Inside Story: A novel

The book’s publishing date is 2020 but the writing was finished in 2016 before Donald Trump’s election in November.The author is very honest about what this book will be like in the opening paragraph of the “Preludial”:“Welcome! Do step in – this is a pleasure and a privilege. Let me help you with that. I will just take your coat and hang it up here (oh, and incidentally that’s the way to the bathroom). Sit on the sofa, why don’t you – [….].Now what would you like? Whiskey? ….”So, this will be a 522 pages long dinner conversation in which the author talks about things he likes to talk about – life, fiction, writing - in what he claims will be his last book. It may not be. He was only 67 when he finished writing this one.If you expect something else (maybe misled by a label in advertisements: “A novel by Martin Amis”) you will, of course, be disappointed. However, if you enjoy this sort of stream-of-consciousness life-writing as well as very stylish language for its own sake done by a master of style, you will like it. I did not even mind having to look up a few words in a dictionary.Amis alternates between talking as himself [“So at twelve-thirty I left the Oxford House ….”] and talking about himself in the third person [“Martin flew to Chicago …”, two pages later].It is not all frivolous dinner-talk either. The final Part V (pp 459 & ff.) of the book tells of the illness and death of Philip Larkin (1985), Saul Bellow (2005) and his coeval and close friend, Christopher Hitchens (2011). The language is factual, non-melodramatic, but moving.He starts the book by commenting on Saul Bellow’s writing (Bellow an admired mentor and friend) and that of Graham Greene, the latter’s religiosity amusingly taken to task. Then fiction starts in Chapter 2. Phoebe Phelps is its main character, recurring throughout the book. In some interviews Amis has claimed that Phoebe Phelps is totally fictional. I have no idea if he is taking it out on some woman or women in his past life. Many events have dates attached to them.The book goes on mixing real-life anecdotes with (pretend?)-fiction, darting in and out of the first and the third person, until the above-mentioned ultimate part, the very personal “Doing the Dying” (p 459). There are (seven?) interruptions given to technical – and useful – advice to writers or would-be writers.As is obvious from other reviews, you will love the book or hate it. I hope this helps you decide before you spend your money.

A beautiful, autobiographical novel by a writer I much admire. After reading this book, I wonder if Martin knew he was dying soon - he passed away in May 2023.I miss the guy - he wrote many books I enjoyed and probably should’ve won a Noble Prize for Literature.

As one who can't decide which I like more, Martin Amis's novels or his essays, this is the fix. A brilliant concept elegantly executed. Beyond being engaging, witty, moving, insightful, human, and enlightening, I've rarely seen an author so adept at hosting a reader in a treasured-guest relationship, cover to cover.

I'm reading this stunning "memoir/novel" after Martin Amis's death so that may color my view of the book. But it seems in every way a meditation on death -- of Amis's dad, of Philip Larkin, of Christopher Hitchens, and his own impending removal from the scene. The grim reaper's presence, however self-aware and forthright Amis may be, seems to have made no connection in his mind between smoking and exiting stage right for good. Even with esophageal cancer on the death certificates of Larkin and Hitchens, Amis kept rolling his own smokes. His readers have to be depressed and yet grateful that he was able to keep scribbling out these brilliant pages through the clouds of smoke almost to the end.

I consider myself a tremendous fan of Mr. Amis, especially his early novels. I just reread Money a while ago and almost fell down laughing. He is the wittiest of contemporary fictional stylists and will be an influence, as he already is, on the next generation. I am also a great fan of Christopher Hitchens and to be able to spend a few hours in his literary presence as you can in this book was worth the price of purchase. (I am not as keen on Saul Bellow, Philip Larkin and Nabokov - three other spirits that glide in and out of the 'story', but the anecdotes about them certainly don't detract.) My main issue with Inside Story is trying to figure out why it was written? It doesn't seem like one of those burning embers that a writer simply has to toss to the public; nor does it harken to any new developments in Mr. Amis' development as a writer (the 'late' Amis, for instance). It seems to have been written because that is what writers do, they write, and since he had nothing better to write about he wrote about himself. Fair enough. It amuses, it informs, it postulates...but does it advance Mr. Amis as a writer? (no)...will we walk away from it being better, more enlightened readers? , not to say human beings? (no). In my case I prefer the younger, caddish Mr. Amis...but I can't fault him for growing up and even for writing this Dad sweater of a 'novel.' Perhaps there will be more coming. I hope so. There is so much he could be talking about.

This is sold as a novel but there appears to be a lot of truth in the story as it serves to describe Martin Amis's life with his close friends such as Christopher Hitchens, the poet Larkin as well as his older friend Saul Bellow. There are ls a lot of stories of Martin's father and other friends and lovers. Amis's writing is witty and also informative. Near the end of the book he includes a few chapters on how to write. These are common sense suggestions and are aimed at helping you to capture the interest of the reader. There is much sadness in the book as he describes the gradual death of both Hitchens and Bellow. There was even some humor in this otherwise sad storyline. I am a fan of Christopher Hitchens and was saddened that we lost this lion of common sense and rationality. I have read a couple of Bellow's books and enjoyed them but they can be difficult to read. It may take you 10 or more likely twenty pages to grow accustomed to his style. But it is worth it. The best place to start is Augie March. I recommend this book especially for its remembrance and honoring of these two literary and thought leaders.

It was bought as a gift.

gutes Buch

Two moments in this book made me really wonder about the depth of Martin Amis’s thought, both are about the death of his life long, best friend Christopher Hitchens. The first at the death watch, lasting the final 7 hours before Christopher passed away, when Martin is there with the family. The moment the monitor flatlines and Christopher has taken his last breath his wife known as Blue gets up and says “ OK, that’s it - let’s get out of here - that (pointing her newly deceased husband) is rubbish now” and they all leave for the airport. I almost gasped when I read that but Amis reports it without any feeling at all. I imagined if Christopher hadn’t actually died and could hear what his wife said the moment she thought he had, that would have been the worst moment of his life. Where is love, tenderness, loss, grief - certainly not around in the moments after Christopher died. It made me feel very sorry for Christopher Hitchins - much admired but unloved. Then it gets worse - a few days after he dies his widow and his best friend meet for a meal and they both reveal that a few days after he’d died they had this inexplicable sense of great happiness! They also admit they feel a bit guilty about it and they ask if Christopher would be upset to think of them being so happy in the days after his death , but they think not, they share the great insight that Christopher would be glad to see them so happy and then they share the even greater insight that what has happened is that Christopher’s own great passion for life has somehow been gifted to them from him in his afterlife. No need to labour the point but the more plausible conclusions for their happiness are that his wife did not love him and his immensely powerful presence in her life was a burden she was happily liberated from. You might feel this conclusion is substantiated by her comment about his still warm body being rubbish the moment he stopped breathing. As for why Amis is so happy within a week of the death of his best friend, maybe he too felt great relief that his arch rival would no longer be there belittling him. How else do we account for his constant reference to Martin as “ Little Keith”? Clearly Hitchens was top dog and Amis - well - Little Keith.So this is a sad book.With his glorious vocabulary derived from his well worn thesaurus there is more sadness because Amis clearly does not understand that his showing off is plain to see and nobody wants to read an endless stream of words they have to look up. Perhaps he is doing to us what Hitchens did to him, making us feel small, lesser beings.It’s also an interesting book and a helpful one in that it shows us what a mistake it is to look up to those who are famous and rich because they are famous and rich. We all have limitations, failures to understand and weaknesses and from this book we know that so do they. It’s worth reading for that alone but it’s not great in any way. If you want great, read Middlemarch or Pride and Prejudice.

Un bel libro: insieme ad Hitchens uno dei miei favoriti

This is a good example of autofiction. Loved the game of knowing and not knowing whether it's real. He is a master and I am so pleased he didn't go for the straight memoir style. I loved the dip into history now and then and his wise old man comments. I could see his father in the text, in the authorial style. Read it almost in one go. Thanks for the invitation, I had a great time.