Status
Available
Call number
Genres
Publication
Vintage (2005), Edition: New Ed, 400 pages
Description
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.
Media reviews
"the best celebrity novel I know: the stars who demand and wheedle their way across his plot seem less like caricature and more like photorealism every year."
User reviews
LibraryThing member bibliobibuli
I bought the book because I thought I oughta. Had heard stories of Amis being obnoxious and his protagonist is obsessed with ... yes, filthy lucre, and you can't get more crass than that.
Didn't expect to be laughing myself stupid so often, delighting in the bad-boy voice, the dialogue, and the
The book is set during the Summer of the Charles and Di wedding and the riots which swept the country. The novel captures the early 80's and Thatcher's Britain so well.
Didn't expect to be laughing myself stupid so often, delighting in the bad-boy voice, the dialogue, and the
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craft of every sentence.The book is set during the Summer of the Charles and Di wedding and the riots which swept the country. The novel captures the early 80's and Thatcher's Britain so well.
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LibraryThing member alana_leigh
Somewhere between my beginning Money: A Suicide Note by Martin Amis and my book club discussion of it (which started about two minutes after I finished reading), the following happened, roughly in this order:
* About twenty pages in, I feared that it was the most misogynist book I had ever picked
* I mentioned this to my significant other and he took the book from me, opening it at random, and read, "Then I tried to rape her again." He balked and returned the book to me, commenting that he'd be interested in hearing the reaction from my all-female book club.
* Despite my frequent discomfort, I became aware that there was some utterly beautiful writing in this book.
* I figured out what the twist at the end of the book would be.
* Martin Amis writes himself into the book and, surprised by this, I ditched my previous assumption as to how things would turn out and just went along with things for a while.
* I lost count of the instances of exploitation, physical violence, intended violence, or verbal abuse toward women. But I also realized that the book wasn't misogynist at all. (And even if it had been, I had forgotten that no one beats John Updike for the title of most misogynist writer ever.)
* Whatever his faults, one had to admit that the narrator was unflinchingly honest.
* I returned to support my previous prediction of what the ending would be, despite the author being a character in his own novel.
* I became aware that I was actually feeling sorry for the main character, somewhere around his futile attempts at reform.
* I snickered at a very self-aware section that talked about the rush of finishing a book.
* The twist ending sets in, as I predicted.
* I finished the book.
* While discussing the book with my book club, I realized that I actually really had enjoyed it.
Money is a first person narrative, told from the perspective of John Self, a director on the verge of making his first major film after creating a name for himself by directing commercials that generally featured busty women in hot pants. He is a hedonist the likes of which you may have never encountered; he seems to live on prostitutes and pornography. Weighing sixteen stone, he consumes copious amounts of fast food and is always either drunk or hungover. He lives in London but makes frequent trips out to New York, where he has started to collaborate with Fielding Goodney, a young film producer, who insists that John should actually be spending more money. Also living in New York is Martina Twain, a "friend" of John's and the most normal person in the narrative. She's married and while John certainly wants her, you don't sense the same kind of filthy thoughts directed her as he seems to direct towards every other woman. Back in London, John has an unfaithful girlfriend named Selina who he knows is only interested in the money and potential security he can provide, though as John repeatedly gives into her demands, one can see that Selina clearly has most of the power in this relationship. John's father, Barry Self, is also in London (his mother died when John was young), though they don't have a fantastic relationship. Barry once invoiced John for the costs of his upbringing, which came to a little under nineteen thousand pounds; John wrote him a check for twenty.
John Self has an idea for a movie, which he originally calls Good Money (though eventually this becomes Bad Money and the obvious significance of this should not be lost on you). He and Goodney are looking to procure a writer for the script and four solid actors, though three of the four have basically been locked down and only the fourth is up for minor discussion by the time the book starts. First we have Lorne Guyland, whose career is waning, though he is unaware that. Slated to play the father, Lorne is constantly suggesting "improvements" to the script, which often feature explicit nudity and sex and the ultimate triumph of his character. Lorne repeatedly takes off his clothing when having conversations with John to make a point. Cast as Lorne's wife is Caduta Massi, who might be childless in real life (and thus seems to compensate for this by surrounding herself with family and children) but she is a strong motherly figure. She refuses to perform any nude scenes or any sex scenes with Lorne... and loathes all scenes with Lorne in general. Sexy Butch Beausoleil will play the younger waitress sleeping with both father and son, but refuses to do any menial chores; she agrees with Lorne that there should be explicit sex, but wants to emphasize that as the young woman, she is giving herself to an old man out of pity. And then Spunk Davis (whose name is intentionally awkward) is the questionable fourth; an intense Christian who doesn't smoke, drink, believe in violence, or have sex, with only one film to his credit. Two of John Self's duties are to try and convince Spunk to change his name and to be okay with a father-son fight. Goodney has also settled on a writer, who produces an excellent script that threatens to ruin the entire film with its incisive honesty into the characters/actors portraying the characters, which doesn't fly with actors who each want to be seen as a shining hero. Oh, and there's also this "Frank the Phone" character, an unknown someone who calls John when he's at his lowest moments and berates him for his behavior.
The majority of the novel is spent in drunken binges, reflections on handjobs, and John's careening between interactions with the people above (which are often drunken and sometimes sexual in nature). The surprise guest (as I mentioned before) is the character of Martin Amis, who appears as a writer that John occasionally sees around his London neighborhood and eventually John speaks to him at a pub. Amis comes into play when John tries to "save" the script by having Amis re-write it to appease the actors. At this point, John's life seems to be working itself out: Selina leaves him after becoming pregnant with Martina's husband's child, Martina kicks her husband out, and John essentially moves in with Martina, resulting in an interesting companionship where John can't seem to perform now that he actually "has" Martina. Of course, it doesn't last.
So why did I actually enjoy this novel? Don't get me wrong, there's a lot that just wasn't up my alley. I would never actually want to know these people or have anything to do with them, but that's the beauty of reading about them in a novel... when you've had your fill, you can set the book down. Of course, with this one, you don't want to set it down; despite the content, it's hard to refute that Martin Amis is quite the wordsmith. I don't know that I've ever encountered a writer who can make me laugh while simultaneously cringing to the same degree as Amis. I certainly don't like John Self as a person, for he's an incredibly unsavory character, but I can't help but be pulled in by his narrative. He's riding the wave of his success, completely binging on cigarettes, women, alcohol, porn and whatever else he can get ahold of. Money is at the root of almost every single interaction and Self appears to be the only one who cannot see that he's in for one heck of a crash should the money dry up. Such satire generally aims to bring about some reformation in the main character, but with the subtitle like "A Suicide Note" and with John's general grasp of the world, it is hard to hope for any true reform... which aids in the creation of an atmosphere of such tragedy and devastation while everything is still terribly funny. Self is only bringing all of this upon... well... himself.
Martin Amis, as you may well know, is the son of writer Kingsley Amis, who famously took little notice of his son's work. Evidently he once complained of his son's writing that all he's doing is, "Breaking the rules, buggering about with the reader, [and:] drawing attention to himself." Martin Amis attended many schools (and like John Self, he was familiar with both England and New Jersey), but ultimately he graduated from my college at Oxford University, Exeter College. He has been cited as "the Bad Boy" of English fiction (mostly because of his chosen topics for his novels), but I prefer the description the NY Times has used, which says Amis is simply at the forefront of "the new unpleasantness" style.
His comic talent lies simply in describing things as they are in the postmodern world and he is firmly rooted to this time period, describing it for all the energy and chaos it embodies. It might not be an obvious comparison, but it's actually somewhat clear to me that he found Jane Austen to be an influence upon his work, given the unflinching honesty and biting wit that he uses to describe characters. Perhaps that's why I ultimately found this to be quite an impressive novel. Of course, the fantastic sentence construction, shockingly beautiful prose and great comedic insight had to help.
I might not recommend this novel to the squeamish (and indeed, I'm not sure I'd ever actually *give* this novel to anyone, because I'm not sure what kind of message that would send), but if you're able to move beyond the unpleasantness, it's quite a compelling read. Would I wish to live in this world of selfishness, manipulation, and obscenity? Heavens no. But will I be reading more Martin Amis in the future? Fuck yeah.
* About twenty pages in, I feared that it was the most misogynist book I had ever picked
Show More
up.* I mentioned this to my significant other and he took the book from me, opening it at random, and read, "Then I tried to rape her again." He balked and returned the book to me, commenting that he'd be interested in hearing the reaction from my all-female book club.
* Despite my frequent discomfort, I became aware that there was some utterly beautiful writing in this book.
* I figured out what the twist at the end of the book would be.
* Martin Amis writes himself into the book and, surprised by this, I ditched my previous assumption as to how things would turn out and just went along with things for a while.
* I lost count of the instances of exploitation, physical violence, intended violence, or verbal abuse toward women. But I also realized that the book wasn't misogynist at all. (And even if it had been, I had forgotten that no one beats John Updike for the title of most misogynist writer ever.)
* Whatever his faults, one had to admit that the narrator was unflinchingly honest.
* I returned to support my previous prediction of what the ending would be, despite the author being a character in his own novel.
* I became aware that I was actually feeling sorry for the main character, somewhere around his futile attempts at reform.
* I snickered at a very self-aware section that talked about the rush of finishing a book.
* The twist ending sets in, as I predicted.
* I finished the book.
* While discussing the book with my book club, I realized that I actually really had enjoyed it.
Money is a first person narrative, told from the perspective of John Self, a director on the verge of making his first major film after creating a name for himself by directing commercials that generally featured busty women in hot pants. He is a hedonist the likes of which you may have never encountered; he seems to live on prostitutes and pornography. Weighing sixteen stone, he consumes copious amounts of fast food and is always either drunk or hungover. He lives in London but makes frequent trips out to New York, where he has started to collaborate with Fielding Goodney, a young film producer, who insists that John should actually be spending more money. Also living in New York is Martina Twain, a "friend" of John's and the most normal person in the narrative. She's married and while John certainly wants her, you don't sense the same kind of filthy thoughts directed her as he seems to direct towards every other woman. Back in London, John has an unfaithful girlfriend named Selina who he knows is only interested in the money and potential security he can provide, though as John repeatedly gives into her demands, one can see that Selina clearly has most of the power in this relationship. John's father, Barry Self, is also in London (his mother died when John was young), though they don't have a fantastic relationship. Barry once invoiced John for the costs of his upbringing, which came to a little under nineteen thousand pounds; John wrote him a check for twenty.
John Self has an idea for a movie, which he originally calls Good Money (though eventually this becomes Bad Money and the obvious significance of this should not be lost on you). He and Goodney are looking to procure a writer for the script and four solid actors, though three of the four have basically been locked down and only the fourth is up for minor discussion by the time the book starts. First we have Lorne Guyland, whose career is waning, though he is unaware that. Slated to play the father, Lorne is constantly suggesting "improvements" to the script, which often feature explicit nudity and sex and the ultimate triumph of his character. Lorne repeatedly takes off his clothing when having conversations with John to make a point. Cast as Lorne's wife is Caduta Massi, who might be childless in real life (and thus seems to compensate for this by surrounding herself with family and children) but she is a strong motherly figure. She refuses to perform any nude scenes or any sex scenes with Lorne... and loathes all scenes with Lorne in general. Sexy Butch Beausoleil will play the younger waitress sleeping with both father and son, but refuses to do any menial chores; she agrees with Lorne that there should be explicit sex, but wants to emphasize that as the young woman, she is giving herself to an old man out of pity. And then Spunk Davis (whose name is intentionally awkward) is the questionable fourth; an intense Christian who doesn't smoke, drink, believe in violence, or have sex, with only one film to his credit. Two of John Self's duties are to try and convince Spunk to change his name and to be okay with a father-son fight. Goodney has also settled on a writer, who produces an excellent script that threatens to ruin the entire film with its incisive honesty into the characters/actors portraying the characters, which doesn't fly with actors who each want to be seen as a shining hero. Oh, and there's also this "Frank the Phone" character, an unknown someone who calls John when he's at his lowest moments and berates him for his behavior.
The majority of the novel is spent in drunken binges, reflections on handjobs, and John's careening between interactions with the people above (which are often drunken and sometimes sexual in nature). The surprise guest (as I mentioned before) is the character of Martin Amis, who appears as a writer that John occasionally sees around his London neighborhood and eventually John speaks to him at a pub. Amis comes into play when John tries to "save" the script by having Amis re-write it to appease the actors. At this point, John's life seems to be working itself out: Selina leaves him after becoming pregnant with Martina's husband's child, Martina kicks her husband out, and John essentially moves in with Martina, resulting in an interesting companionship where John can't seem to perform now that he actually "has" Martina. Of course, it doesn't last.
So why did I actually enjoy this novel? Don't get me wrong, there's a lot that just wasn't up my alley. I would never actually want to know these people or have anything to do with them, but that's the beauty of reading about them in a novel... when you've had your fill, you can set the book down. Of course, with this one, you don't want to set it down; despite the content, it's hard to refute that Martin Amis is quite the wordsmith. I don't know that I've ever encountered a writer who can make me laugh while simultaneously cringing to the same degree as Amis. I certainly don't like John Self as a person, for he's an incredibly unsavory character, but I can't help but be pulled in by his narrative. He's riding the wave of his success, completely binging on cigarettes, women, alcohol, porn and whatever else he can get ahold of. Money is at the root of almost every single interaction and Self appears to be the only one who cannot see that he's in for one heck of a crash should the money dry up. Such satire generally aims to bring about some reformation in the main character, but with the subtitle like "A Suicide Note" and with John's general grasp of the world, it is hard to hope for any true reform... which aids in the creation of an atmosphere of such tragedy and devastation while everything is still terribly funny. Self is only bringing all of this upon... well... himself.
Martin Amis, as you may well know, is the son of writer Kingsley Amis, who famously took little notice of his son's work. Evidently he once complained of his son's writing that all he's doing is, "Breaking the rules, buggering about with the reader, [and:] drawing attention to himself." Martin Amis attended many schools (and like John Self, he was familiar with both England and New Jersey), but ultimately he graduated from my college at Oxford University, Exeter College. He has been cited as "the Bad Boy" of English fiction (mostly because of his chosen topics for his novels), but I prefer the description the NY Times has used, which says Amis is simply at the forefront of "the new unpleasantness" style.
His comic talent lies simply in describing things as they are in the postmodern world and he is firmly rooted to this time period, describing it for all the energy and chaos it embodies. It might not be an obvious comparison, but it's actually somewhat clear to me that he found Jane Austen to be an influence upon his work, given the unflinching honesty and biting wit that he uses to describe characters. Perhaps that's why I ultimately found this to be quite an impressive novel. Of course, the fantastic sentence construction, shockingly beautiful prose and great comedic insight had to help.
I might not recommend this novel to the squeamish (and indeed, I'm not sure I'd ever actually *give* this novel to anyone, because I'm not sure what kind of message that would send), but if you're able to move beyond the unpleasantness, it's quite a compelling read. Would I wish to live in this world of selfishness, manipulation, and obscenity? Heavens no. But will I be reading more Martin Amis in the future? Fuck yeah.
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LibraryThing member soylentgreen23
It'll be a few decades yet before people truly make up their minds about John Self's twisted, chaotic adventure - does it work? Does it crumble under the weight of so much dazzling prose? The questions one can ask need time to be answered, and distance from the subject. By Amis's own standards,
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this is a difficult read, one that requires a force of will to make it to the conclusion. Show Less
LibraryThing member PilgrimJess
Who would be interested in a book about a character as obnoxious as John Self, a slob of a man who is a drunk, addicted to fast-food and pornography? Well me for one. Self is so dislikable I really took to him, finding him both comical but basically naive and I even ended up feeling sorry for him
Self is a fairly successful advertisement maker in London, the son of a stripclub owner, with dreams of making a feature film about his life in America. He seems to have surrouded himself with a group of sycophants who just want to sponge off him. He shuttles between London and New York trying to arrange the film generally getting drunk and getting into scrapes all the time dreaming of making it big finacially. He mixes with a lot of self-diluded film people who are basically taking him for a ride but he is too blind by his own desires to see it.
This is the first book I have read written by Martin Amis and while I found it interesting how he mixes news of the upcoming Royal Wedding (Charles and Di) with the London riots of the time but ultimately I feel that Self is meant as a metaphor of the Thatcherite Britain of the time, where everyone seemed to be out purely for themselves and to make as much money with as little effort as possible. This seems a little simplistic rememberance of a decade but apparently it has been voted into the top 10 books set in the 80's so perhaps then it's just me.
That said there are for me some problems with the plot. I found the middle of the book a touch bloated which rather slowed the plot down for me which is a bit of a shame as I quite enjoyed the two ends.Also why would Self's girlfriend Selina want to marry him when she is out to get as much as she can by getting pregnant and suing Ossie for paternity in particular as she tells him that she always knew that he would not amount to much? Why is there so little dialogue between Self and Selina? Does Amis struggle to write dialogue in his books or again is it meant as a metaphor of self interest that people do not listen? Would a wholesome character like Martina really take such a boar in to her life let alone her bed just because hubby is bonking someone else especially as she seems to have known about it for quite some time? Also some of Self's scrapes are just so absurd that they are difficult to take seriously. Did Amis include himself into the plot out of pure vanity?
Overall I rather enjoyed the book and it certainly had me chortling at times. I would certainly look up other works by the author. This book was nearly worth a 5 but just failed.
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as his world unravels about him.Self is a fairly successful advertisement maker in London, the son of a stripclub owner, with dreams of making a feature film about his life in America. He seems to have surrouded himself with a group of sycophants who just want to sponge off him. He shuttles between London and New York trying to arrange the film generally getting drunk and getting into scrapes all the time dreaming of making it big finacially. He mixes with a lot of self-diluded film people who are basically taking him for a ride but he is too blind by his own desires to see it.
This is the first book I have read written by Martin Amis and while I found it interesting how he mixes news of the upcoming Royal Wedding (Charles and Di) with the London riots of the time but ultimately I feel that Self is meant as a metaphor of the Thatcherite Britain of the time, where everyone seemed to be out purely for themselves and to make as much money with as little effort as possible. This seems a little simplistic rememberance of a decade but apparently it has been voted into the top 10 books set in the 80's so perhaps then it's just me.
That said there are for me some problems with the plot. I found the middle of the book a touch bloated which rather slowed the plot down for me which is a bit of a shame as I quite enjoyed the two ends.Also why would Self's girlfriend Selina want to marry him when she is out to get as much as she can by getting pregnant and suing Ossie for paternity in particular as she tells him that she always knew that he would not amount to much? Why is there so little dialogue between Self and Selina? Does Amis struggle to write dialogue in his books or again is it meant as a metaphor of self interest that people do not listen? Would a wholesome character like Martina really take such a boar in to her life let alone her bed just because hubby is bonking someone else especially as she seems to have known about it for quite some time? Also some of Self's scrapes are just so absurd that they are difficult to take seriously. Did Amis include himself into the plot out of pure vanity?
Overall I rather enjoyed the book and it certainly had me chortling at times. I would certainly look up other works by the author. This book was nearly worth a 5 but just failed.
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LibraryThing member curious_squid
I probably should be giving this book 3 stars, but I found the main character so unlikable and therefore the book a bit tedious. But that was the *point*. It was set in London/NY in the 80's and discusses how money is everything/everything is money.
The main character is a struggling(?) film
The main character is a struggling(?) film
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director with all the vices he can buy. I think reading page after page of self obsession & debauchery just grew old for me too quickly to properly enjoy the book, but I get why people love it. (sorta) Show Less
LibraryThing member robertswipe
Well, I certainly won't be investing in any of Mr. Amis's portfolios!
Money: a how-not-to-invest note would be more appropriate. Skipped most of it, but he seemed on safer ground when he was begging on the street than sticking his all and sundry intop a bogus film production company. I'm sorry
Money: a how-not-to-invest note would be more appropriate. Skipped most of it, but he seemed on safer ground when he was begging on the street than sticking his all and sundry intop a bogus film production company. I'm sorry
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Marty, but I'll be sticking with Invsetors Chronicle from now on. Show Less
LibraryThing member hotfigs
This is a very fast paced book with a conversational tone. The narrator is a loathsome person, who despite his depravity tries to gain the sympathy of the reader.
I'm not sure whether he is successful - in my case probably not. Though he does get screwed over in the end, there is a certain amount of
It is as at the end he is put in his rightful place in society by the turn of events. Selina says at the end that she never thought he suited money...
Some very rich descriptive language. A habit of saying things like "it was a good job that I wasn't the type of man to hit a woman. I then tried to rape her"...
I'm not sure whether he is successful - in my case probably not. Though he does get screwed over in the end, there is a certain amount of
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satisfaction that he is pulled back down to earth.It is as at the end he is put in his rightful place in society by the turn of events. Selina says at the end that she never thought he suited money...
Some very rich descriptive language. A habit of saying things like "it was a good job that I wasn't the type of man to hit a woman. I then tried to rape her"...
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LibraryThing member ablueidol
This is a novel written in the early 80’s and is one long monologue about money and what chasing money, having money( and not having money) does to John Self the central character. He is a successful Ad director but at heart a fast talking East end boozing womaniser addicted to fast food and
This could be an echo of real life as Martin Amis had a troubled relationship with his father Kingsley Amis. Who incidentally was critical of the device of having the author as a character in the story which allows Martin to take some sly digs at the pretensions of writers and writing.
John Self meets a producer in New York and spins him a story based on his own life (drunkard father, two timing mother, time waster son) and is then embroiled in the nightmare of putting the money, script and casting together. He lurches between New York and London loving money and suffering from excesses of drink, food and sex and looses girlfriend, friends and family along the way in a glorious buffoon way.
As he tries to deal with actor’s egos, money men demands and scripts he is also hounded by a stalker . Or is he? We can only understand what john understands and as he is drinking several bottles of whiskies on week long benders he is a little hazy some times on the details. During the story we get to find out what the truth of his rise to the Money as well as family secrets and who cheats who.
As the novel is set up to be a long suicide note you can sense the depths of his pain. So is this a gloomy, slash your wrist Leonard Cohen fun feast? No it’s a very funny and savage satire on money, money and money and oh the film industry. Normally, I dislike first person novels but I strongly recommended this one.
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porno. And if you still like him, he beats up women, tends to be a racist, and hates gays… and horror of horror smokes. But he does have a turbulent broth of family relationships to deal with!This could be an echo of real life as Martin Amis had a troubled relationship with his father Kingsley Amis. Who incidentally was critical of the device of having the author as a character in the story which allows Martin to take some sly digs at the pretensions of writers and writing.
John Self meets a producer in New York and spins him a story based on his own life (drunkard father, two timing mother, time waster son) and is then embroiled in the nightmare of putting the money, script and casting together. He lurches between New York and London loving money and suffering from excesses of drink, food and sex and looses girlfriend, friends and family along the way in a glorious buffoon way.
As he tries to deal with actor’s egos, money men demands and scripts he is also hounded by a stalker . Or is he? We can only understand what john understands and as he is drinking several bottles of whiskies on week long benders he is a little hazy some times on the details. During the story we get to find out what the truth of his rise to the Money as well as family secrets and who cheats who.
As the novel is set up to be a long suicide note you can sense the depths of his pain. So is this a gloomy, slash your wrist Leonard Cohen fun feast? No it’s a very funny and savage satire on money, money and money and oh the film industry. Normally, I dislike first person novels but I strongly recommended this one.
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LibraryThing member m.a.harding
I cannot understand why this is not accepted as the achievement it is. If HM Gov are going to give out knighthoods to every Tom Dick and Rushdie then why wasn't Martin offered his 20 years ago? I'm not aware of any Brit writer that has got anywhwere near this novel. Certainly none of the Sunday
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Supplement, bookerlit set. Are they all stupid? I suppose he hit peak too early, long before the rest of the UK had caught up. Why aren't they teaching this in schools? Show Less
LibraryThing member sparksmom
I think the book had some funny parts and was well written, but it wasn't my cup of tea. I found it hard to like the characters and thus, found it hard to get into the book. There were definitely some funny stories and one-liners.
LibraryThing member franoscar
Part of book project. (over 1000 people have this book!) It went on & on. When I started it I hated it. Spoiler alert. But it drew me in, a little, and the main character developed a little more interest. But the ultimate story was really silly. Nobody could be so stupid. Nobody could be such an
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easy target for so many people who want to hurt him. Nobody could eat or drink that much. Etc. Show Less
LibraryThing member lorraineh
wow - this was quite a book!
I wasnt sure to begin with, it was so different to anything I have read in such a long time. Its modern, its adult, its topics are startlingly adult! it paces brilliantly, it kept me gripped.
I recommend you read it (as long as you dont mind reading about extreme
I wasnt sure to begin with, it was so different to anything I have read in such a long time. Its modern, its adult, its topics are startlingly adult! it paces brilliantly, it kept me gripped.
I recommend you read it (as long as you dont mind reading about extreme
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depravity, extreme adult themes, violence, prostitution etc) - theres no book quite like it. Show Less
LibraryThing member RoseCityReader
Martin Amis’s Money is a stumbling, swirling, sodden romp though the protagonist’s brain. As anti-hero John Self bounces back and forth between London and New York, pursuing a questionable movie deal, he spins the hilarious tale of his drunken, pornographic life.
Comparison’s to Kinglsey
Comparison’s to Kinglsey
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Amis’s Lucky Jim are inevitable, as both are comic novels dealing with sad-sack, affable drunks. Where Lucky Jim is charming, with likable characters and a coherent plot, Money is chaotic, with abrasive characters and a shaggy, almost stream-of-conscience plot line. Money is also a little longer than it needs to be (it gets repetitive) and uses a few post-modern tricks that are too cheeky for my taste (Martin Amis is a character, for example). But what makes Money worth reading is that it is funny. Sometimes it is laugh-out-loud funny. That, and the feeling that John Self isn’t quite the ogre he makes himself out to be, keeps the pages turning. Show Less
LibraryThing member alexrichman
Funny and stylish in parts, but not good enough to become a real favourite. Did like the insistence on referring to masturbation as a 'handjob', though.
LibraryThing member mearso
I normally struggle with books that are full of sparkling language. They seem to intimidate me and make me slow down.In this case, though I enjoyed slowing down and savouring the language and the various torments visited on the central character.
The book fairly rattles along once you reach the
The book fairly rattles along once you reach the
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middle, and I guess one gets a little better at enjoying Amis' virtuosity. Show Less
LibraryThing member AuroraW
Not sure about this one think Amis is losing it .Is this really the same writer of Times Arrow and London fields sorely disappointed :(
LibraryThing member IfIhadwordsto
Very, very funny satire of the get-rich-quick culture in 80s Britain and America powered along by Amis's great prose.
LibraryThing member mausergem
This is a satire on the film industry. John Self is a tv commercial director who has a idea for making a movie which is picked up by producer in America. The drunk director, the eccentric actors, the ridiculous script and the lavish lifestyle is described in the most funny way possible.
The book is
The book is
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repetitive at places and sometimes drags on. But it still has many moments of laugh out loud moments in it. Show Less
LibraryThing member BooksForDinner
This was one of the great (English) novels of the 80s, with all it's indulgence and Money. I think it was about as hard for me to like John Self as it is for John Self to like John Self. Not a lot of people to root for...there's always a rooting interest in a novel for me, perhaps it's the sports
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fan...I suppose Martina. Anyway, wonderfully written and paced and characterized—and at times seriously laugh-out-loud funny—, but I just had a hard time with both the material and the charracters. Maybe it's timw has come and gone like the 80s? Or maybe I am a dunce. Show Less
LibraryThing member Philip_Lee
Money, the 365 page suicide note of a wannabe film maker from old London town, is ablaze with dazzling sentences. Though the three clause invective probably wasn't invented by Martin (or his pop) it is as though it were created just for him to exploit. His diatribes against everything will crease
This book is full of inventive language, but it doesn't have a plot. Oh, there's a story line about a geezer who has made one advert which he thinks qualifies him to become a bigshot director stateside. But the story hangs on the man's name, John Self, and how he signs himself up into financial and sexual knots. If he got his true comeuppance, perhaps there would be some justification reading through to the end - other than the superb writing, that is. The shitty little roach deserves to be crushed.
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you up; unless, of course, you are one of the countless millions who despise every word he writes.This book is full of inventive language, but it doesn't have a plot. Oh, there's a story line about a geezer who has made one advert which he thinks qualifies him to become a bigshot director stateside. But the story hangs on the man's name, John Self, and how he signs himself up into financial and sexual knots. If he got his true comeuppance, perhaps there would be some justification reading through to the end - other than the superb writing, that is. The shitty little roach deserves to be crushed.
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LibraryThing member EricKibler
This was an audiobook. I'm going to come back to this one day and savor it in printed form. Amis has a lot of the comic wordplay and rhythm of P.G. Wodehouse, but uses his gifts in darker and more serious ways.
LibraryThing member LukePreist
As an admirer of Amis this was brutally disappointing WTF ? This book was a "pedestrian" read and should be ignored for the sake of the man's rep .
LibraryThing member William345
This was really an essential text for me. I first read it shortly after it came out in the U.S. (1985) and it was like nothing I had ever come across before. A hydrogen-bomb of a novel. The sheer speed of the narrative, the word play, the telling detail. In short Money possessed the masterful
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technique that causes a narrative to jump from the page. Though "originality" we now know is something of a misnomer--every artist has his or her models and Amis has always been quite frank about his--nevertheless I have found no one who quite equals MA. He is unique. He makes it new, as the problematic Ezra Pound is famous for saying. Show Less
LibraryThing member dysmonia
Martin Amis is one twisted f**k, that's for sure. But his insight into the human condition is unparalleled. His use of himself as a character in his own book was unusual. All told, Money is an excellent book.
LibraryThing member fothpaul
I quite enjoyed this one, even though it took me an age to get through and did;t really go too far. The excesses of John Self and the eventual comeuppance made for an interesting read and by the end I found myself hooked. I can't really explain what it was that kept me hooked, but it did. There
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were some genuinely hilarious moments in the book, such as the story about John's dad winning money on a horse race. Show Less
Awards
Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
1984
Physical description
400 p.; 5.1 inches
ISBN
0141182393 / 9780141182391