Book Reviews - Review 18

Pretty good, for a Martin Amis novel. Like most of the others, it's let down by half-hearted plotting and unconvincing attempts at profundity; but it's thoroughly entertaining from start to finish, and the story, ultimately unsatisfying though it is, at least has had more thought put into it than, say, The Information.

The story is narrated by John Self, a partner in a London ad agency who is about to direct his first feature film. It follows him as he jets across to New York, makes contacts, meets actors, crawls about in drunken stupors and generally is a bad lad. It's all great fun, and it looks as though it is heading towards an interesting denouement as Self becomes increasingly dogged by the suspicion that he might be better off pursuing a more soulful existence. However, at the last moment the promising plot unravels in a pile-up of implausibilities, to leave the reader feeling somewhat short-changed.

Another gripe: Amis is pretty explicit about wanting to make Self's story a fable of the hollowness of the 'money conspiracy' - but ironically the story is as hollow and superficial as Self himself. An ingenious postmodern paradox? It would be nice to think so - and yet what serious writer would choose meretricious irony if they could manage genuine depth? There are plenty of signs of Amis straining for the latter, and yet in the end all he seems to be saying is, "Funny the hold money has over our lives, isn't it?"

As in his other novels, Amis seems to be aiming for the same pointedness at the narrative level that he manages so effortlessly in his incisive, drolly witty prose. But time after time, he fails to achieve it. He is essentially a comic writer; but the best comic writers (David Lodge, Douglas Adams) still have something to say - a genuine, felt vision of life. Amis's love is for words; his ultimate indifference to what he is describing with those words is something he can't cover up.

All that said, I thoroughly recommend reading this novel. It's not as thought-provoking as it tries to be, but if you want laughs, you can't do better.