A review by faintgirl
London Fields by Martin Amis

3.0

I can't figure out what to make of this book at all. Either Amis really despises people or he finds them beneath him... or maybe he loves them but doesn't want to admit it to the rest of us. It makes for a rather schizophrenic novel, where the main male protagonists are unwitting, a little thick, but generally likeable (if not quite stand up chaps). Their downfall is Nicola Six, the devious and devilish young woman who has foreseen her own death at the hands of these gentleman. To the end she is manipulative, cruel, but essentially shallow. In places it's quite riveting, and his portrayal of Keith and Guy as the Everymen is funny and even occasionally warming. But Nicola and her baseless existential angst, her unwillingness to involved herself in any of the human side of day to day life, made it impossible for me to really feel this book. Hence it gets a three, but it's actually a lot more interesting than that rating would suggest.