At last, the definitive book about perhaps the best cabin crew dramedy ever filmed: View From the Top starring Gwyneth Paltrow.
In Ayoade on Top, Richard Ayoade, perhaps one of the most 'insubstantial' people of our age, takes us on a journey from Peckham to Paris by way of Nevada and other places we don't care about. It's a journey deep within, in a way that's respectful and non-invasive; a journey for which we will all pay a heavy price, even if you've waited for the smaller paperback edition.
Ayoade argues for the canonisation of this brutal masterpiece, a film that celebrates capitalism in all its victimless glory; one we might imagine Donald Trump himself half-watching on his private jet's gold-plated flat screen while his other puffy eye scans the cabin for fresh, young prey."
Richard Ayoade might be a genius. In Ayoade on Top he's managed to simultaneously make fun of the 2003 Gwyneth Paltrow cabin crew dramedy View From The Top, give it artistic integrity, satirise the act of criticism, and give some genuinely profound insights on modern-day life - all while being laugh-out-loud funny.
I've been trying to listen to more audiobooks lately, and this is one of the rare ones I've found that actually benefited from the format. Ayoade reads his own work, which is always a bonus. But, he also injects his retelling with little quips about the format, and what the listeners can't see that would have been visible on the page if we'd read it. It was the perfect way to use the format.
Honestly, this was worth every minute I spent with it. Ayoade on Top in comedy gold.
