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3.36 AVERAGE
3.36 AVERAGE
No me gustó, demasiadas páginas para tan poca historia. Se me hizo eterno, al final acabe escuchándolo en audiolibro mientras trabajaba xd
La idea era buena, a mí parecer, una chica que era la víctima andaba en busca de su asesino y manipulaba las situaciones para lograr su fin pero entremedio hay tantas cosas que no aportan y al final solo se vuelve tedioso.
La idea era buena, a mí parecer, una chica que era la víctima andaba en busca de su asesino y manipulaba las situaciones para lograr su fin pero entremedio hay tantas cosas que no aportan y al final solo se vuelve tedioso.
a re-read, prompted by telling someone how much i enjoyed it when i first read it and then wondering if i'd enjoy it as much now.
there is a very significant twist at the end that blem my mind and was a big part of my enjoyment of the book, so knowing that was coming did lessen my enjoyment a non-trivial amount, but i still liked it a lot. (although the way amis talks about and describes women is, um, not perfect). still recommended.
there is a very significant twist at the end that blem my mind and was a big part of my enjoyment of the book, so knowing that was coming did lessen my enjoyment a non-trivial amount, but i still liked it a lot. (although the way amis talks about and describes women is, um, not perfect). still recommended.
This book stirred up some conversation in our bookclub. I was the only one who liked it. Yes, it is a bit tedious at times, but I think it's deliberate as there are 1 or 2 narrators who aren't the writers they think they are. What I liked about the book:
1) I liked the play with the unreliable narrators. It starts with Nicola's diaries upon which this book has been based. Nicola who tells all the men in the book a different story about herself. So how trustworthy are her diaries?
Until the last page you are led to believe Samson is the narrator, a writer with a writer's block (which makes me think that parts of the book are deliberately difficult to read). At the very last page M.A. turns out to have written this book. But is it the Martin Amis or Mark Asprey. And if it's Mark Asprey he is definitely not the writer the book/he claims he is. It was like a Russian doll of narrators.
2) Marmaduke and Kim. I have never come across a child like Marmaduke in literature. I just adored this horror kid, but I equally loved his foil Kim. They are the opposites of their fathers. You'd expect Kim to be Guy's daughter and Marmaduke to be Keith's. Double foils seems like taking it too far, but it works.
3) Amis really plays with and overdoes a lot of literary techniques. You're not supposed to have so many foils (Guy-Keith, Marmaduke-Kim, Nicola-Trisha) and a Russian doll of unreliabe narrators. There is the change in behaviour of Marmaduke, which looks like an extreme Oedipus-complex to me, a popular trope.
5) It looks like a book writing class (the murderer - murderee - foil chapters look like back stories at first), but it shows you at the same how you don't write a book.
6) It had darts in it
The only thing about which I can't make my mind up is his portrayal of women. Nicola leaves me puzzled. Is it just badly done and superficial? Can't I accept there are women like her? Or is it just that the men in the book are uncapable of grasping who she is because she is an expert at hiding herself and they are too macho? Then again, someone like Kath, is done with such respect and understanding.
We were also wondering about the misoginy in the book. Are we much more sensitive about this now? Or was it perceived differently back in the day?
It's a book for people who like experiments with narrative structures. The characters are very well done and I quite enjoyed it.
1) I liked the play with the unreliable narrators. It starts with Nicola's diaries upon which this book has been based. Nicola who tells all the men in the book a different story about herself. So how trustworthy are her diaries?
Until the last page you are led to believe Samson is the narrator, a writer with a writer's block (which makes me think that parts of the book are deliberately difficult to read). At the very last page M.A. turns out to have written this book. But is it the Martin Amis or Mark Asprey. And if it's Mark Asprey he is definitely not the writer the book/he claims he is. It was like a Russian doll of narrators.
2) Marmaduke and Kim. I have never come across a child like Marmaduke in literature. I just adored this horror kid, but I equally loved his foil Kim. They are the opposites of their fathers. You'd expect Kim to be Guy's daughter and Marmaduke to be Keith's. Double foils seems like taking it too far, but it works.
3) Amis really plays with and overdoes a lot of literary techniques. You're not supposed to have so many foils (Guy-Keith, Marmaduke-Kim, Nicola-Trisha) and a Russian doll of unreliabe narrators. There is the change in behaviour of Marmaduke, which looks like an extreme Oedipus-complex to me, a popular trope.
5) It looks like a book writing class (the murderer - murderee - foil chapters look like back stories at first), but it shows you at the same how you don't write a book.
6) It had darts in it
The only thing about which I can't make my mind up is his portrayal of women. Nicola leaves me puzzled. Is it just badly done and superficial? Can't I accept there are women like her? Or is it just that the men in the book are uncapable of grasping who she is because she is an expert at hiding herself and they are too macho? Then again, someone like Kath, is done with such respect and understanding.
We were also wondering about the misoginy in the book. Are we much more sensitive about this now? Or was it perceived differently back in the day?
It's a book for people who like experiments with narrative structures. The characters are very well done and I quite enjoyed it.
An engulfing story of a murderee, a murderer, a foil, and their scribe set in dreary London as the world veers towards the Millennium. A perfect balance of dark humor and escalating confusion -- a book about writing, life, sex, darts, and death. Also includes a character that serves as instant birth control for any female readers.
Nicola Six is probably one of the greatest female literary characters ever created.
Absolute trash. Playing something off as satire and caricature of late stage capitalism is not an excuse for being blatantly racist and misogynistic. Apparently climate catastrophe and global political upheavel were also underlying themes except not because they were only marginally touched on and then in the end amount to nothing. I originally was gonna give 2 stars for the anti-capitalist vibe but downgraded to one because it was such a painful waste of my time. Also having a Jewish protagonist murder a SWANA woman for apparently no reason seems anti-semitic, right? Had this not been on a list of "must read books" I would have shut off the audiobook half an hour in.
I quite liked much of this book, and laughed out loud a lot. But it’s not an easy read, at least it wasn’t for me and I’m not sure if in saying so, I’m dumbing myself down. It’s just that it leaps about and I sometimes felt confused as to which character the author was referring to, at least at first. But that’s not to say I didn’t like it and I loved the characters (especially Marmaduke!). I’d just say it’s not a light beach read, but definitely worth reading. 3-1/2 ⭐️
DNF. If I had bought this book I would take it outside, light it on fire, dump it in the snow and stomp on it. As it is I’ll just return the e-book to the library. Got 50 pages in and life is too short for old white men
Much of the writing is sharp and beautiful and I loved the skewering of Thatcher's England. All of that, which is quite a lot, was not enough for me to get past the misogynistic undercurrent and especially the barely veiled theme that women desire, seek, and create the violence that for some rules and then destroys their lives.
Whoo, I made it. It's rare for a book to take up two weeks of my life, especially if I have lots of time to read.
Yeah, I liked it, but didn't love it. It was long as hell, for starters. There are about a hundred pages about a man with a painful erection he can't tame. How many pages should this subject command? Less than a hundred, I think. I imagine that Amis was trying to emphazise the character's haplessness, but I don't think any man would suffer so long without taking the necessary action to bring relief!
I'm also a bit touchy about novels where the subject matter involves a powerful woman making mincemeat out of guileless men. Especially when it's written by a man - that makes my eyebrows go up a bit.
I did like Amis's take on the truly evil nature of toddlers, and the exploits of conscience-free Keith Talent. And Amis really knows how to keep the rhythm interesting.
Yeah, I liked it, but didn't love it. It was long as hell, for starters. There are about a hundred pages about a man with a painful erection he can't tame. How many pages should this subject command? Less than a hundred, I think. I imagine that Amis was trying to emphazise the character's haplessness, but I don't think any man would suffer so long without taking the necessary action to bring relief!
I'm also a bit touchy about novels where the subject matter involves a powerful woman making mincemeat out of guileless men. Especially when it's written by a man - that makes my eyebrows go up a bit.
I did like Amis's take on the truly evil nature of toddlers, and the exploits of conscience-free Keith Talent. And Amis really knows how to keep the rhythm interesting.