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A review by drdreuh
London Fields by Martin Amis
mysterious
medium-paced
2.5
I wanted to read Martin Amis because he died last year, and suddenly the literati were all atwitter with odes for an author I had never heard of. I stumbled on "London Fields" in a used bookstore in Barcelona. Is it representative of his work? Where does it sit in his portfolio? No idea.
"London Fields" is a man's book. A weird thing to write, but nonetheless true. Raging hard-ons abound. Dirty and sometimes violent sex, and women, and bars and cigarettes, and a long drawn out competition of a "sport" I couldn't care less about, darts. Gritty. Reminds me a bit of T.C. Boyle's style. And Elmore Leonard. Vonnegut, maybe. So aggressively misogynistically male that I wonder if you could get this book published today. No relationship that is not abusive. Freudian. Everything that is taboo, really.
But its also very smart. A book within a book full of literary references and funny Briticisms. Multiple point of view. Multi-class. Writing about writing.
Astronomical events and the threat of world war burbling in the background seemed unnecessary.
Structurally interesting, and the whodunit energy hooked me, even though we were told from the start who done it. But otherwise I'm glad to have the reading of this Amis, anyway, behind me.
Lines I loved:
Countries go insane like people go insane ... Some had been insane all their lives, and some had gone insane and then gotten better again and then gone insane again.
Most places just are something, but America had to mean something too ...
He thought of straw: was this the kind you clutched at, or the kind that broke your back?
Curious how madness and obscenity go together.
"London Fields" is a man's book. A weird thing to write, but nonetheless true. Raging hard-ons abound. Dirty and sometimes violent sex, and women, and bars and cigarettes, and a long drawn out competition of a "sport" I couldn't care less about, darts. Gritty. Reminds me a bit of T.C. Boyle's style. And Elmore Leonard. Vonnegut, maybe. So aggressively misogynistically male that I wonder if you could get this book published today. No relationship that is not abusive. Freudian. Everything that is taboo, really.
But its also very smart. A book within a book full of literary references and funny Briticisms. Multiple point of view. Multi-class. Writing about writing.
Astronomical events and the threat of world war burbling in the background seemed unnecessary.
Structurally interesting, and the whodunit energy hooked me, even though we were told from the start who done it. But otherwise I'm glad to have the reading of this Amis, anyway, behind me.
Lines I loved:
Countries go insane like people go insane ... Some had been insane all their lives, and some had gone insane and then gotten better again and then gone insane again.
Most places just are something, but America had to mean something too ...
He thought of straw: was this the kind you clutched at, or the kind that broke your back?
Curious how madness and obscenity go together.