reality near you. For Dwarfers, don't expect anything similar to RD, but I can see why Mr. Grant wanted to move on. He has other stories to tell and I will happily read them.

"Incompetence" is a satirical black comedy set in an extreme near-future world. Rob Grant has taken some trends he perceives in modern society, extrapolated them ad absurdum, and had fun seeing how ludicrous he can make the consequences. The preface to "Incompetence" reads as follows: "Article 13199 of the Pan European constitution: `No person shall be prejudiced from employment in any capacity at any level by reason of age, race, creed, or incompitence'" (Yes, the spelling mistake is deliberate - I wonder if Rob Grant had the same problem I did in preventing the software he was writing in from automatically correcting it !) "Incompetence" is described as "A novel of the far too near future" and is set in a united Europe in which "Non Specific Stupidity" is a registered disability which cannot be used to hold back promotion prospects, waiters have Tourette's syndrome, airline pilots have vertigo, etc. The story is told through the eyes of an undercover agent who is not what he appears to be, on the tail of a mass-murderer who is all too competent. "Incompetence" works well as humorous entertainment: it could be seen as supporting a political view (e.g. hostility to the European Union and to big government), but anyone who reads it for political reasons may be disappointed. And anyone from the US is thinking of buying it for a good laugh at the expense of the Europeans should be aware that the book turns round at the end and delivers a few bites in the other direction. Overall I found this book to be very amusing and highly recommend it. If you enjoy "Incompetence" because you enjoy funny writing, and not because you agree or disagree with any particular political view which may be satirised within it, then another book which you may also enjoy is "Jennifer Government" by Max Barry. However, the irony is that while these two books came out at the same time and use much the same type of humour, the trends which they extrapolate ad absurdum and the targets they take aim at are diametrically opposite. It says something about how complex the trends in our society are that Rob Grant in "Incompetence" and Max Barry in his book could use the same technique to satirise opposite trends and both books contain enough truth to be funny. Perhaps it also demonstrates that satire is so universal in its applicability as to be highly effective as a means of entertainment but much less so as a means of putting over a political argument.

What a hoot! Right from the first page-nay the first paragraph-I was hooked. As soon as I finished reading it, I read it again-to my wife's bewilderment! I read my favourite lines, paragraphs or sections VERY SLOWLY; reread them; savoured them; only finally relinquishing them up when I craved for the next morsel. I don't know what my suffocated laughter or broad smirks on the train trips to and from work would have seemed like to others. The surgical descriptions of the insanely ridiculous situations our hero (the only sane person in the book) come to mind over and over again: the trip to the hotel and the check-in, the hotel welcoming party, the airline check-in and boarding, alighting from a moving car, boarding of a moving train, the officially dead undead farmer, the roller coaster ride to oblivion. I was trying to visualise, if this were a film, which actors would best fill the roles - the hero: no question, Steve Martin; the policeman with anger management problems: John Cleese; the jail bird - Boldrick from Black Adder. The closing words suggested a sequel...PLEEEEEASE...