Group Read, November 2023: The Information

Our group read for November is The Information by Martin Amis. Please join in the read and post any comments on this thread.

I started this one (early) and there was something about the plot that was too much like the last non-1001 book I had read. So I've put it aside in order to read my book group's monthly read. Hope to return to Amis later in the month.

My book group's monthly read, Flaubert's Sentimental Education, has turned out to be a horrible slog. It's a 1001 book, too, but I sincerely hope it's been taken off the list in later editions and if not it should have been. Madam Bovary was so good! This one, not.
Not sure if/when I will get back to Amis. I may need to read a light YA novel or two before turning to anything serious again.

I really liked this novel, but it may have been the right book at the right time for me (early in Covid lockdown in 2020). My review at the time:

Failed author Richard Tull tries to sabotage his more successful friend Gwyn Barry. I very much enjoyed the bitter humour in this novel, particularly as narrated by Steven Pacey. I had many a chuckle and often laughed out loud on my daily drive to work. Notwithstanding an ambiguously dark conclusion this was much needed comic relief in these troubling times. 5/5

I started this one, but just could not finish it. I made it about a third of the way in and decided not to force myself to keep reading something I was not enjoying. I did enjoy his writing in places, that's what kept me going as long as I did. But I was not enjoying the overall story or any of the characters.

This is the second Martin Amis DNF for me. I guess he is not an author for me. Although, I think he has a few more books on the list, so maybe those will be better, but I'm not going to be rushing into them any time soon.

I'm about half way through as well. It's quite hilarious, incredibly London-literary-scene, and both weak and confusing in the plot area. I can see why Puckers >4 puckers: found it excellent reading in COVID times!
It's not a book that I needed to read before I die; only a panel of London authors would think that. I gather it's supposed to be some sort of grouping with Amis's Money and London Fields, both of which I've read and enjoyed. This may be the weakest of the three. We shall see...

I do see that it came off the main list in 2008. Somebody who put together the 2006 list was a major fan of Amis's.