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A review by thaurisil
The Rachel Papers by Martin Amis
2.0
The first time I read this, I was fifteen and I hated it. Now I am about the same age as Charles, who is nineteen going on twenty, and I still hate it. Charles himself didn’t annoy me that much. Sure, he is cynical, self-centred, chauvinistic, manipulative, and hates his father for being too boring as a family man. Yet these all lend frankness to his adolescence, and he has enough self-mockery to show his awareness that he is not to be taken seriously, and he does show sorrow when his father gets into an affair, along with enough guilt for him not to be labelled cold-hearted.
What I do hate about the book is the drugs, the alcohol, and worst of all, the descriptions of sex. No teenager I know actually goes to bed with a girl every afternoon, and definitely nobody still gets a place in Oxford at the end of it. All the girls, including Charles’ own sister Jenny, are objectified, with their worth gauged by their beauty and hotness. None of their personalities really shines through, not even Rachel’s. Sure, this is because we see girls only through the eyes of Charles, yet it would be nice to at least have some hint of intelligence in a girl.
But Charles does grow up at the end, and after successfully wooing Rachel, he discovers that though beautiful, she is empty-headed, and he dumps her after realising that girls mean more than looks and sex. The strongest point of the book is the writing, which is very much alive, and Charles’ cold cynicism quite often made me laugh. Perhaps I would have enjoyed the book more if I were a boy.
What I do hate about the book is the drugs, the alcohol, and worst of all, the descriptions of sex. No teenager I know actually goes to bed with a girl every afternoon, and definitely nobody still gets a place in Oxford at the end of it. All the girls, including Charles’ own sister Jenny, are objectified, with their worth gauged by their beauty and hotness. None of their personalities really shines through, not even Rachel’s. Sure, this is because we see girls only through the eyes of Charles, yet it would be nice to at least have some hint of intelligence in a girl.
But Charles does grow up at the end, and after successfully wooing Rachel, he discovers that though beautiful, she is empty-headed, and he dumps her after realising that girls mean more than looks and sex. The strongest point of the book is the writing, which is very much alive, and Charles’ cold cynicism quite often made me laugh. Perhaps I would have enjoyed the book more if I were a boy.