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Rating:  -
I think one's perception of _London Fields_ has little to do with IQ and precocious reading levels and much to do with geographical location. As an inhabitant of Los Angeles, where we view the pop cultural and apocalyptic landscapes almost simultaneously, I found Amis's novel to be VERY right on -- brilliant!
Rating: -
Martin Amis created some of the most memorable characters that I have ever read in this book, and was able to suprise this reader in completely plausible ways (given the eccentric characters, of course). It was also one of the funniest books I've read in the past few years.
Amis' juxtaposition of the main story with apocalpse, however, was contrived, distracting, and I felt added little.
Rating:  -
Martin Amis is following a tendency by some writers to write a story where complexity seems to be more important than the story itself. He is weaving in and out of several stories within the story to a point where it all becomes contrived and boring. The quest for complexity is also reflected in the vocabulary where Mr. Amis seems to have made a point of reaping the benefits from his investment in a thesaurus. What could have been a well-written story with fine portraits of characters from the more sordid sides of London life is lost in the intricacies of words for words sake.
Rating:  -
the first two-hundred pages of this book completely impressed me: there was a dark, electric writing style, a bizarre and continually intriguing interplay between the narrator and his characters, and the sense that the world being put forth by Amis was rich and layered.
but the book runs out of steam. scenes begin to continually repeat themselves (how many time can Keith and Guy visit Nicola's apartmane with absolutely NOthing happening???), and the world of the novel is not given the depth and detail necessary. too much time spent on characters who are ultimately cartoons. of course there is nothing wrong with writing cartoony characters, but the problem is that such characters cannot carry a novel, as they were commisioned by Amis to do.
anyhow ultimately a worthwhile book to read for the originality of its structure and the sometimes captivating writing.
Rating:  -
...and, unfortunately, it is quite clear that Mr. Amis never availed himself of the service. I remember coming to the end, feeling the narrative beginning to wind down to a conclusion, FINALLY.
What a relief, I thought to myself. I made it through one of the longest books I've ever read.
Then I looked, and I was only a third of the way through the book. I felt no emotion for Keith, nothing but derision for Guy, our "murderee" was nothing but a gorgeous whore, and as for the narrator? The only character for whom I felt any empathy was Kath, whose under-inclusion in the book seemed only to serve the purpose of giving the other characters something off of which to aimlessly bounce.
The worst books are those about which, somewhere in the pages, I find myself asking, "Why should I care?" Not a page went by that I didn't ask that question. The only reason I gave it one star is because zero is not an option.
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