Tab Article

Ratings: ★★★★★ (4.7/5)
Genre: Literary Fiction, Satire, Black Comedy

Book Review:
Martin Amis's ''Money'' is a literary punch to the gut—a savage, hilarious, and utterly unforgettable novel that captures the greedy, decadent spirit of the 1980s like no other book I've read. It's a masterpiece of dark comedy, a howl of rage and laughter from the heart of a decade defined by excess. The novel is narrated by John Self, one of the most memorable and repulsive characters in modern literature. He's a director of commercials, a self-proclaimed ''consumer extraordinaire,'' a man who is little more than a walking bundle of appetites. He drinks, he smokes, he eats appalling amounts of junk food, he obsesses over pornography, and he is driven by an insatiable lust for money. He is, in short, a monster. But he is also a hilariously, tragically compelling monster. The plot, such as it is, follows John's chaotic attempts to get his first feature film made, shuttling between the seedy underbellies of London and New York. He is surrounded by a cast of grotesques and charlatans, all of them trying to separate him from his money. And as his life spirals further and further out of control, we realize that we are witnessing a man on a collision course with disaster. Amis's prose is a wonder—ceaselessly inventive, electrically charged, and savagely funny. He writes with a kind of manic energy that perfectly mirrors John's own frenzied state of mind. ''Money'' is a novel about addiction, about the emptiness of consumer culture, about the ways we destroy ourselves in the pursuit of pleasure. It's a difficult, demanding, and deeply rewarding read. As the Guardian said, it's ''terribly, terminally funny.'' A modern classic that has lost none of its power to shock and amuse.