London Fields is a black comic novel by British writer Martin Amis, published in 1989.
Regarded by Amis's readership as possibly his strongest novel, the tone gradually shifts from high comedy, interspersed with deep personal introspections, to a dark sense of foreboding and, eventually, panic as the deadline or "horrorday" — the climactic scene alluded to on the very first page — approaches.
London Fields is set in London in 1999 against a backd...
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London Fields is a black comic novel by British writer Martin Amis, published in 1989.
Regarded by Amis's readership as possibly his strongest novel, the tone gradually shifts from high comedy, interspersed with deep personal introspections, to a dark sense of foreboding and, eventually, panic as the deadline or "horrorday" — the climactic scene alluded to on the very first page — approaches.
London Fields is set in London in 1999 against a backdrop of environmental, social and moral degradation and the looming threat of world instability and nuclear war (referred to as "The Crisis"). The characters have few, if any, redeeming features. Samson Young (Sam), the unreliable narrator of the novel, is an American, a failed non-fiction writer with decades-long writers block and is slowly dying of what appears to be some sort of terminal cancer. Recently arrived in London, he immediately meets Keith Talent, a cheat (i.e. a small-time criminal) and aspiring professional darts player, at...
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