Rating: 
Summary: a laugh and a half
Review: amis' writing is always a true joy. who better to spend your day with than richard tull, the information's disheveled, cynical and (frequently) drunk protagonist whose running commentary showcases the author's talented wit and insight. an amis novel reads like no other. diregard "beginning, middle and end." forget trying to piece together who all of the characters are, where they came from, and why. instead sit back and devour prose at its best. the information presents irony upon irony. the good guy doesn't always (or, in this case, ever) win, dispelling the often repeated myth. just when you think that things can't get worse for mr. tull, our friend is hit with yet another blow to the ego. dark humor surrounds him, thus you can't help but chuckle (rather than tear up) for this unsuccessful writer's misfortune. constantly on a quest for "the information," tull is forever revealing bits of it to the reader whilst keeping his audience (and himself) guessing. what is "the information?" give this latest amis book a try and discover it for yourself. double thumbs up for this read
Rating: 
Summary: Overrated
Review: Be warned: this book is not everybody's cup of tea. An appreciation of black, irreverent humour is absolutely essential if you want to enjoy this novel and it is no wonder that a lot of people find it infuriating and outrageous. Everybody does seem to agree, however, that it is very well-written.First of all let me tell you what the book is about. Protagonist Richard Tull is a pretentious, but sensationally unsuccesful novelist - plus a chainsmoker and an alcholic with a harrowing midlife crisis. His novels are so unreadable that nobody makes it past page 10 without developing at least one mysterious ailment. So when the bland, improbably inoffensive novels of his dim friend Gwyn hit the bestseller lists and Gwyn gets the celebrity, wealth and trophy wife that go with beststellerdom something snaps in Richard. He now has only one goal left in life: [getting even with] up Gwyn". Contemplating the several ways he can go about doing this, Richard runs into Steve, a {morally challenged}, sadistic drugdealer and as it happens not only his only fan but also the only reader able to make it past the first dozen or so pages. Of course this is a set-up for disaster, but of the comic not the tragic kind. So, all this sounds like fun. And it is, several passages are downright laugh-out-loud funny, especially if you read them in context... But the book is also dark and pessimistic. The London that provides most of its background is a crowded city full of filth and violence. Neither Richard nor Gwyn is likeable. The publishing world is a scream. And human is life is nothing, absolutely nothing from a cosmic point of view, as the author keeps pointing out. The low-life characters such as Steve, 13 and Darko are unconvincing and superfluous. But is the book depressing? Not to me; the exuberant wit, the great writing and the incisive original thinking save it from itself. Not a masterpiece, not even the best Amis ("Money" is better), but definitely a great deal more worthwhile than most bestsellers.
Rating: 
Summary: Avoid this book-more trouble than it is worth-unless a fan
Review: I have read everything Amis has written, except the latest biography/autobiography. Dead Babies is a delight, Money is perfect, and London Fields is a tour de force (Still not as much fun as Money, but possibly more clever). The Information gave me a midlife crisis at 25 when I read when it came out. Took me two years to get over it. I have read all his other books at least twice, and the ones I mentioned 6-10 times each. The Information I will never read again. Horrible fear of age and infidelity. Brilliant, but horribly vile and misery-inducing. The ending is what made it hard to swallow(keyword). The misery of the characters in his other books is funny. In this book, the misery becomes your own. If books affect how you feel, you don't need this book. May not affect women with the same force-my wife and female friends did not have the same problem with it. Sorry to the folks who advanced a million to Amis for this book, but I cannot say it is a book that should be read.
Rating:
Summary: Laughter in the Dark
Review: I truly enjoyed this sad and funny book, which explores the interaction between two old Oxford friends -- Richard Tull, a failed and impotent cult writer, and Gwyn Barry, a best-selling author of mindless utopian trash. Further, Amis does a great job in the last section of the book, when the perspective shifts from Tull's futility to Barry's cruelty. This entire section was a surprise but also, on reflection, character-driven inevitability. It's super work. Even so, does anyone else feel that Amis writes a tad long? In the middle of "The Information" I found myself pushing ahead, fearful that I might lose interest and not finish. Then, I found myself stopping to reread great bits from Amis that I had rushed over. Here's one: "Belladonna was a punk. That is to say, she had gone at herself as if to obliterate the natural gifts. Her mascara she wore like a burglar's eye-mask; her lipstick was approximate and sanguinary, her black hair spiked and looped and asymmetrical, like the pruned trees outside the window. Punk was physical democracy. And it said: let's all be ugly together." Two good descriptive words for Amis are brilliant and exasperating. But do we really need so much of the character Scozzy?
Rating:
Summary: In Retrospect
Review: In terms of maturity, "The Information" is more developed than either "Money" or "London Fields." This is not to say that it is necessarily a much better novel. Just like saying "The Last Tycoon" is better than "The Great Gatsby" or "Tender is the Night." It is labored in parts,... and difficult perhaps for non-artists to grasp.
A knowledge and background in literary-cultural criticism and book reviewing is helpful. Amis uses terminology and chains of thought which may not be immediately recognizable to some readers. His protagonist's professional (=personal) angst arises from the critical notion that a bestselling author has a responsibility proportionate with her/his influence & status as a public figure. This standard could just well apply to film producers, directors & screenwriters; newspaper and magazine publishers, editors & columnists; tv and radio talk show hosts; politicians; judges; college administrators, etc.
F.R. Leavis, one of the influential founders of modern literary criticism, famously said that although we can't (objectively) judge literature, we are capable of judging life and for the practical purposes of discussion, they can be treated synonymously. This standard applies even to the science fiction & science fantasy genre of creative writing. So, the critic has broad license to venture out and comment on a wide array of issues; one who is wise and discerning can mold opinion now and again.
My hope is that Amis writes a sequel. Like a modern Don Quixote, Richard Tull is more sympathetic than Richard III (I hope!) and deserves to be expanded upon. What happens to him and 'The Little Magazine' in the new century, assuming Sebby didn't get to him.
Rating: 
Summary: Left me feeling empty
Review: Martin Amis is not what you would call a "generous" writer. Talented, perhaps. Witty or original, maybe. But not generous. He frequently strings together words and sentences that sparkle and dazzle with their elegance, that sing to the ear in a very satisfying way. But there's just something about his writing that makes me think that he wasn't doing it for us, the readers. He was doing it for himself. There's no emotional connection between author and reader in this book. At the end I was left feeling like I had been made love to by a skilled yet uncaring lover, a narcissist who performs her act not for my pleasure but for the satisfaction of watching herself in the mirror. I want and deserve more than that from a writer. Writing is more than just putting words down on a page, more than just creating characters and plots. Writing is about the relationship between author and reader, and that's what is missing here.
Rating:
Summary: Transcending New Teeth
Review: Martin Amis' latest novel was released in the context of lengthy media hassles involving A.S. Byatt, expensive dental work, and agent wars akin to those in the Larry Sanders Show. As such, it was often reviewed nastily. And it must be said that there is plenty to complain about- dead-end subplots, misogyny, self-plagarization. But does this mean the book should not be read? Not on your life. It contains some of the funniest prose you will ever read, and its central satrical point is gratifyingly well realized.The two main characters represent two dismaying poles of modern literature. The protagonist, Richard Tull, is a writer of novels that are ambitious, pretentious, and undreadble; his antagonist, and putative best friend, is Gwyn Barry, who writes unpretentious, "Celestine Prophecy"-type hackwork that is unreadable by any intelligent standard but is inexplicably loved by millions. Tull's ever- intensfying jealously is the core of the novel, and gives Amis a starting point to lauch some blisteringly funny satric missiles. The section dealing with Tull's book toor, in particular, is utterly masterful.What goes on besides this is not partcularly interesting, however. A pornography-obsessed thug wanders in from London Fields to bring the novel to a screeching halt, presumably to make by now banal points about the decay-of-modern-society that Amis has made much more effectively elsewhere. And the novel's female characters are, to put it charitably, less than fully realized. Nonetheless, the novel's overall strength makes it a rewarding experience, replete with much scaborous humor and some geniune insight as well
Rating:
Summary: Sharp and witty, but hangs at the end.
Review: Martin Amis's "The Information" is the story of a man who lives in modern London, and whose best friend is painfully better than him at almost everything. He is a failing author, and a failing husband. He is jealously obsessed with his friend, and devises all sorts of mean schemes to harm him, both psychologically and physically, calling upon a few unsavory London characters to do the dirty work. These dirty-dealing characters have problems of their own, and some of them draw part of the book's drama to themselves as well. At the end of the book, we know what has happened to our main character, his friend, and their female companions, but there is some question (in this reviewer's mind) as to how the unsavory characters have resolved their own lives. This is important because Amis focuses on it, but does not seem to explain why he does. The writing is sharp as a scalpel. It is readable, witty, accurate, intelligent, and contemporary. Amis's writing skills are remarkable. His characters are also vibrant, people whom today's reader will follow with interest. There are scenes that are laughingly funny, and some that are squirmingly accurate psychologically. If I could only decide what Amis's last scene was on about, I might rate the book higher. As it is, it was a good one-time read, worth reading if only for the sake of Amis's exciting and skillful prose.
Rating:
Summary: Nemisis et al...A Wonderful Novel!
Review: Richard Tull is 40something and not aging gracefully. He toils in obscurity reviewing books for The Little Magazine, reviewing the biographies of equally obscure and under-achieving men of letters. He is painfully aware of his shortcomings, which include chronic impotence, but he does not direct his self-loathing inward; rather he projects toward Gwyn Barry, his successful best and worst friend (and there is of course a component of Barry in Tull and Tull in Barry), a writer whose banal books routinely enjoy a global, best-seller status. There are passages of this book that I read repeatedly, and out loud. The description of Tull flying coach while Barry resides in the lap of first-class luxury could not be improved upon. Tull may be said to represent the uncompromising artist, against Barry's popular appeal (or the inner struggle of both forces in art in general). However I chose to view the tension, I have to admit that I was more than ready for its resolution by the novel's end. That notwithstanding, Martin Amis can be an abolute blast to read, and this book is not exception.
Rating:
Summary: Well-crafted and refreshing
Review: What a discovery! This is the first book I have read of Martin Amis since I read The Rachel Papers a number of years ago. I would never have selected it, had it not been one of the few new books appearing in my local library in Tokyo. While it may be difficult to be sympathetic to the protagonist, a writer jealous of his best friendfs best-selling success, Amisfs descriptions of his observations and conversations lure and delight the reader. Perhaps it has been my own poor gliteraryh choices, but it has been a long time since Ifve found myself actually lingering over sentences and even rereading them for pure enjoyment, and not wanting to rush to finish the book to see what happens in the end. If you are bored with the run-of-the-mill mass market authors who churn out one or more books annually, using the same old tried and tested language style, try this for a refreshing change.
|
