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Money
: Amis has succeeded in making a hard-drinking, hard-drugging, and occasional date-rapist a profoundly sympathetic character. The more frequently the protagonist--if he can be called that--overdoses on pornography the more you ask your girlfriend to get up and get you a beer. Such is the state of the tail end of the 20th century, as Amis brilliantly conveys.
 Amis has often written about the ego of the literary author, and here he creates the greatest challenge to his own ego: a novel that takes place entirely within the thoughts and actions of a main character, John Self, that is truly despicable, and without redemption. How can a book be readable when its protagonist is such a louse? Other readers have complained that Self`s excesses, including his attempted rape of his girlfriend, detract from the humor. They don`t get it: Amis has made a compelling novel about a character that has zero redeeming value; he has dragged the reader through 400 some pages of the thoughts and repetitive excessess of a character he/she hates. This is truly extraordinary. As if this wasn`t enough, Amis injects himself into the narrative, offering literary theory which acts as the authors elbow jab to the chops. Is the author morally resonsible for his characters? Amis should hope not. Great book.
This book contains one of the finest first-person narratives ever written. Coarse and chummy, fretful and alcoholic, the narrator is a Studebaker-sized beast of a man who skates to his ruin on too much booze, bad credit and pornography. Reading this book is like watching a rampaging circus elephant get shot in mid-city traffic, sink slowly to its knees and die.
"Money. A Suicide Note" is the incredible, destruction of a person. John Self, is the purveyor of 'controversial TV ads for smoking, drinking, junk food and nude magazines.' He doesn't just Self-destruct, it's like an unthinkable train wreck. Self's car is a Fiasco, Amis uses his own creative names for cars. Amis illustrates with slick unmatched syntax, just what money does to a man. One theme leads the reader to believe that the rich are soiled kings. I oftentimes like Amis more for the way in which he says things, the lyrical quality of the writing . In "Money" I love his lyrics and the themes the book deals with. You find yourself amazed at how an author can so densely pack prose with lyricism and literary meaning. "Money" is not a novel for in between bus stops or subway stations. If you read it in stops and starts, you'll just get frustrated and eventually want to put it aside (in fact, Amis' father Kingsley admits to not being able to get through Martin's work!). If you want a funny, smart read then tell ...(the website) to "Show Me the Money", ... sorry couldn't resist.
This is an unlikely candidate for one of my top 10 books of all time, but succeeds on every level. Amis manages to put you in the shoes of a despicable man who you can't help but like, while at the same time giving you the distance with which to observe him and his all too inevitable, but pathos-soaked downfall. The plot is intricately revealed, the action hilarious (witness Self's translation of his drunken actions) and the dialogue is quite simply among the best and wittiest I have ever seen. If this is taken as the book of the start of the Money decade, then American Psycho with its bleak outlook and unforgiving style surely forms the other bookend to the decade. A must - you will be chuckling for years.
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