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Rating:  -
London Fields does require effort. It also rewards it like no other book I am aware of in contemporary fiction. I too aborted reading the book within 100 pages but given the extraordinary effects of Money, Dead Babies and Other People, I felt I ought to give Mart another go. I gave it another go.
There is a depth and richness in this book that I see replicated practically nowhere else in modern writing. Amis himself calls it "The Long Novel". The book reeks talent in its characterisation and language. London Fields is a consummate piece of reality and fiction. It puts certain others of his work - Time's Arrow, The Information to shame and it places the entire works of the pretenders (hey! Will Self! Hi!) just.... subterranean.
Buy this book. Give it the effort it needs to get beyond 100 - 150 pages. Reviews based on non-completion are obviously idiotic. When one gets through to reach this book's extraordinary conclusion, I for one would say it's a full dime shake up the spine; the knowledge that one has read a rare piece of imaginative fiction.
London Fields does character, setting and language in a manner unmatched by Martin Amis' contemporaries or indeed by himself since. Off the top of the wave, it will give you a ride like no other. Buy.
Rating:  -
A really horrendous read, I don't see how anyone could have enjoyed anything about this idiotic book. We've read about the modern millenial desert, and this work offers nothing new. I am not someone who is oblivious of allegory, symbolism, imagery, etc, but I felt as if the entire book was some sort of an inside joke meant for people familiar with London. Cryptic phrases, and really irritating, persistent attempts at humor on every page. I cared as much for the characters on page 1 as I did on page 300. And as mentioned by a previous reviewer, the authorial presence is extremely annoying and totalitarian, not allowing the reader to formulate any sort of outside opinion on the characters, who themselves are thoroughly uninteresting. You'll get as much out of buying this book as you would out of just burning 15 dollars.
Rating: -
well if it's pretty prose you want you'll find it here, not exactly James Joyce or Cormac McCarthy but surely there is beauty in Mr Amis's choices of words and phrases. the plot is rip-roaring, the troika of Guy Clinch, Nicola Six and Keith Talent are well-drawn, and I've never been more amused (and frightened) by a character than I was by Keith Talent. the ending surprised me, the hard-core darts information was fun and enlightening, and of course the perspective was uniquely, inimitably Martin Amis -- in other words witty, clever, brash, sneaky, scary, tough, tender, cold, hateful, vengeful, admiring, loathing, and self-evaluative.
Mr Amis's books are so different from one another that it's not surprising that some folks will say this one isn't as good as Money, or Time's Arrow, or Dead Babies, or The Rachel Papers. it's just a lot different from those books. London Fields *IS* vastly better than The Information, though.
this was the first Martin Amis book I read, and while my favorite is Money, this one is a very close second.
Rating:  -
On reading other reviews of Martin Amis' book one thing continues to mystify me- how is it possible to spend months or even weks reading this novel! I simply could not put it down even though the characters spewed all over my lap at times. And what characters they are! Keith is the most hilarious creature and Nicola is the ultra-feminist gone completely mad. They both enjoy expectorating the clueless Guy. And the secondary characters don't miss a beat.
Kudos to Mr. Amis!!! Yes it is a dark, satirical nightmare but I laughed every other page and I do not consider myself comically soft. If there is a better English writer alive right now I would pay any sum for their name.
Rating:  -
If you're going to read Amis, read "Time's Arrow" which I found far more compelling than London Fields. The characters in "London Fields" are so self-absorbed and pathetic that I had a difficult time appreciating the cleverness of this book. Yes, it is well-written for the most part, and there are moments of comic relief (hurrah for Marmaduke!), but for the most part, what a downer. I like a lot of dark books, but this one just didn't cut it.
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