I've never been a big Martin Amis fan. I read 3 chapters of London Fields and that was enough for me. My brother loves Martin Amis, so I figured I should give it a shot, because Brendan has good taste. Brendan insisted I read Gabriel Garcia Marquez, for example. Brendan is no dummy. But I could not get into Amis. It's not that I don't enjoy satire. I do. But - there was something too mean-spirited, too nihilistic for me, in Amis' prose. I could recognize his skill. I just didn't feel like reading any more.
But again: my opinion means nothing. It's just a taste thing.
This article in The Times about Amis' new book is quite interesting. Apparently, it is not as good as it should be (one critic, a huge fan of Amis, wrote that reading it was akin to "your favorite uncle being caught in a school playground, masturbating" - Jeez, dude, don't hold back, tell us how you really feel!). But Amis has been so highly praised (perhaps over-praised), his advances have been so enormous, that he is a huge target. The word "schaudenfraude" is used.
The critiques have caused a brou-haha in the British literati - and the book hasn't even come out yet. British novelist Tibor Fischer was the catalyst for this whole thing. He said: "The way British publishing works, you go from not being published no matter how good you are to being published no matter how bad you are."
Martin Amis has not responded to the firestorm, as of yet.
Jonathan Burnham, the president and editor in chief of Miramax Books, which is publishing "Yellow Dog" in the United States, said that Mr. Amis seemed to provoke idolatry and envy in equal doses.Posted by sheila"One thing that drives everyone crazy is that Martin doesn't really care about the storm he creates around him," Mr. Burnham said. "He doesn't consciously seek to generate all this heat, and it just adds to all this madness."
I love how he handles first-person POV. He is unashamed to use his full word prowess and 'lend' it to a character even if the character could not possibly express himself in such way. Here is the opening of 'Night Train', also bashed in DT:
"I am a police. That may sound like an unusual statement—or an unusual construction. But it’s a parlance we have. Among ourselves, we would never say I am a policeman or I am a policewoman or I am a police officer. We would just say I am a police. I am a police. I am a police and my name is Detective Mike Hoolihan. And I am a woman, also.
What I am setting out here is an account of the worst case I have ever handled. The worst case—for me, that is. When you’re a police, “worst” is an elastic concept. You can’t really get a fix on “worst.” The boundaries are pushed out every other day. “Worst?” we’ll ask. “There’s no such thing as worst.” But for Detective Mike Hoolihan this was the worst case.
Downtown, at CID, with its three thousand sworn, there are many departments and subdepartments, sections and units, whose names are always changing: Organized Crime, Major Crimes, Crimes Against Persons, Sex Offenses, Auto Theft, Check and Fraud, Special Investigations, Asset Forfeiture, Intelligence, Narcotics, Kidnapping, Burglary, Robbery—and Homicide. There is a glass door marked Vice. There is no glass door marked Sin. The city is the offense. We are the defense. That’s the general idea."
It is not Martin Amis speaking. It is Detective Mike Hooligan speaking with words lended to her by Martin Amis. And it suggests that a person whom we would probably dismiss as uninteresting had we met him personally, such as John Self, a protagonist of 'Money. A suicide note' is actually a being worth writing of.
Posted by: Mike Tyukanov at August 28, 2003 2:26 AMMike:
What an awesome comment. I enjoyed reading every word.
Like I said: many people whom I respect love Martin Amis! Perhaps I'm missing something ... or maybe I just didn't enjoy "London Fields", and should try some of his other work.
Posted by: red at August 29, 2003 2:02 PM