The Information

By: Martin Amis

Narrated by: Steven Pacey

How can one writer hurt another where it really counts? The answer: attack his reputation. This is the problem facing novelist Richard Tull, contemplating the success of his friend and rival Gwyn Barry.

Revenger's tragedy, comedy of errors, contemporary satire - The Information skewers high life and low in Martin Amis's brilliant return to the territory of Money and London Fields.

©1995 Martin Amis (P)2009 BBC Audiobooks Ltd

Tedious and irritating

I'd never read Martin Amis before and chose this to remedy the gap in my reading. I really tried with this novel. I persisted for about 7 hours of it before giving up. None of the characters was remotely likeable, so I began to care less and less about them and what happened to them. The writing is irritating. For instance, "She was a woman. She knew so much more about tears than he did". This is followed by a long list of works of classical literature that she doesn't know "but she knew tears". There is also much irrelevant astro-physical information sprinkled at random through the novel. In summary, I found it pretentious. The narrator was good, but it must have been an uphill battle for him.

couldn't finish it

After 7 hours of listening I gave up. I want a book to which I can listen while driving or doing household chores. The narration is excellent, however, the text itself is challenging at best. A rather simple plot, larded with high-flown physical explanations and numerous irrelevant "information" left me guessing whether it's outstanding literature or a failed attempt. Maybe this work demands the printed form, narrated it didn't work out for me.