kingfan30's review
2.0
I'm afraid I just didn't get this book, maybe not my sort of humour seeing as so many people say its funny. I could not connect with the character at all and found them all unlikable. I got through to the end somehow but it took a while!
jennifermarie's review against another edition
2.0
Read this when I was travelling, circa 2006, but it didn't leave any real impression on me. Haven't read anything else by him either which makes it a little difficult to compare but I thought it was okay. I struggle to enjoy the author in any other medium so have no desire to pick the book up and try again.
kirstiecat's review
4.0
I read this a few weeks ago but was in my typical maelstrom of work and shooting shows and never had a chance to write about it. Ok, well, one thing that just really strikes me about the book more than anything is how vivid the characters are and if you like rich characterizations, this book is for you. I also think the story line has quite a few twists and that the book on the whole seems filled with hints of what I would call early experimental fiction characteristics. I'd be pretty surprised if Paul Auster wasn't a fan.
blueyorkie's review against another edition
3.0
London Fields. Make no mistake about the title. There is nothing rustic about this novel. It is a story of murder, in a depressing London, not in itself - Portobello Road and its colourful facades, Notting Hill, but through the prism of the style of the author, qualified as master of the "unpleasant new".
Let's start, as Martin Amis decreed, with the potential assassin, the ill-named Keith Talent, give me the expression: small, sweeping strike, of the rogue genre, not enough shoulder for ultra-violence, the racketeering or robbery, low-level seducer. Champion of the pub he frequented, the follower of the national sport of any right self-respecting public house, darts or darts. He was hiding a woman and child in an apartment in a cramped closet. Let's move on to the victim: Nicola Six, attractive thirty-something woman, oh so artificial, quintessence in her way of the weaker sex, afflicted with a marked appetite for alcohol, and endowed with the faculty of guessing what necessarily - fatally instead,
will happen to him. And then we have Guy Clinch, the stooge of the two aforementioned, the good guy; the one who is said to be gentle with a little superior smile of commiseration suffers pain from those around him and in particular from his Pantagruel's son. Finally, let's not forget the narrator, Samson Young, author afflicted with a crying lack of imagination, being omnipresent taking us into the confidence of the novel he is writing. Who knows his characters and meets them at intervals regular and asked them to act according to his plans to tie up the work in creation.
The novel, where cynical humour is very present, describes an English Thatcherian society downgraded in the anxiety-provoking climate of possible nuclear annihilation and more broadly illustrates the absurdity and the grotesque of Western capitalist society. This disconcerting book certainly has literary qualities, but sometimes appears confused and is likely to tire more than one.
Let's start, as Martin Amis decreed, with the potential assassin, the ill-named Keith Talent, give me the expression: small, sweeping strike, of the rogue genre, not enough shoulder for ultra-violence, the racketeering or robbery, low-level seducer. Champion of the pub he frequented, the follower of the national sport of any right self-respecting public house, darts or darts. He was hiding a woman and child in an apartment in a cramped closet. Let's move on to the victim: Nicola Six, attractive thirty-something woman, oh so artificial, quintessence in her way of the weaker sex, afflicted with a marked appetite for alcohol, and endowed with the faculty of guessing what necessarily - fatally instead,
will happen to him. And then we have Guy Clinch, the stooge of the two aforementioned, the good guy; the one who is said to be gentle with a little superior smile of commiseration suffers pain from those around him and in particular from his Pantagruel's son. Finally, let's not forget the narrator, Samson Young, author afflicted with a crying lack of imagination, being omnipresent taking us into the confidence of the novel he is writing. Who knows his characters and meets them at intervals regular and asked them to act according to his plans to tie up the work in creation.
The novel, where cynical humour is very present, describes an English Thatcherian society downgraded in the anxiety-provoking climate of possible nuclear annihilation and more broadly illustrates the absurdity and the grotesque of Western capitalist society. This disconcerting book certainly has literary qualities, but sometimes appears confused and is likely to tire more than one.
bmip666's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
manavisharma's review against another edition
DNF - couldn't get behind the writing style or characters.
victoriad702's review against another edition
3.0
Nicola Six is whatever she needs to be to whoever needs it. But one thing is certain, she is a murderee.
Nicola has known all along how and when her life will end, all she needs to find is who will take it. She finds him, in the Black Cross and begins to weave her web, taking down others as she goes along.
The book itself is divided into chapters which alternate between the point of view of Kieth, Nicola, and Guy (for most of the novel) with unnumbered chapters between each written by Sam our narrator and author of the true story of Nicola's quest towards murderee. He plays a ghostly role through much of the novel, always on the edges, involved with each character.
The novel itself is long at 470 pages, sometimes seeming longer. It is quite good at parts, but in others it drags. The concept is interesting, the predestination of things but in the end I don't love it, but I don't hate it either.
Nicola has known all along how and when her life will end, all she needs to find is who will take it. She finds him, in the Black Cross and begins to weave her web, taking down others as she goes along.
The book itself is divided into chapters which alternate between the point of view of Kieth, Nicola, and Guy (for most of the novel) with unnumbered chapters between each written by Sam our narrator and author of the true story of Nicola's quest towards murderee. He plays a ghostly role through much of the novel, always on the edges, involved with each character.
The novel itself is long at 470 pages, sometimes seeming longer. It is quite good at parts, but in others it drags. The concept is interesting, the predestination of things but in the end I don't love it, but I don't hate it either.
jeremyhornik's review against another edition
3.0
Nikki Sixx, sex and nuclear annihilation. I liked it, didn't love it, but it stays on my shelf because some friends loved it and maybe someday I will too.
emufranklin's review against another edition
I just didn't care for it. It's men humour and didn't want to engage in the discussions of rape or sexualisation.
beckyyreadss's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
I decided to read this book because I brought a poster with 100 books to read in your lifetime. This was the sixth book on the list, and it was boring. It was so confusing - I didn’t get it and I had such high hopes for this book just from the summary, yet I was so disappointed with this book.
This book is based around Samson Young who is a writer staring death in the face. He is out of ideas and on the verge of terminal decline, Samson’s dash to a decaying, degenerate London has brought him through the doors of the Black Cross pub and into a murder story just waiting to be narrated. At the centre of this story is the doomed Nicola Six and she is destined to be murdered on her thirty-fifth birthday. Around her are a lot of dodgy men and one of them might be the killer. All Samson has to do is to write Nicola’s story as it happens and savour this one last gift that life has granted him.
I thought I would get the British ‘humour’ side of it but I just didn’t - I thought the book was going to be intriguing from the summary and the cover and it was slow and disgusting and confusing. I barely understood the plot and I still don’t actually know who killed her or if she is dead. It was full of stereotypes that weren’t even pushing into the stereotypes. I was just confused.
This book was really difficult for me personally to understand and get into and the ending was shocking. I probably won’t read another book by Martin Amis again. It got 2 stars because it was a bland story line but it did find it quite slow and boring. The reason why it got 2 stars is because the summary is literally the only thing that made the book decent. But six books down, ninety-four to go.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Gaslighting, Infidelity, and Murder