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reindeerbandit's review against another edition
1.0
Terrible. Charles was the worst and did not once display any redeeming qualities, which means of course he got the girl and Oxford. There were also several - SEVERAL - passages of unnecessary details regarding his phlegm. Perhaps it was meant to be clever.
joshmcnally's review against another edition
funny
lighthearted
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
ngominh's review against another edition
5.0
Ngông cuồng, nghênh ngang mà cuốn hút; cuốn tiểu thuyết thô vụng đầu tay của Amis thật sự báo hiệu một sự nghiệp sừng sỏ. Hiếm có ai ngang tàn, bạo ngược, hoang dã, bất kham được như chàng Charles Highway, và Amis viết nên tiểu thuyết về giống loại bất kham, về khoảng biên giới mơ hờ giữa 19 20 tuổi khi con người ta bắt đầu chịu trách nhiệm. Nếu Kerouac gò mình dẫu hoang dã nhưng vẫn đẹp đẽ, thì Amis là ông bạn tốt xua tay để rồi bảo rằng cứ bung xõa đi. Tục tĩu, hài hước mà thi vị đến vô tường tận. Thật hay ho.
starness's review against another edition
3.0
3.5 Often crude and rude but highly entertaining if not easily offended. The main thing I took from this book is Martin Amis has a unique way with words. I also learnt that teenage boys are extremely gross. He does well to capture the selfishness and insecurities of adolescence, if it wasn’t as funny as it was this book would have been so cringeworthy.
zoolmcg's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
This had been on my radar for a while, and after the recent passing of Amis, I decided to finally crack it open. I wasn't actual aware that this was his debut novel, but I knew while reading it that it was unmistakably his. His themes of sex-obsessed men, of their misogyny and their narcissism, is essentially textbook for him. This book serves as the first of many, and I did find myself enjoying it quite a lot.
In his classic style, so much of his narrator's expressions come through hilariously. He manipulates prose in a hilarious way, reframing things in metaphor and simile like no other writer I've ever seen before - my favourite in this novel was someone holding a newspaper like it was a stingray. It struck me as brilliant.
A criticism I might have of this is its aimlessness, which I do still believe to be the point of it It's quite a true to life story in that not a whole lot happens. Then ending is fitting, and it seems like everything that happen occurred without consequences. Reading an Amis novel is more of an experience, and less of an action packed whiplash inducing bout of twists and turns. It's enjoyable, and even if it can be repetitive, it's all part of the journey.
I'd recommend this to Amis enjoyers, but maybe not as an introduction to his writing. It's a good one to get into if you already know what you're getting into.
In his classic style, so much of his narrator's expressions come through hilariously. He manipulates prose in a hilarious way, reframing things in metaphor and simile like no other writer I've ever seen before - my favourite in this novel was someone holding a newspaper like it was a stingray. It struck me as brilliant.
A criticism I might have of this is its aimlessness, which I do still believe to be the point of it It's quite a true to life story in that not a whole lot happens. Then ending is fitting, and it seems like everything that happen occurred without consequences. Reading an Amis novel is more of an experience, and less of an action packed whiplash inducing bout of twists and turns. It's enjoyable, and even if it can be repetitive, it's all part of the journey.
I'd recommend this to Amis enjoyers, but maybe not as an introduction to his writing. It's a good one to get into if you already know what you're getting into.
steven_weinstein's review against another edition
3.0
Bright, well-meaning, if crude, guy about to turn twenty experiencing, quite unexpectedly, first love. I liked him. Was interested in how things turn out for him.
bibliomaniac2021's review against another edition
funny
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
reed_with_read's review against another edition
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
3.25
This feels like an 80s Dark Academia adjacent book, and yet also reminded me a bit of Heaven by Meiko Kawakami.
We follow a rich twat of a character, who is equal parts ego and gross teenager.
He spends most of his time trying to plan out how to manipulate Rachel into sleeping with him.
To the point of writing out entire speeches, and calculating when to say them, before going to an art gallery - just to make him seem like an intellectual who just comes up with essay-like speeches, reflecting on the art, on the spot.
He also does things like quote Latin to her, before deciding 'She probably didn't get the reference'.
He keeps notebooks of his interactions with most people, so as to keep track of his demeanor with them - and if it's working to achieve what he needs out of that relationship.
There is nothing likable about this character, and yet he is incredibly believable.
Amis does a great job of giving this character depth.
3 Stars - because this is genuinely a good book, especially as it was his debut novel.
But it didn't quite get higher just as it does feel a little deliberately gross and meandering at times.
Still good though.
We follow a rich twat of a character, who is equal parts ego and gross teenager.
He spends most of his time trying to plan out how to manipulate Rachel into sleeping with him.
To the point of writing out entire speeches, and calculating when to say them, before going to an art gallery - just to make him seem like an intellectual who just comes up with essay-like speeches, reflecting on the art, on the spot.
He also does things like quote Latin to her, before deciding 'She probably didn't get the reference'.
He keeps notebooks of his interactions with most people, so as to keep track of his demeanor with them - and if it's working to achieve what he needs out of that relationship.
There is nothing likable about this character, and yet he is incredibly believable.
Amis does a great job of giving this character depth.
3 Stars - because this is genuinely a good book, especially as it was his debut novel.
But it didn't quite get higher just as it does feel a little deliberately gross and meandering at times.
Still good though.
kristennd's review against another edition
I usually don't review books I don't finish. That's not fair. But I attempted this one twice, the second time on an airplane where I finally resorted to reading the inflight magazine instead. I kept waiting to find it hilarious and brilliant based on its reputation and even more so the reputation of its author, but it just never happened. At least not in the first half. The characters were all either loathsome or colorless. There was way too much on bodily fluids. This is a 19 year old, not a 12 year old. I kept trying to figure out a way it was symbolism or brilliant satire, because it certainly wasn't realism. But that must have gone over my head too. Overall it was more Benny Hill than Wodehouse, which is disorienting in a book marketed as being intellectual. Although there is definitely a breed of humor out there that high-end critics and award panels find bitingly brilliant and I always just find vulgar slapstick, so there you go -- this is one of those. For me, when it wasn't annoying it was dull. But mostly it was annoying.