Martin Amis R.I.P

RIP Martin, 73 is too young..

Obituary in the NYT.

"Martin Amis, a giant of British fiction in the late 20th century, died on Friday at 73. As the former New York Times book critic Michiko Kakutani wrote of Amis in her review of his 2000 memoir “Experience,” he was “a writer equipped with a daunting arsenal of literary gifts: a dazzling, chameleonesque command of language, a willingness to tackle large issues and larger social canvases and an unforgiving, heat-seeking eye for the unwholesome ferment of contemporary life.”

He was primarily known for unleashing that arsenal in scabrously witty and linguistically daring novels, but he was also an essayist, memoirist and critic of the first rank"..

www.nytimes.com

A Brief Guide to Martin Amis’s Books

The acclaimed British novelist was also an essayist, memoirist and critic of the first rank.
www.nytimes.com www.nytimes.com
 
I tried to read London Fields, a highly acclaimed work. I hated it. Loved his dads work, e.g. Lucky Jim.
 
chabal said:
Money was an incredible book, an absolute skewering of 80s values and excesses.
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Interesting. I haven’t read it, but did he skewer it, or did he infact revel in it? I only say this cos there are examples where authors (or film directors) claim they are sending something up, but actually seem to want it both ways.

I haven’t read any of his books, but read a fair few articles over the years.
I might try one of his books now. If I was only going to read one, would you recommend Money then? It seems to be either that, London Fields or Times Arrow,
those seem to be the three best regarded books.
 
chesterbells said:
Interesting. I haven’t read it, but did he skewer it, or did he infact revel in it? I only say this cos there are examples where authors (or film directors) claim they are sending something up, but actually seem to want it both ways.

I haven’t read any of his books, but read a fair few articles over the years.
I might try one of his books now. If I was only going to read one, would you recommend Money then? It seems to be either that, London Fields or Times Arrow,
those seem to be the three best regarded books.
Click to expand...
I personally would avoid his first two books, The Rachel Papers and Dead Babies, they aren't his best. Money is his Sgt Peppers book, his most famous and arguably his best. Success, Other People, The Information and London Fields are excellent. His later works The Zone of Interest and House of Meetings are fantastic but I found The Pregnant Widow utterly meh. Yellow Dog is quite funny as is Lionel Asbo which I liked but it seems to be a Marmite book. Times Arrow and Money would be my suggestion.
 
chesterbells said:
Interesting. I haven’t read it, but did he skewer it, or did he infact revel in it? I only say this cos there are examples where authors (or film directors) claim they are sending something up, but actually seem to want it both ways.

I haven’t read any of his books, but read a fair few articles over the years.
I might try one of his books now. If I was only going to read one, would you recommend Money then? It seems to be either that, London Fields or Times Arrow,
those seem to be the three best regarded books.
Click to expand...
I’d go for Money.

And yes, he revels in it and skewers it at the same time.
 


It’s worth reading the longer version of that tweet.

Saw him once dancing with his kids in the Music & Video Exchange in Notting Hill, then again when he did a talk followed by a signing after the publication of The Information. He is an excellent raconteur.

Read a lot of his early novels and non-fiction but became gradually unimpressed with his writing whilst reading London Fields, which I thought was a bit meh.

But Money was scintillating. Also liked Dead Babies, Success & The Moronic Inferno.

RIP.
 
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