Source of book: Borrowed from the library
Sometimes, the impetus to read an author comes when they die - and that was the case here. I’m more familiar with Martin’s father, Kingsley, although I haven’t read any of his novels, believe it or not. When Martin kicked the bucket, I figured maybe I could find something at the library, and this one was available.
I’m generally a fan of short stories anyway, and a story collection seemed a good way to jump in and get a bit of a slice of Amis’ writing. There are nine stories in this book, which was published in 1998. The stories themselves were written between 1976 and 1997, and were originally published in magazines.
I found the collection a bit uneven. There were a few I really loved, a few that were good but not spectacular, and some that felt clunky. I’ll go through them all in this post. Amis is a skilled writer, so even the ones I liked less showed skill.
“Career Move”
This is one of two stories wherein Amis turns reality on its head, imagining a world in which things are the opposite of our own. In this case, poets are lauded, flown around the world, and discussed endlessly by the general public. Screen writers, on the other hand, languish in obscurity, writing for small journals and discussing their craft among themselves, but living barely on the margins of public interest. This was one of my favorites, in part because of the delicious use of language and incident to flip the script.
For example, discussing poems:
After an inconclusive day spent discussing the caesura of “Sonnet”’s opening line, Luke and his colleagues went for cocktails at Strabismus. They were given the big round table near the piano.
Jane said, “TCT is doing as sequel to ‘’Tis.’”
Joan said, “Actually it’s a prequel.”
“Title?” said Joe/
“Undecided. At TCT they’re calling it ‘’Twas.;”
And the discussion of the endless rewrites.
Luke had never felt very protective about “Sonnet.” Even its original version he had regarded as little more than a bargaining chip. Nowadays he rewrote “Sonnet” every night at the Pinnacle Trumont before Henna arrived and they started torturing room service. “Blank,” said Luke. “Blank. I don’t know, Joe. I could go ABAB ABAB or even ABAB CDCD. Christ, I’d go AABB if I didn’t think it’d tank the final couplet. But blank. I never thought I’d go blank.”
“Well, it needs something,” said Joe.
Maybe it’s the pentameter,” said Luke. “Maybe it’s the iamb. Hey, here’s one from left field. How about syllabics?”
The thing about this story is that it is so unexpected, so unlike anything else. It is nice to be surprised sometimes.
“Denton’s Death”
This short one from 1976 is kind of odd. The title character sits alone in his squalid room waiting to be assassinated by killers with some sort of machine. There is so little context that it feels more like a vignette. Perhaps it was just inspired by Gary Larsen? This was okay, but nothing special.
“State of England”
This is one of the longer ones, with a pretty sprawling narrative. A bouncer with some connections to shady activities is watching his son race for a private school, while he uses his cell phone to communicate with his estranged wife. But it also talks about immigration and the anxiety it brings to many “native” English. And the question of how to navigate a failed relationship. And not letting one’s kid down. I thought this one was quite good - a lot of nuance.
I also liked this line:
The law of fashion said that every child had to offend its parents aesthetically.
“Let Me Count the Times”
This is a truly bizarre story - it feels like maybe it was written on a dare or something. A man who seems pretty obsessive logs every sexual encounter with his wife, and becomes concerned at any departure from the average.
And then, he goes on a trip and ends up masturbating for the first time in years. This spirals into what can only be described as a torrid affair….with himself. He wanks until he makes himself nearly impotent. His fantasy life becomes ever more vivid, with him imagining sex with an incredible variety of women. His poor wife can’t figure out what happened, and worries she is no longer attractive to him.
And then the fever burns itself out, and they return to normalcy.
I’m not sure how I feel about the topic, but the writing is taut and focused and really brings out the obsession.
“The Coincidence of the Arts”
This is another story that has an unusual feel. An English baronet (with all that implies in the context in literature) lives in America for a while, and ends up making friends with a chess hustler. Who just happens to have written a novel that he wants the Englishman to read. This is odd, because the baronet dabbles in painting, and would have no particular expertise.
At the same time, he starts an affair with an Afro-Caribbean woman who never talks. Ever. We never learn what exactly the book is about, though, which is a bit disappointing, I think. A good story, but not my favorite of the bunch.
“Heavy Water”
This one is achingly sad. A woman takes her developmentally disabled adult son on a Mediterranean cruise, and neither of them has a particularly good time. It almost ends tragically, but not quite. Again, more of a vignette here than a full story, but an unforgettable picture.
“The Janitor on Mars”
Okay, this is the one I really disliked. The first part of the premise is interesting - a science fiction tale of contact from a robot janitor on Mars, who only contacts Earth once it is clear that Earth is doomed by an asteroid. Before this is revealed, though, there is a long and rather tedious account of the bloody history of the Martians over a few billion years - they evolved faster. I feel like Amis is trying to make a point here, but I am not at all clear what it is. Is it about the futility of war? The human tendency to form tribes and fight each other? Environmental destruction? Not sure.
But the other part of the story is all about pedophilia at a terrible school in England, and it seems disconnected from the rest of the story, unnecessary, and gratuitous. Nothing hung together in this one - it was disjointed and tried to go too many places, in my opinion.
“Straight Fiction”
This is the other “reality upside down” story. In this one, being gay is the norm, and straight people are marginalized and viewed with suspicion. Preachers rail against straight “alternative lifestyles,” and straights have to form their own communities. At the same time, there is great fascination with straightness - was Henry James secretly straight? How about Jane Austen? Did she really want Darcy to end up with [gasp] Elizabeth, rather than Bingley, but went for the conventional ending?
Movie stars worry about being outed as straight - it might ruin their careers.
As a thought experiment, this story is outstanding. The narrator is a gay guy who ends up fascinated with a straight woman - we are left wondering if he might be secretly bisexual himself. One line describing him is pretty funny.
One thing about Cleve: he was more thoughtful than he looked. Being more thoughtful than he looked was getting easier all the time…
Oh, and this one too:
“Christ, where do they get off calling themselves straight? They take a fine old English word and fuck it up for the rest of us.”
That certainly sounds familiar from the subculture I was raised in – complaining about the use of “gay” and rainbows.
There are far too many references to our current culture to list, but this story is a real tour-de-force.
“What Happened to Me On Holiday”
This is another sad story. A young child’s perspective on a holiday gone wrong - another child drowns. It is written in essentially “toddler speak,” and is thus a bit challenging to read. Apparently, somewhere there is audio of Amis reading this story. Whether or not you like the unconventional spellings and sounds, the story itself is fascinating. It really puts you in the head of a child too young to entirely understand what has happened.
So there you are. It is an interesting collection, with a few truly outstanding stories.
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