What a carve up!

A satire on the corrupted ruling elites

Thanks to an unexpected gift, I found recently myself reading-and enjoying- Jonathan Coe's brilliantly named book What a carve up!. Despite being one of Britain's most read and established writers, I had only managed to read one of his books, The Rain Before It Falls, which I'd found interesting and entertaining but didn't feel compelled to delve further into his successful and acclaimed works.It was, however, with a sense of expectation that I approached this one, perhaps because the blurb on the back had given me a few hints on what to expect.
Using Pat Jackson's homonymous film as a starting point, the novel tells the story of a Yorkshire upper-class family, the Winshaws, who have literally a finger in every single part of the British establishment; from the (gutter) press to government, without ignoring the art world, farming, the powerful arms industry and of course banking.Being possessors of, it would seem,an inherited and unforgiving moral bankruptcy, the Winshaws rule a country in which its elites have no moral qualms whatsoever about how to achieve power and glory. While this despicable family go on about their senseless business, only one character is aware of how much harm his family is causing.Mortimer Winshaw will change the course of history by changing the family's story. The family's farcical attempts to control everything are complemented by the story of a soul-searching and lonely writer,Michael, who has been commissioned to write the infamous family's biography.
What a carve up! is a parody of the British running elites and an indictment of how the Thatcher's years transformed a country, bringing a new political and economical approach in which greed and low moral standards became the norm.
This book is the first one of a trilogy that depicts Britain's recent history so I hope to write here soon on the remaining two books.