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know how to classify the book" Others felt the novel was somewhat recycled, with several ideas and character types appearing in previous novels and essays. As in other Amis novels, critics praised his singular style: "The great lines come flying at you, as always, volleyed out of the cleft of the book and into the magic space beneath your raised eyebrows."
148:). The novel begins with Amis welcoming the reader into his home. It is interspersed with sections in which Amis addresses the reader directly and discusses the art of writing. The final part of the novel describes the death of each of the three principal figures (Larkin, Bellow, Hitchens), followed by Amis himself bidding farewell to the reader.
176:: "when Christopher died I thought, 'Christ, they're all dead now'. I mean, Saul, Christopher and Philip Larkin, who is the other dominant figure. And I thought 'Well, that gives me a bit more freedom'". The addition of Pheobe Phelps, a completely made-up character, afforded more space for the imagination.
184:
The book is divided into an introduction ('Preludial'), five parts (the last three called 'antepenultimate, 'penultimate', and 'ultimate'), and two postscripts ('Afterthought' and 'Addendum'). A short story, 'Oktober', is included between parts 2 and 3. Parts 1 and 4 include interludes in which Amis
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was for the most part favourably reviewed, though particular aspects of it were regularly critiqued. Several reviewers were baffled by the claim that it was a novel: "Martin Amis’s “Inside Story” contains so much autofiction, metafiction and just plain nonfiction (there’s an index) that one doesn’t
188:
Death is the main theme of the book. Amis reflects lengthily upon the death of Larkin, Bellow and
Hitchens. He also visits the fictional character Phoebe Phelps in her crippled old age, and comments in a postscript on the death of his stepmother,
29:
193:. Amis also laments the approaching end of his writing life. He confesses that at seventy, writing another long fiction seems unlikely, and that he will probably write shorter works until he will eventually "shut up and read".
219:- "Each man has his own batch of poems", Power summarizes the conundrum of the book's genre thus: "What is Inside Story? A novel? A memoir? Perhaps it’s simply an anthology – autumnal, summative – of Martin Amis’s poems".
136:. Another central figure, Phoebe Phelps, is entirely fictional, and characterized by a mixture of hyper-sexuality and vulnerability reminiscent of previous female characters written by Amis (e.g. Nicola Six in
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166:. In 2005, having written about 100,000 words, he read the manuscript and decided it was "dead". He eventually developed a 30-page section of it which he did like into
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The book revolves around a fictionalized account of Amis' relationship with three central figures who have died:
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287:"'Israel Can't Afford to Be a Sweetie': Martin Amis on Writing, Innocence and Jewish Manhood"
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116:, published in 2020. It was Amis' final novel to be published before his death in 2023.
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creates a feeling of intimacy with the reader. Recalling a line from Saul Bellow's
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162:) during his stay in Uruguay, between 2003 and 2006. It was provisionally called
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269:"Inside Story by Martin Amis review – a curious mashup of fiction and memoir"
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Amis first attempted to write a second memoir (his first being
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238:"Martin Amis, era-defining British novelist, dies aged 73"
330:"Martin Amis: 'Style isn't something you apply later"
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112:is an autobiographical novel by the English author
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635:The Moronic Inferno: And Other Visits to America
667:Koba the Dread: Laughter and the Twenty Million
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643:Visiting Mrs Nabokov: And Other Excursions
482:Time's Arrow: or The Nature of the Offence
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345:"'Inside Story' Review: Life, Unplotted"
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209:wrote that, as in Amis' best novels,
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378:"Martin Amis Goes Out With a Bang"
328:Cummins, Anthony (7 August 2021).
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267:Clark, Alex (19 September 2020).
793:British autobiographical novels
343:Mallon, Thomas (October 2020).
285:Shilton, Dor (19 August 2019).
627:Invasion of the Space Invaders
376:Parker, James (January 2021).
361:Power, Kevin (November 2020).
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581:Heavy Water and Other Stories
530:Lionel Asbo: State of England
458:Other People: A Mystery Story
236:Shaffi, Sarah (20 May 2023).
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347:. The Wall Street Journal.
365:. Dublin Review of Books.
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16:2020 novel by Martin Amis
557:Short story collections
659:The War Against Cliché
142:, Gloria Prettyman in
783:Novels by Martin Amis
466:Money: A Suicide Note
303:Amis, Martin (2020).
191:Elizabeth Jane Howard
803:Christopher Hitchens
734:The Zone of Interest
538:The Zone of Interest
180:Structure and themes
174:Christopher Hitchens
134:Christopher Hitchens
788:Jonathan Cape books
778:2020 British novels
565:Einstein's Monsters
185:discusses writing.
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694:Screen adaptations
522:The Pregnant Widow
363:"Seigneur Moments"
169:The Pregnant Widow
145:The Pregnant Widow
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514:House of Meetings
434:The Rachel Papers
314:978-0-593-31829-4
307:. Jonathan Cape.
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247:. Retrieved
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710:Dead Babies
619:Non-fiction
592:Screenplays
573:Two Stories
498:Night Train
442:Dead Babies
419:Martin Amis
207:Kevin Power
152:Development
130:Saul Bellow
114:Martin Amis
101:823/.914 21
40:Martin Amis
772:Categories
651:Experience
506:Yellow Dog
289:. Haaretz.
223:References
159:Experience
197:Reception
62:Publisher
600:Saturn 3
120:Synopsis
46:Language
757:Lemmons
450:Success
57:Fiction
49:English
737:(2023)
729:(2018)
721:(2010)
713:(2000)
705:(1989)
686:(2017)
678:(2008)
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437:(1973)
426:Novels
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249:21 May
216:Herzog
36:Author
718:Money
54:Genre
309:ISBN
251:2023
164:Life
132:and
83:ISBN
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Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Additional terms may apply.
