Experience

A Memoir

By: Martin Amis, Zadie Smith - introduction

Martin Amis blends vivid memories, sharp wit, and tender honesty to deliver an unforgettable memoir that explores his relationships with family, personal tragedies, and the absurdities of being known.

In Experience, the celebrated novelist Martin Amis steps away from fiction to deliver a sharply observed memoir, weaving together the personal and the universal in his signature dazzling style.

Through a mosaic of vivid memories, Amis reflects on his extraordinary life: his complex relationship with his father, the iconic author Kingsley Amis; the heavily publicized murder of his cousin Lucy Partington by a notorious serial killer; and the relentless absurdities of public life, from tabloid scandals to literary feuds. Alongside these moments of tragedy and humor, he offers tender vignettes on fatherhood, family, and the legacies we inherit.

Crackling with Amis’s linguistic brilliance and wry humor, Experience reveals a writer both unflinchingly honest and profoundly human. Part elegy, part love letter, and part self-portrait, this memoir is a masterwork of reflection on life, loss, and the enduring power of family.