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Title: Dead Babies by Martin Amis ISBN: 0-679-73449-X Publisher: Vintage Books USA Pub. Date: 01 April, 1991 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.59 (17 reviews)
Rating: 3
Summary: I'm still not quite sure....
Comment: If I could make a general statement about Martin Amis' writing, I'd have to say that I do like it, but I still have mixed feelings about the four novels of his that I've read, and my feelings are maybe the most mixed about Dead Babies. First:assuming that it's not bothersome(and I can understand why it would be), the humor in here is great:vicious, caustic, and completely absurd(one character's predicament pretty much sums it up:Keith Whitehead,a "dwarf", tied to a tree with an unnvering amount of syringes hanging from various places, and this is one of the less nasty outcomes of this group's adventures). As satire, it's more than adequate, and I love the way he fools around with tense(no action in the book actually 'happens', but it 'will', says the narrator). It does it's job there, I've got no complaints with that. I think my real difficulties with the book are TECHNICAL ones. The central plot(and its subplots), such as they are, don't decide to settle in until it's almost too late, making the book seem perhaps more shapeless and repetitive than it really is, and that impression isnt helped by the fact that the plots don't gel the books elements very well. You get the feeling that Johnny and the conceptualists would still be doing what they were doing, regardless, and given that AMis prattles on about moral fiction as often as he does, youd think the aforementioned elements would have some sort of effect on their lives, but I dont quite buy it. having said THAT, I discovered upon reading Amis' essay on Joan Didion in The Moronic Inferno that this book is stylistically a satire of the KIND of writing produced by Joan Didion and Bret Easton Ellis, 'transgressive'. Slightly plotted, syntactically appalling("the only thing poetic about this book is that it's filled with line breaks") attempts at 'satire' that usually veer too far into humorless and boring decadence. A formal satire! Knowing that helps, but it doesnt totally make for an smooth or totally enjoyable read. Still, give it a chance. Though I see I haven't gone on too much about them, Dead Babies does have a lot of good qualities. It's just not necesarily for everybody. I don't even quite know if it is for ME yet.
Rating: 3
Summary: Minor Amis
Comment: I think the other reviews here for this Martin Amis novel are very apt. "Dead Babies" is a glib, superficial novel, not up to Amis's usual standards and obviously written early in his career. Characters are barely developed, the plot is obscure at best and at times completely incomprehensible, and Amis's disgust and nastiness (always present in his writing) is undisciplined here and overshadows everything else.
However, that said, even less than stellar Amis is fun to read, because he has a writing style that is so unquestionably unique and he writes phrases that pop like firecrackers. He's also scathingly funny, if your sense of humour leans a certain way.
The complaints about Amis's shallow treatments of Americans in this novel are justified, but his treatment didn't bother me too much, since he doesn't paint a much rosier picture of the English.
Like others here have said, if you've never read Amis before, I probably wouldn't start with "Dead Babies," as you might not want to read anything else. However, if you're an Amis fan, this novel lends an interesting look into the early development of a great writer.
Rating: 4
Summary: Horrific happiness
Comment: I bought this book on a whim. I wasn't expecting what I read. I couldn't put it down. It has been along time since I read something full of such detail. I truly enjoyed this book and since have had several of my friends read it. They feel the same way. I wasn't even aware of what I was reading until the end. I thought it was one thing and it turned out to actually be a completely different kind of book. If you enjoy exciting details and thrilling endings this is the book for you!!!!
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Title: Money by Martin Amis ISBN: 0140088911 Publisher: Penguin Books Pub. Date: 01 March, 1986 List Price(USD): $13.95 |
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Title: London Fields (Vintage International) by MARTIN AMIS ISBN: 0679730346 Publisher: Vintage Pub. Date: 03 April, 1991 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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Title: Success by Martin Amis ISBN: 0679734481 Publisher: Vintage Books USA Pub. Date: 01 April, 1991 List Price(USD): $12.00 |
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Title: The Information by Martin Amis ISBN: 0679735739 Publisher: Vintage Books USA Pub. Date: 01 March, 1996 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title: Yellow Dog by Martin Amis ISBN: 1401352030 Publisher: Miramax Pub. Date: 05 November, 2003 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
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