Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Vastly entertaining, 23 Jul 2003
By A Customer
I came to this book after hearing a discussion on the radio, which intrigued me. I loved reading it, and couldn't put it down at all. The reviewer who counsels just letting the novel wash over you is absolutely on the money. The plot doesn't really matter. Constant amusement from the unlikeable and unloveable Keith Talent, for me especially the points at which he reviews himself by use of tabloid headline cliches. Nicola is terrifying, but frighteningly familiar. Guy is a great device. I also always enjoy the 'knowing narrator.'
Great read, not a bit too long.
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8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
London's Burning, Dial 99999, 2 May 2003
This seems to be a novel people tend to either love or hate, and it's not hard to see why. First of all, it is awfully long-and for such a long book, not a lot happens, which is bound to upset some people. Essentially, you have the tale of a not-so-romantic triangle comprised of Nicola Six (messed up psychic sexpot), Guy Clinch (posh, married, naive, and weak-willed), and Keith Talent (underclass wide-boy, schemer, on-the-fiddle, racist, sexist, alcoholic, generally scummy pub denizen), told by a dying American writer in London. The tale is set at the end of the millennium, with some vague catastrophe threatening the world, so it's safe to believe that the trio's story has some larger meaning. The west London of this book is a pretty nasty immoral place, where carpe diem means grab what you want and screw everyone else. As the physical world of the book obliquely slides toward disaster, the moral landscape is already destroyed. The protagonists themselves are stereotypes, the two men representing the opposite ends of the social spectrum, and the most recognizable "type" of modern British male: upper-crust wimp, lower-class lout. Nicola Six exists solely to satirize, and thus subvert, their sexual fantasies with her psychosexual games. Amis appears to be painting a larger picture about British enrapturement with... well, it's not clear precisely what Nicola represents. Capitalism? America? Or just the dreams and fantasies that have led the country astray? Overarching metaphors aside, Amis can write the hell out of sentence, and there's plenty of awfully good description and dialogue here-especially when it comes to wide-boy Keith. There are large swathes of the book devoted to darts, and Amis makes it come alive. Some of this is devastatingly funny amidst the overall dark and bleak tone. My own favorite line is about scratches on Guy's face that (and this is not verbatim, but give's the gist): "made him look like a determined, but inept rapist"). Ultimately the book is too long, and the broad main characters and interjecting author get rather tedious. Still, it's a major work of modern British literature and merits a look if you're into that stuff.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Perfectly postmodern, 22 Jul 2000
By A Customer
London Fields is not packed with action and events, because its strengths lie in different areas. The characters are brilliantly crafted, simultaneously engaging and complete to the reader, whilst being totally unrealistic and caricatured. In Nicola Six, Amis has created both a male fantasy and a female icon, and Keith Talant is strangly likeable despite his disgraceful behaviour. The constantly shifting narrative voice keeps the reader focused on the several interwoven plots, and generates continual questions as to who is controlling the actions and the reporting of them. London Fields is not an easy book to read, and sometimes Amis' style can get a little pretentious, but the more you read it, the more accessible it becomes.
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