Anti-death League: Amazon.co.uk: Kingsley Amis: Books

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3.0 out of 5 stars (2 customer reviews)

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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Thought provoking kind-of sci fi, 17 Jun 2008

By	Ms. L. R. Fisher "lucy_fisher4" (London) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Anti-death League (Paperback)

The novel is set around an army base in either the very near future or an alternative present. The main characters are a young soldier, an abused wife he falls in love with, the army chaplain, an officer, a gay officer and a youngish woman who offers herself to all comers in the nicest possible way. The battalion's way of dealing with the threat of espionage is to be totally open about its activities, and the same kind of moral inversion pervades the story. The various characters move around in a social gavotte, the gay officer struggles with his alcoholism and the appalling treatment he receives at the local mental hospital. Underlying it all is the truly secret activity of this military division - something almost too appalling to be faced. All handled with Amis's usual wit, intelligence, misanthropy and skill with juggling ideas.

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2.0 out of 5 stars A black comedy manqu�e, 2 Sep 2008

By	Ralph Blumenau (London United Kingdom) - See all my reviews (TOP 100 REVIEWER)

This review is from: The Anti-death League (Paperback)

Randy soldiers (homo and hetero); a nymphomaniac aristocrat who entertains, seriatim, officers in her country house; a mad psychiatrist at the army mental hospital; a semi-agnostic and non-judgmental padre; a mad security officer; an army officer and an ex-mental hospital patient in love with each other - these are the principal characters in this novel, most of whom verge on caricature. And they are constantly in need of a drink. The first half of the book is mainly about the relationship between all these people, though in the background there is a sinister army exercise called Operation Apollo. This becomes more central in the second half. Operation Apollo is a preparation for nasty things being done to the Chinese whose spying activities and aggressive intentions obsess the security establishment. (The book was first published in 1966.) At various times several characters on the army base are suspected as Chinese agents; the plot becomes as insane as some of the individuals in the book, but without a lucid story line such as is found in good spy novels. The book aims at being a black comedy; and there are several speeches in which characters reflect on whether there can be a God in such a wicked world: this debate, also, has been much better done elsewhere.

I couldn't get involved with the book at all.

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