Reviews

Lucky Jim by Kingsley Amis

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tillwyatt's review against another edition

4.0

I would define the first half of this book as a saltine cracker wrapped in a bad comic strip. (2 stars)

I would define the second half of this book as a brilliant response to classical (haughty) British culture. "Thank god for the 20th Century"-Jim Dixon(5 stars)

It's a superb and wonderfully fun read if you are willing to fight through the first hundred pages.

"He reflected that the old Arab proverb urging this kind of policy was incomplete: to 'take what you want and pay for it' it should add 'which is better than being forced to take what you don't want and paying for that.' It was one more argument to support his theory that nice things are nicer than nasty ones."

mayling23's review against another edition

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2.0

1.5/5 stars

I finished Lucky Jim simply because of Literature class, otherwise I would have DNF-ed it a long time ago.
It took me forever to get through it and let me tell you, it was rather painful.
First 50 pages I was completely lost, overall I had zero interest in a story and after finishing it, I see no point of the story at all. Maybe it's my problem and this classic is actually funny (as it is claimed by many, but not by me because I didn't find this book funny at all) and captivating.
Although I am not a fan of the book, I admit Amis had its way with words and was actually very good at creating and crafting characters in a vivid and natural way, I truly felt like they existed (but I still didn't care about them, unfortunately).

It wasn't the worst book I have ever read....it was just...boring, I suppose.
I'm just glad it's over and I'm free to read what I want.