Porn freak and jetsetter, John Self, is the shameless heir to a fast-food culture where money beats out an invitation to futile self-gratification. Out in New York, mingling with the mighty, Self is embroiled in the corruption, the brutality and the obscenity of the money conspiracy.
Money: A Suicide Note
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"Amis is still the finest English fiction writer of his generation" (Sunday Independent )
"An electrifying writer who likes to shock his fans and share his sharply contemporary concerns... Amis is a maddening master you need to read - the best of his generation" (Mail on Sunday )
"Amis is immaculate as a comic stylist...irresistible" (Daily Telegraph )
"His eloquently rendered inner life shows a richness and tenderness" (The Week )
"A comic opera of excess and humiliation, driven by the punch and panache of Amis's extraordinary prose, Money remains as satirically spot-on as when it was first published" (The List ) --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.
"An electrifying writer who likes to shock his fans and share his sharply contemporary concerns... Amis is a maddening master you need to read - the best of his generation" (Mail on Sunday )
"Amis is immaculate as a comic stylist...irresistible" (Daily Telegraph )
"His eloquently rendered inner life shows a richness and tenderness" (The Week )
"A comic opera of excess and humiliation, driven by the punch and panache of Amis's extraordinary prose, Money remains as satirically spot-on as when it was first published" (The List ) --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.
Book Description
'Terribly, terminally funny: laughter in the dark, if ever I heard it' Guardian (20040624)
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
71 of 74 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Paperback
Amis gets a bad press, and you can see why. Why is a middle class novelist from London writing in this smart-ass cool American jargon? Why is he so clearly in love with this disposable cynical money grabbing pornographic transatlantic culture that this book is rubbishing? I started the book in this mode of thought, ready to hate it. But the language and the rhythm and the wit are so brilliant, and so energetic, that I was completely won over after 50 pages or so. This is a Hogarthian world of exploitation and indulgence. John Self tries to get on the gravy train but ends up being shafted himself.
The book is also very, very funny. The scenes when John explains to the young Hollywood brat pack movie actor Spunk Davis that it might be helpful for the British market if he changed his first name, and when a prostitute asks him if he is very excited at the impending Diana and Charles wedding had me laughing out loud.
I even forgive his having John meet a dull British novelist, one Martin Amis, in a café and signing him up as screenwriter.
Sure it is self consciously clever. But I would rather have the brilliance that is here than not at all. And it is good to read a serious book that is actually dealing directly with our times rather than some time in the past (like most of the contemporary novels I read).
13 of 13 people found the following review helpful
By Dead Celeb
Format:Paperback
I have mixed feelings about this book. Despite containing some moments of the wit and satire that Amis seems to be able to dash off so easily, it never feels like it totally justifies the price of admission.
Like the central character John Self, the prose feels bloated at 368 pages long. There's a kind of rhythm in the repetition of the constant acts of gluttony, depravity and violence of Self that I suppose you could argue form the basis of the satire. The problem I have with this is that if this book is intended as a satire, it doesn't feel like the aim is precise enough- it's more of a scattergun approach in which all of the targets receive a blast of Amis's caustic style.
What this leaves you with is a fairly stretched story full of unlikable characters (although I did enjoy John Self's dead pan reflections and utter lack of regret on events that would horrify most of us- being thrown out of bars, losing fights, throwing up in front of important people) interspersed with some genuinely funny moments.
It comes down to personal taste, as I know there are plenty of people who rate this book, but ultimately I found it comes off like an overlong speech by a very witty, though very drunk friend.
Like the central character John Self, the prose feels bloated at 368 pages long. There's a kind of rhythm in the repetition of the constant acts of gluttony, depravity and violence of Self that I suppose you could argue form the basis of the satire. The problem I have with this is that if this book is intended as a satire, it doesn't feel like the aim is precise enough- it's more of a scattergun approach in which all of the targets receive a blast of Amis's caustic style.
What this leaves you with is a fairly stretched story full of unlikable characters (although I did enjoy John Self's dead pan reflections and utter lack of regret on events that would horrify most of us- being thrown out of bars, losing fights, throwing up in front of important people) interspersed with some genuinely funny moments.
It comes down to personal taste, as I know there are plenty of people who rate this book, but ultimately I found it comes off like an overlong speech by a very witty, though very drunk friend.
12 of 13 people found the following review helpful
By "pavano"
Format:Paperback
"I have measured out my life in coffee spoons" is a quotation from T.S Eliot. For me: substitute readings of this modern classic for spoons. I think that it was described as the best literary account of the 80s, and I would definitely agree. It is difficult to add to the eloquent appraisals of this book by other reviewers.
"Success" comes closest to it, in terms of comic perspective on class and society; and, re-reading the latter a few weeks ago, it seems obvious that it was the run-up to "Money." There is so much that makes me laugh, with repeated readings. The idiotic American who thinks that "Pericles: Prince Of Tyre" is about an automobile business is one that I always remember.
I don't think that Amis will ever write a novel (he can still pull it off with essays and short stories) as great as this.
At least two of his novels have been bungled as screen adaptations. "London Fields" is reportedly being worked on (promising, as Cronenburg is the director, and he created the atmosphere for "Spider" excellently), but his should not be attempted.
Like a comet, it will fly into my orbit for another re-reading within months or years.
"Success" comes closest to it, in terms of comic perspective on class and society; and, re-reading the latter a few weeks ago, it seems obvious that it was the run-up to "Money." There is so much that makes me laugh, with repeated readings. The idiotic American who thinks that "Pericles: Prince Of Tyre" is about an automobile business is one that I always remember.
I don't think that Amis will ever write a novel (he can still pull it off with essays and short stories) as great as this.
At least two of his novels have been bungled as screen adaptations. "London Fields" is reportedly being worked on (promising, as Cronenburg is the director, and he created the atmosphere for "Spider" excellently), but his should not be attempted.
Like a comet, it will fly into my orbit for another re-reading within months or years.
18 of 20 people found the following review helpful
By Room For A View
VINE™ VOICE
Format:Paperback
Amis's punchy narrative, infused with colloquial wordplay and urban street talk, complements his hero's (the intriguingly named John Self) socially schizophrenic lifestyle. Self is launched into the money rich pseudo reality of the film industry bumping backwards and forwards between the pub based childhood memories of his London origins and a New York fantasy world of strip joints and intoxication. I found the author's style highly engaging, packed with comic material (fruit machine rage, junk food diets, Martin Amis) and themes of a dark cynical nature. I enjoyed the historical backdrop: allusions to the wedding of Prince Charles and Diana in contrast to news of serious rioting in London. The characters inhabiting both urban settings are hilarious, scheming, self-indulgent egotists and caricatures of attention seeking celebrity, society's misfits and money obsessed grifters. And how I laughed! I had to put the book down on several occasions due to passages such as the one describing Self's driving paranoia. This was the first Amis I had read and it took me a few pages to get on the right `wavelength' and enjoy the rhythm of Amis's literary style. For Self the status and prestige bought by money and the blinkered desire to have money are shown to be a destructive cycle of self inflicted physical and mental abuse, sexploitation and violence. I don't think Self is a nice person but his story is deeply funny.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Wonderful
Funny, clever, compelling, original - this is Amis's high point. Anyone interested in modern literature should read this wonderful book.
Published 15 days ago by Brenda Vendor
5.0 out of 5 stars
Brilliantly written satire
This is the second Martin Amis book I have read [I have read and reviewed Time's Arrow, which is very different to this] and in both books I have been astonished by his amazing... Read more
Published 24 days ago by Bacchus
5.0 out of 5 stars
Funniest book ever!
Written in a kind of post modern shakespearian 'high style'' the book fizzes and crackles along with some laugh out loud moments along the way. Brilliant.
Published 1 month ago by Steve
5.0 out of 5 stars
Worth the effort
It took me about 100 pages to fully get to grips with Amis' style and to get hooked on the story and I can understand why some people might have bailed before they got so far. Read more
Published 2 months ago by William
1.0 out of 5 stars
Loathed it
Hated the storyline, the style - in fact found nothing to like about it all. Wish I hadn't wasted my money on it!
Published 3 months ago by Cranny
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great!
bought this as price was very good compared to all others i had seen. arrived quickly, as described. highly recommended
Published 3 months ago by Tim Stopforth
2.0 out of 5 stars
I am stopping at the page 78 for now...
Before I give my opinion.. you gotta know English is not my native language -the book uses a lot of jargon.. and that could be biasing my opinion-. Read more
Published 4 months ago by Joan Maese Molina
1.0 out of 5 stars
Disappointed.
If you like pornography, this is a book for you. Long winded ramblings and little action. I was unable to finish it.
Published 5 months ago by Pen Morgan
5.0 out of 5 stars
"Money, it's always the money."
John Self isn't a very nice guy. He's a money-man who spends his time between London and New York doing what money-men do: making money. Or so we think. Read more
Published 6 months ago by Troy Parfitt
1.0 out of 5 stars
Pretentious and pretentiousness
The book is tosh. Half a dozen pages of mildly amusing material doesn't excuse the absence of plot, absence of plausible characters and absence of structure. Read more
Published 7 months ago by A_liberal_mind
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