rather lengthy with a good deal of swearing as they say in wales and we the readers find ourselves in the company of a man into burgers and booze and the ladies here and there one john self in England and America the novel was published back in the eighties and martin amis is English and lives in America now and the thing is john is trying to raise money to make a hell of a movie and meets people back in England he is a man of the public house for sure and indeed gets to meet a novelist with the name martin amis john self and martin amis play chess together and john even tries to punch amis after the colon we are told we are to tackle a suicide note and martin amis is a bit the poet keys compared to Spanish locomotives that sort of thing the novel is sexy and sassy and moves along well enough probably earning the author money perhaps what martin amis wanted all along to conclude it is rather good fun to read in fact we give four out of five it is perhaps not lord of the flies it remains as they say perhaps a key novel of the eighties might we suggest that amis now living in the united states of America might see things from a different angle might we request indeed a second stab at writing money and we suppose a second stab at earning money