Martin Amis – Cannonball Read 17

The Faint of the Heart

The Zone of Interest by Martin Amis

April 24, 2024 by Jake 2 Comments

One of the strangest things to those who study the European theater of World War II is why the Nazis didn’t send their militarized concentration camp troops to the front lines in the east. I don’t know enough about history to know if it would have made a difference or not; probably not. But Berlin certainly knew that the Soviet Union wouldn’t be seeking a simple armistice after Operation Barbossa and the atrocities of Stalingrad. One would think that preserving the safety of the Reich […]

To remember a day would take a day. To remember a year would take a year

Time's Arrow by Martin Amis

January 21, 2019 by vel veeter Leave a Comment

Published in the early 1990s, this short novel by Martin Amis was nominated for the Booker Prize, ultimately losing to Ben Okri’s The Famished Road, which I haven’t read. This novel begins with a description of an older doctor thinking about his recent retirement and career as he lays in a hospital bed. But the narrative voice is immediately and noticeably strange. One the one hand it’s first person narrative presumably told by the doctor, but on the other, the doctor’s name and consciousness is told […]

They’re not saying “boo”, they’re saying “Truuuuuuue”…Detective

November 14, 2018 by Jake Leave a Comment

Ugh, I really have to pull 250 words out of thin air for this one? Okay. Here goes nothing… The most recent season of Bojack Horseman, centers around the titular character starring in a tv show called Philbert. Philbert is a hilarious skewering of male-centered nihilistic mystery dramas that most clearly mocks True Detective. Now I liked season 1 of True Detective but it’s impossible to deny how cloying the presentation is of steely eyed men trying to right wrongs in the hellish underbelly of postmodern America. Reading Night Train made me feel like I […]

Martin Amis on Nazis and the Holocaust. Win.

October 18, 2014 by bonnie Leave a Comment

I don’t always like Martin Amis’s novels, but I almost always find them really interesting (more interesting than his father’s work, if I must confess). He knows how to create a wild, colorful story with characters to match and The Zone of Interest is one that I think will stick with me long after reading it. If you’ve never read Amis, this is honestly one of his most approachable works. The Zone of Interest takes a look at what it would have been like to […]

Zirza on A Gothic Classic for a ReasonIt's one of those wish-you-could-read-it-again-for-the-first-time books. I loved it.
Emmalita on “It came to something when you found yourself hoping that the footsteps you heard were ghosts.”I loved the ending! I don’t think it’s been out long enough to talk about why though.
Dixie on Track Her Down by Melinda LeighI am just starting Track Her Down and I have read them all in order till now and thought I...
Roland of Gilead on How can you give us the gift of a crazy character named Rando Thoughtful and then just as suddenly take that gift away? We need to talk, Uncle Stevie.I came across this randomly years after it was written because I was searching "Random Thoughtful. But I have the...
Emmalita on “Only you, Em, would refer to heartbreak as a distraction. I think I would have a more sympathetic response if I asked to marry a bookcase.”Oh my goodness, Gallifrey was beautiful. I’m sure her mittens were gloriously murdery.

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