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Lionel Asbo: State of England [Hardcover]

Martin Amis (Author)
3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (55 customer reviews)
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Book Description

Release Date: 7 Jun 2012

Lionel Asbo - a very violent but not very successful young criminal - is going about his morning duties in a London prison when he learns that he has just won £139,999,999.50 on the National Lottery. This is not necessarily good news for his ward and nephew, the orphaned Des Pepperdine, who still has reason to fear his uncle's implacable vengeance.

Savage, funny, and mysteriously poignant, Lionel Asbo is a modern fairytale from one of the world's great writers.

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Product details

  • Hardcover: 288 pages
  • Publisher: Jonathan Cape (7 Jun 2012)
  • Language: Unknown
  • ISBN-10: 0224096206
  • ISBN-13: 978-0224096201
  • Product Dimensions: 16.2 x 2.9 x 24 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (55 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 36,983 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Review

Martin Amis's Lionel Asbo made me laugh (as any novel driven by incestuous relations with your grandmother should) and then feel ashamed for that laughter (as any novel driven by incestuous relations with your grandmother should). (James Kidd Independent )

It's a Big Mac made from filet mignon. It is a book of lovehate. It is a powershake. And the biggest joy is that Amis seems to find himself (and finds us, by extension) loving the thing he loathes... So let's give thanks that Martin Amis was bad enough and brave enough to write it (Nicola Barker Observer )

This is still a Martin Amis novel, full of tense, fugitive moments.had me roaring with laughter. (DJ Taylor Independent )

Being an Amis novel it's not without the odd good joke, and he is, of course, incapable of writing and inelegant line. (It's almost as if he alone can sense both the golden ratio of a sentence, and its perfect rhythm: it's like he's Michelangelo and Keith Moon). (David Annand Sunday Telegraph )

As soon as you begin this novel, it is clear that Amis does indeed love his monstrous invention, Lionel Asbo. Lionel is a fantastic brute. Amis's delight in the incorrigible is genuinely Dickensian. This is a verbally inventive comedy.to be enjoyed in the same spirit as Little Britain. It's a hoot. (David Sexton Evening Standard )

Book Description

A modern fairytale from one of the world's great writers
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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars Lionel Asbo: State of England 18 Oct 2012
By Dave Gilmour's cat
Format:Hardcover
I think this book has been unfairly criticized. Agree that it's not as sharp as Money or London Fields. Likewise, it's not as poignant or expansive as The Pregnant Widow. But it's certainly no turkey, like Yellow Dog was. It's a funny, clever satire that examines celebrity, wealth, class, family, and relationships in 21st-century England. It's a state-of-the-nation novel that contains some dazzling phrases and sentences.

While there are motifs repeated from his other books, he does this so well that it doesn't matter. And he never resorts to cliché.

Is it among his very best? No. Is it worth reading? Yes.
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35 of 41 people found the following review helpful
3.0 out of 5 stars Out of touch 25 Jun 2012
By D. Rodriguez
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
To write about the Underclass, a writer must surely have some knowledge or experience of it, even if all it amounts to is a week or two hanging out in some low-life pub. I'm not going to give a summary of the plot: there are some excellent ones here already. I'll just say that the plot is an engaging one, and Amis a consummate storyteller. Where he falls down, in my opinion, is that he doesn't make me believe in his characters. It's not clear whether he intends them to be outlandish caricatures of benefits scroungers, thugs and teenage mothers. (David Cameron and George Osborne may have picked up their ideas from the same sources.)"Lionel Asbo" is also full of anachronisms. For example, at what sink comprehensive were boys wearing shorts and purple blazers as recently as 2006? Surely a 15-year-old has a mobile phone, even if s/he has nothing else? (Most of the 8-year-olds I know have them.) The book sometimes reads like a poor, contrived pastiche of Dickens, funny surnames, street names and all. Where Amis excels is in his ability to convey a character's physical features in a small number of words, and his beautiful use of simile and metaphor: the sun, in one passage, is fixed in the sky like a gilt tack. "Lionel Asbo" is an enjoyable read, but that isn't enough. I failed to engage with his characters; they seemed rather pathetic, and in the end I didn't really care what happened to them.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars Lotto lout 11 Dec 2012
By Clive A. H. Still TOP 500 REVIEWER
Format:Hardcover
Martin Amis has a talent for inventing unpleasant characters and Lionel Asbo is his most all-round, unmitigated monster so far. A career criminal who never hesitates to use violence against those who upset him, he is equally feared and loved by his sweet-natured and law-abiding nephew, Des. The one big secret in Des' life is that he was seduced by Lionel's mother (Des' grandmother)as a teenager and the knowledge of how Lionel would react if he ever discovered this, is a permanent fear hanging over the young man.

It is when Lionel, enjoying one of his regular mini-breaks in Wormwood Scrubs, wins the lottery that the book really takes off with Amis, the satirist, targeting celebrity culture and life in England in the 21st century - the South Central hotel being an exhiliarating glimpse of hell on earth. The reader can only be grateful for the appealling Des and his girlfriend, Dawn, who lift the narrative out of the dystopian gloom into which it could have sunk.

Horribly appealing.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars Refreshingly irrational look at the lower echelons of the worst estate...
After reading Money I became an Amis fan but am still waiting to read London Fields. The blurb on the back of Lionel Asbo suggested as simple a concept as the original, Money. Read more
Published 7 days ago by Abe Ayre
1.0 out of 5 stars Disturbingly Cruel
Early in the story, we are introduced to 14 year old Rory, the son of Mr.and Mrs Nightingale a seemingly pleasant and devoted couple (they always walk hand in hand). Read more
Published 27 days ago by C. Gordon
4.0 out of 5 stars Books and Covers
I don't bother to "do" book reviews on Amazon - I tend not even to look at them. I made the mistake of doing so with this book, and so have been putting off reading it for months. Read more
Published 1 month ago by TomCook24
3.0 out of 5 stars What is Amis playing at?
This is a genuine question. My first reaction--clearly shared by many other reviewers--was that he has completely lost the plot. Read more
Published 1 month ago by M. READ
1.0 out of 5 stars One star is over generous.
I give it one star because the printers managed to stick the pages together. Other than that I have nothing good to say about this book or the author. Read more
Published 1 month ago by M
3.0 out of 5 stars A story of your time. Down your street? Try not to look too close, or...
Merry England, rough tough and funny but contrived. Pit bulls unfed, pulling on chokers and that's just the humans. Read more
Published 2 months ago by Jack Walker
1.0 out of 5 stars Poisonous and contemptible
Amis sits in his cosy, insulated literary tower and looks out with sneering contempt on those who are less fortunate than himself. Read more
Published 4 months ago by Mr. David R. Watson
4.0 out of 5 stars The Li of the land.
Well, well, well. Lionel Asbo has certainly caused something of a stir amongst the Amazon reviewing community. Read more
Published 5 months ago by Sue Kichenside
1.0 out of 5 stars Posh boy's view
It's nice that Ivory Tower elitist and warmongering bigot Martin Amis sometimes casts his oh-so-witty (not) eye on the British underclass so he can degrade us too. Read more
Published 5 months ago by Zero
5.0 out of 5 stars Yet another witty allegory of a modern England
Anyone who professes they do not care about the characters might wish to take a second, closer look at what they represent. Read more
Published 7 months ago by KM
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