Oliver Murphy

I found this book unreadable. Martin Amis uses us to show off. Instead of telling his story (and it is a story with a fantastic plot, full of promise) he uses language to let us know what a clever, well-educated chap he is. Amis does not like humans. He is unable to write real conversations. His characters (and their names) are not real. They are full of shortcomings, flaws and ugliness. Instead of letting them interact, Amis describes their lives with his overworked prose. I found it very heavy going. It’s a long book of over 500 pages. My advice is not to start the book. If you do, and (although this is not likely) if you finish, you deserve a medal.