The Pregnant Widow

By: Martin Amis

Narrated by: Steven Pacey

Length: 14 hrs and 10 mins

Publisher's summary

The year is 1970, and it's a long, hot summer. In a castle on a mountainside in Italy, half a dozen young lives are afloat on a sea of change, trapped inside the history of the sexual revolution. The girls are acting like boys, the boys are going on acting like boys, and Keith Nearing - 20 years old, a literature student all clogged up with the English novel - is struggling to twist feminism and women's ascendency toward his own ends.

The tragicomedy of manners that ensues will have an indelible effect on all its participants, and we witness, too, how it shapes Keith’s subsequent love life for decades to come. Bitingly funny, full of wit and pathos, The Pregnant Widow is a trenchant portrait of young lives being carried away on a sea of change.

©2010 Martin Amis. All rights reserved. (P)2010 BBC Audiobooks America

Critic reviews

"Amid droll banter and hilariously raunchy episodes, immensely gifted and piquantly mercurial Amis ponders, in passages of surpassing eloquence, beauty, time, self, deception, 'the winepress of death,' and the abiding light of literature, deepening the valence of this charmingly provocative and philosophical comedy of desire." ( Booklist)

Great Characters

I think Martin Amis’ greatest strength is the characters he creates and this novel is no exception. This book is definitely more about the characters than the story. It’s an interesting examination how “Women’s liberation” created casualties in the new social contract that was ushered it.

Self-indulgent, narcissistic and unpleasant

This book wasn’t for you, but who do you think might enjoy it more?

Somebody who doesn't mind following Amis on a one-way journey up his own arse

What do you think your next listen will be?

Something not by Amis

What does Steven Pacey bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

He does well with the characterisation

What character would you cut from The Pregnant Widow?

Amis/Nearing, all the other ones

Any additional comments?

Really, really poor book. Impossibly louche characters used as a vehicle for Amis' own imaginary recollections of his youth, and to reinforce his own particular prejudices. A mean-spirited little book, too. Awful. It was my nth attempt at an Amis Jr., and has forever cured me of the impression that he has something to offer.

Wanted to like this book more; Audible helped.

What did you like best about The Pregnant Widow? What did you like least?

Martin Amis is a super-intelligent writer. He is not just telling a story, but also sharing ideas about how the world spins. The past story within the present story works well for this. The backstory draws the reader into this sexy and mysterious world where you wonder who's going to end up with whom. The downside is the story gets diverted by all the ideas that Amis wants to fit around it. The book is just too long for the story. I was reading it as a book group assignment and running out of time finishing it, so I downloaded the Audible and made it to the end. I was the only one in our group that did. They complained about the length as well as the characters which they found unlikeable. I actually liked the anti-hero aspect of the narrator, but I agree about the length. Having the story read by the male reader doing all the voices gave a sense of the narrator being just that -- a storyteller. It help make the book more like-able and humorous.

What was the most interesting aspect of this story? The least interesting?

I really loved the setting of the past story. This castle with all its twists and turns fits the story very well; but the story has far too many twists and turns and divergences. It could have been shorter.

What about Steven Pacey’s performance did you like?

He was very amusing doing the female voices. It helped make the book more humorous and the narrator more like-able.

Do you think The Pregnant Widow needs a follow-up book? Why or why not?

No. We already have TMI. Although it would be interesting to hear the story told from the point of view of one of the women. I don't think Martin Amis could write it though. He has a very distinctly male voice.

Any additional comments?

It got me curious to read more of Martin Amis' shorter and earlier books.

Like a Guest that just won't leave

Steven Pacey saves this book from itself! He is a genius. Martin Amis does a lot of blah blah blah, but sometimes reaches back for an amazing comic moment or insight; the kind that makes him always worth suffering through!

awful

After 15 minutes I turned it off. This is the worst book I have ever listened to. The story line is offensive and the language is repulsive. Dont buy this!!!

A SHORT READ

I LASTED 20 MINUTES. WHY WASTE ANY MORE TIME? I SHOULD ASK FOR MY MONEY BACK !!

great book

I "read" it in a day.

Rich, caustic, hilarious

I very much enjoyed my stay with this rich cast of characters as they acted out their "formative" summer in Italy. Raunchy, yes, but also fiercely intelligent and socially astute. And funny as hell. Very well narrated as well.

A Real Bore

Honestly, how long do you want to listen to a 20-year old guy in the 1960s obsessing about getting into the pants of a girl ridiculously named Scheherazade? Or hear about rich, pampered brats staying in an Italian castle for the summer, spending most of their time ridiculing others and trading beds? I lived through the '60s, and even I was bored by this book. I'm halfway through Part 2 (that's 10.5 hours of good time wasted), and I'm sacking it. I'll check back later, just in case someone who has finished it can convince me to go back to it.